At the heart of this disruption is the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence agents from giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, which are beginning to perform the work of entire departments with startling efficiency. For Auckland-based tech leader Devin Deen, the founder of ThinkGo, this is not merely a period of market volatility but a necessary evolution that will separate the true innovators from those simply riding a wave of what he calls vibe coding.
Deen observes that the SaaS-pocalypse is specifically targeting the per-seat licensing model that has been the bread and butter of the industry for decades. As AI enables individuals to do more than ever before, the demand for dozens of software licenses for a single team is evaporating. “If I can swap ten people with two to three people working with AI agents, am I going to need those many licenses for that particular product?” Deen asks.
This shift is forcing companies to rethink their pricing and deliver value based on outcomes rather than headcount.
Another real terror for SaaS startups is the new reality that any SaaS product that can be replicated in a weekend by a competitor using AI, is effectively a commodity. Deen warns that, “SaaS was already in shaky grounds in terms of what vibe coding can replace. Your software can be replaced in one weekend by someone who likes what you did”.
For a software business to remain competitive and investable today, Deen says it must look beyond its generic code and embrace the concept of the whole product model. As Deen explains, “It’s not just your product that’s the value. It’s your integrations, how open your partnerships, your community that you have built with your customers, the engagement, how they feel about your brand”.
Success in this era requires a radical departure from complicated business strategies and rigid corporate structures, a lesson Deen carries from his formative years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.....
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Source nzentrepreneur.co.nz
