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What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#11

Post by dudewhocodes »

milanspeaks wrote: post #9

More than 90% for web business will continue to make money. We are a team of 4 people company and we use 15+ SaaS Web tools and we can code few of them but we see no reason to solve. Why would we replace Calendly already at just $12 per month? Or why would we will create an internal Outlook?

I see it the same way. Why would we rebuild a custom solution when $10 per user has it all?

SaaS was always about the service part and works better when other companies use the same tool.

Unique software specific to business needs will get more interesting though.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#12

Post by RamblingCTO »

AI is not killing SaaS, there is no real proof for that. No one wants to host, maintain, and be liable for shit other people can do better for less money. You share R&D costs with other customers. It's more efficient.

This take is so unimaginably stupid and far from the truth it makes me angry. You have network effects, liability, maintenance, mental/managerial complexity, integrations and on and on the list goes. I would be weary of anyone proposing an issue and selling you the solution right with it.

You can also cook your own food. But do you? Do you break your own bread? Do you make your own pasta? No you don't. You pay for an outcome. SaaS is the same. Just because you can do it yourself doesn't mean you should. The code is the smallest part of a SaaS. This will be the same thing like "let's move devs to a cheaper country". Look how that turned out.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#13

Post by al_borland »

Thousands of decisions go into building a large SaaS product. Beyond that, it requires infrastructure and maintenance to run it. This can and will break. Even with AI, all of this does not become trivial.

Most companies want to focus on their actual business, which is why they go to SaaS in the first place. They won’t want to do all this stuff themselves, as it’s a distraction from the core business, and they won’t do it as well as people dedicated to building a SaaS product.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#14

Post by chistev »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #12

AI is not killing SaaS, there is no real proof for that. No one wants to host, maintain, and be liable for shit other people can do better for less money. You share R&D costs with other customers. It's more efficient. This take is so unimaginably stupid and far from the truth it makes me angry. You have network effects, liability, maintenance, mental/managerial complexity, integrations and on and on the list goes. I…

You sound angry, why?

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#15

Post by whattheheckheck »

chistev wrote: post #14
RamblingCTO wrote: post #12

AI is not killing SaaS, there is no real proof for that. No one wants to host, maintain, and be liable for shit other people can do better for less money. You share R&D costs with other customers. It's more efficient. This take is so unimaginably stupid and far from the truth it makes me angry. You have network effects, liability, maintenance, mental/managerial complexity, integrations and on and on the list goes. I…

You sound angry, why?

No sound was emitted from his typed comment

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#16

Post by cyanydeez »

dudewhocodes wrote: post #11
milanspeaks wrote: post #9

More than 90% for web business will continue to make money. We are a team of 4 people company and we use 15+ SaaS Web tools and we can code few of them but we see no reason to solve. Why would we replace Calendly already at just $12 per month? Or why would we will create an internal Outlook?

I see it the same way. Why would we rebuild a custom solution when $10 per user has it all? SaaS was always about the service part and works better when other companies use the same tool. Unique software specific to business needs will get more interesting though.

Usually its cause the market movers force anyone not moving towards the billionaire VC businness has to raise their cost.

This is usually masked by vertical integrate and buyout of competition.

So either your servicd raises prces to avoid buyout or it gets bought.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#18

Post by BloondAndDoom »

milanspeaks wrote: post #9

More than 90% for web business will continue to make money. We are a team of 4 people company and we use 15+ SaaS Web tools and we can code few of them but we see no reason to solve. Why would we replace Calendly already at just $12 per month? Or why would we will create an internal Outlook?

Do you think this applies to only cheap software?

I assume expensive SaaS is generally very complicated nothing you can vibecode in a weekend, but I assume if someone is selling $50 SaaS, someone else will vibe code it and sell for $20

Or someone will sell calendly kind of app $10 for a year.

Or maybe everyone will rely on popular brands and this won’t make any meaningful difference in the market other than few categories.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#19

Post by fragmede »

BloondAndDoom wrote: post #18
milanspeaks wrote: post #9

More than 90% for web business will continue to make money. We are a team of 4 people company and we use 15+ SaaS Web tools and we can code few of them but we see no reason to solve. Why would we replace Calendly already at just $12 per month? Or why would we will create an internal Outlook?

Do you think this applies to only cheap software? I assume expensive SaaS is generally very complicated nothing you can vibecode in a weekend, but I assume if someone is selling $50 SaaS, someone else will vibe code it and sell for $20 Or someone will sell calendly kind of app $10 for a year. Or maybe everyone will rely on popular brands and this won’t make any meaningful difference in the market other than few categ…

Why pay a subscription price even? Maybe we can go back to paying once for a version of a product, and that's it.

Re: What web businesses will continue to make money post AI?

#20

Post by RamblingCTO »

chistev wrote: post #14
RamblingCTO wrote: post #12

AI is not killing SaaS, there is no real proof for that. No one wants to host, maintain, and be liable for shit other people can do better for less money. You share R&D costs with other customers. It's more efficient. This take is so unimaginably stupid and far from the truth it makes me angry. You have network effects, liability, maintenance, mental/managerial complexity, integrations and on and on the list goes. I…

You sound angry, why?

Because these stupid takes are everywhere. It's engagement bait and causes uncertainty with a lot of folks. My LinkedIn is full of that. Just shows me how many people aren't able to think critically and for themselves, blows my mind. And I'm connected to a lot of other CTOs and CxOs ... I think we can do better!
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