AI is killing B2B SaaS

#1

Post by namanyayg » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#2

Post by d_watt » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

I think one of the interesting things here is that AI doesn't need to be able build B2B SaaS to kill it. So much of the overhead of B2B SaaS companies is thinking about multitenancy, intergrating with many auth providers and mapping those concepts to the program's user system, juggling 100 features when any given customer only needs 10 of them, creating PLG upsell flows to optimize conversions, instrumenting A/B tests etc...

A given company or enterprise does not have to vibe code all this, they just need to make the 10 features with the SLA they actually care about, directly driven off the systems they care about integrating with. And that new, tight, piece of software ends up being much more fit for purpose with full control of new features given to company deploying it. While this was always the case (buy vs build), AI changes the CapEx/OpEX for the build case.

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#3

Post by namanyayg » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

d_watt wrote: post #2

I think one of the interesting things here is that AI doesn't need to be able build B2B SaaS to kill it. So much of the overhead of B2B SaaS companies is thinking about multitenancy, intergrating with many auth providers and mapping those concepts to the program's user system, juggling 100 features when any given customer only needs 10 of them, creating PLG upsell flows to optimize conversions, instrumenting A/B test…

Exactly, a lot more focus -- and most importantly specific domain knowledge -- allows the end-user to build exactly what they need, fast.

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#4

Post by bdcravens » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

d_watt wrote: post #2

I think one of the interesting things here is that AI doesn't need to be able build B2B SaaS to kill it. So much of the overhead of B2B SaaS companies is thinking about multitenancy, intergrating with many auth providers and mapping those concepts to the program's user system, juggling 100 features when any given customer only needs 10 of them, creating PLG upsell flows to optimize conversions, instrumenting A/B test…

And in many cases, it's 12 features, with 2 of the features not even existing in the big SaaS.

I'm pretty sure every developer who has dealt with janky workflows in products like Jira has planned out their own version that fits like a glove, "if only I had more time".

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#5

Post by pjmlp » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

Not sure about that, however agents in low code tools are certainly taking over old school integrations.

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#6

Post by dotdi » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

This immediately lost credibility for me with this quote:

> And vibe coding is fun. Even Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s chair, acknowledges it’s become a legitimate development approach.

Color me shocked! Bret, who directly profits by how his product is perceived, thinks it's legitimate???? /s

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#7

Post by namanyayg » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

dotdi wrote: post #6

This immediately lost credibility for me with this quote: > And vibe coding is fun. Even Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s chair, acknowledges it’s become a legitimate development approach. Color me shocked! Bret, who directly profits by how his product is perceived, thinks it's legitimate???? /s

Good point -- removed for being biased and partial. Thanks for the feedback!

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#8

Post by namanyayg » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #5

Not sure about that, however agents in low code tools are certainly taking over old school integrations.

Nice, what kind of agents and integrations are you seeing being used?

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#9

Post by JaggedJax » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:58 PM UTC

Maybe it's mostly from AI, maybe it's mostly general economic cutbacks. I also feel like these "wrapper" style SaaS products are the first ones companies are dropping when they are looking to cut costs, and I think a lot of companies are looking to cut costs. I do agree with the overall conclusion either way, that System of Record products/companies are the most likely to survive. There are a lot of SaaS companies with questionable long-term businesses who are getting hit, but that was bound to happen.

Re: AI is killing B2B SaaS

#10

Post by namanyayg » Wed, Feb 04, 2026, 5:59 PM UTC

JaggedJax wrote: post #9

Maybe it's mostly from AI, maybe it's mostly general economic cutbacks. I also feel like these "wrapper" style SaaS products are the first ones companies are dropping when they are looking to cut costs, and I think a lot of companies are looking to cut costs. I do agree with the overall conclusion either way, that System of Record products/companies are the most likely to survive. There are a lot of SaaS companies wi…

System of Records especially for boring industries is the way to go. What kind of wrapper SaaS are you seeing getting dropped?