Episode 842 | What is the Future of SaaS in an AI World? (Rob Solo)
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's another episode of Startups for the Rest of Us. I'm your host, Rob Walling, and in this episode, I talk about the future of SaaS in an AI world.
What question is Rob answering about the future of SaaS in an AI world?
And this topic has been floating around the internet as people are talking about SaaS being dead or asking if SaaS is going to exist in five years. And I've actually received multiple listener questions, and I'll read one of those in a second that's asking this exact question. Before we dive in, I have a couple quick MicroConf announcements. First, early bird tickets for our next MicroConf are officially on sale. We're heading to Austin, Texas, April 18th through the 20th of 2027 for three days of world-class talks, meaningful conversations with other founders, and some great excursions around the city. If you're thinking about joining us, now's the time to grab your ticket. Early Bird is the lowest-priced ticket tier we'll offer, and the prices will only go up as we get closer to the event.
Plus, producer Sonia gave me the promo code ROB50, that's ROB50, which gives listeners of this podcast an additional discount at checkout. MicroConf events consistently sell out, and I expect Austin to be no different. Head to microconf.com slash US and reserve your spot. Also, I want to let you know that if you're a MicroConf Connect member, we're going live next week with Harris Kenney, who you may remember from Tiny Seed Tales Season 5. Tracy Osborne is sitting down with Harris for a fireside chat, and they're going to talk about mindset and bias toward action, what that actually looks like day to day, how to know when to push through versus change course, and the small habits that can pull you out of a funk.
It's the kind of conversation that you will not find anywhere else. And if you're not a member, we'd love to have you. It's at microconfconnect.com. MicroConf Connect is the year-round version of our hallway track from our in-person events. It's our vetted online community of founders having the kinds of conversations you can't have with just anyone. These are the wins, the struggles, the quote, am I the only one dealing with this moments and live sessions like this one are just one of the perks. If you're interested, microconfconnect.com to apply.
Let's dive in to the future of SaaS in an AI world. This question was a simple reply to my Rob Walling email. So if you go to robwalling.com slash emails, you can sign up to receive a weekly email from me. And a reader responded and said, what's the future of SaaS companies now that AI makes it easier than ever to build and copy a product? And this, as I said at the top, is a variation of questions I'm seeing all over the internet. And I have received other versions of this on this show. And so I really wanted to sit down today and try to give as much of a definitive answer as I can to this question. So what is the future of SaaS now that AI makes it easy to build and copy SaaS products? I'm going to start by giving a short answer in four words.
The future of SaaS is SaaS. And now I want to show you why. But before I do that, one rule for how to listen to anyone on this topic, including me, is to be very careful with anyone who tells you something is dead, because we have heard this song before. In 2000, after the dot-com crash, the media told us the internet was done, over. Nothing left to build. They said this on the internet. I don't know, if you weren't alive then or weren't paying attention, it was so pervasive and just a given that the internet was never going to be worth anything. And then mobile and iOS were going to kill the web in, I don't remember, 08, 09. The web, it was going away. That didn't happen. Then blockchain and web three were going to kill everything.
I lost track of exactly what it was going to kill, but it didn't happen. Maybe the web, I don't even remember. No code was going to kill software development. Everyone's going to build their own apps. Nobody needs engineers. It didn't happen. There are other examples. And now AI, the new technology, is going to kill SaaS.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:09
2
What question is Rob answering about the future of SaaS in an AI world?
0:09–14:48
3
Why should you be skeptical of 'X is dead' predictions about technology and SaaS?
14:48–23:13
4
Could widespread self‑hosting and vibe‑coding replace SaaS subscriptions?
23:13–24:28
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Startups For the Rest of Us
Episode 851 | The Messy Middle of a SaaS Pivot
Episode 850 | How Not to Screw Up When Hiring Your first Developer and More Listener Questions (with Derrick Reimer)
Episode 849 | Legal Threats, AI as Platform Risk, Building Confidence, and More Listener Questions (Rob Solo)
Episode 848 | What Liquid Death Can Teach Us About B2B SaaS (Rob Solo)
Episode 847 | What Second Time Founders Do Differently, Pricing AI Agents, and More Listener Questions (Rob Solo)
Episode 846 | Snail Mail, Cold Calling, Regulating Your Nervous System, and More Listener Questions (Rob Solo)