Rob Walling

So here at MicroConf and TinySeed, although we are not a SaaS company, we are certainly serving a lot of customers, a lot of prospects, a big audience. We are creating content. We're doing a lot of things that you would do at a SaaS company. Marketing. even some sales, all that kind of stuff. And so we use AI pretty extensively, whether it's Gemini or Claude or ChatGPT to help us get there faster.

So here at MicroConf and TinySeed, although we are not a SaaS company, we are certainly serving a lot of customers, a lot of prospects, a big audience. We are creating content. We're doing a lot of things that you would do at a SaaS company. Marketing. even some sales, all that kind of stuff. And so we use AI pretty extensively, whether it's Gemini or Claude or ChatGPT to help us get there faster.

We don't publish AI generated content per se. I just don't believe the quality is there. But if you're not using AI to help make you more effective and efficient with your internal operations, your marketing or sales, you will fall behind.

We don't publish AI generated content per se. I just don't believe the quality is there. But if you're not using AI to help make you more effective and efficient with your internal operations, your marketing or sales, you will fall behind.

And then the third broad place where I really think AI is impacting things, especially with building SaaS products, is how much faster and more productive it makes developers. And whether using Cursor, Copilot, any of the other tools of the day that Devin, I think, was popular. It seemed for like two weeks, no one's talking about Devin anymore. But you get the point. It's not the tool.

And then the third broad place where I really think AI is impacting things, especially with building SaaS products, is how much faster and more productive it makes developers. And whether using Cursor, Copilot, any of the other tools of the day that Devin, I think, was popular. It seemed for like two weeks, no one's talking about Devin anymore. But you get the point. It's not the tool.

It's the idea that it can make developers better. move quicker and be more efficient. And what I've noticed is I haven't seen anyone, at least in kind of the SaaS space, fire people or lay them off because, oh, we're suddenly so much more efficient. I've just seen them move faster. That's the thing. It's an accelerant, not a differentiator. Someone said this. Who was it?

It's the idea that it can make developers better. move quicker and be more efficient. And what I've noticed is I haven't seen anyone, at least in kind of the SaaS space, fire people or lay them off because, oh, we're suddenly so much more efficient. I've just seen them move faster. That's the thing. It's an accelerant, not a differentiator. Someone said this. Who was it?

Maybe it was Patrick Campbell. I might be misattributing that. But Think of AI as an accelerant. It gets you there faster. If you don't use it, you will be slower than your competition. It doesn't differentiate you because your competition can and will use it.

Maybe it was Patrick Campbell. I might be misattributing that. But Think of AI as an accelerant. It gets you there faster. If you don't use it, you will be slower than your competition. It doesn't differentiate you because your competition can and will use it.

But if I were a software developer today, as much of a pain in the butt as it would be to integrate AI into my workflow, I would 100% be considering it. I think it's going to make all of us, it's like a mech suit. It makes all of us a little better, a little stronger, a little faster, a little more effective.

But if I were a software developer today, as much of a pain in the butt as it would be to integrate AI into my workflow, I would 100% be considering it. I think it's going to make all of us, it's like a mech suit. It makes all of us a little better, a little stronger, a little faster, a little more effective.

If you can get over kind of the learning curve, get over that hump of integrating into your workflow, because it is, you know, I know that if you're used to writing all the code yourself, suddenly you're using AI, it's a little cumbersome at first. But I think it will allow us to build more SaaS products faster. and build features faster and make every developer that you have more effective.

If you can get over kind of the learning curve, get over that hump of integrating into your workflow, because it is, you know, I know that if you're used to writing all the code yourself, suddenly you're using AI, it's a little cumbersome at first. But I think it will allow us to build more SaaS products faster. and build features faster and make every developer that you have more effective.

Now what that means is the pace of development and of feature development and the pace of competition will also accelerate. So do I think AI is going to have impact on SaaS products? Yeah, I think it already has, and I think it will continue to.

Now what that means is the pace of development and of feature development and the pace of competition will also accelerate. So do I think AI is going to have impact on SaaS products? Yeah, I think it already has, and I think it will continue to.

And really the question, because Aboma asked over the next few years, and it kind of depends on is AI going to continue the pace of innovation that it has, because it has seemed to plateau. I know that they're trying to get, is it ChatGPT 5.0 or 4.5 or something? And their reports, rumor reports are that they're really struggling to make it that much better. And don't get me wrong, it's good.

And really the question, because Aboma asked over the next few years, and it kind of depends on is AI going to continue the pace of innovation that it has, because it has seemed to plateau. I know that they're trying to get, is it ChatGPT 5.0 or 4.5 or something? And their reports, rumor reports are that they're really struggling to make it that much better. And don't get me wrong, it's good.

I use ChatGPT almost every day, almost every working day. And I know a lot of my team does as well. It's just getting integrated into all our workflows. But if AI has plateaued for the time being, then that's one outcome, right? We're going to see what we see and we get what we get. And that's where the pace of innovation stops.

I use ChatGPT almost every day, almost every working day. And I know a lot of my team does as well. It's just getting integrated into all our workflows. But if AI has plateaued for the time being, then that's one outcome, right? We're going to see what we see and we get what we get. And that's where the pace of innovation stops.