Why Seat-Based SaaS Is Dying for Figma and Atlassian
Public and late-stage private markets are discounting seat-based business models, pushing Figma down toward single-digit billions after Adobe's abandoned $20 billion acquisition.
Theme
SaaS: what the top podcasts are saying.
How software subscriptions are changing, and which SaaS companies are exposed. 48 write-ups from 14 shows so far, the newest from November 2026.
48 write-ups14 shows
The short version
Legacy software valuations are crashing as AI agents and in-house code generation replace expensive vendor subscriptions. While pure software moats face heavy pressure, companies find new stability by building outcome-based pricing models and deep internal enterprise tools.
Top talking points
Market resets are slashing legacy software valuations
Companies like Miro and Airtable suffered near 90% drops from peak valuations as revenue growth slowed. Taking a software business public now requires $1.5 billion to $2 billion in annual recurring revenue.
- Why Seat-Based SaaS Is Dying for Figma and Atlassian 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Nov 15
- Miro's 89% Crash: What Happens When SaaS Growth Stops TBPN · Sep 13
- Airtable's 90% Collapse: When Your SaaS Needs a PE Play All-In Podcast · Aug 9
- AirTable's $11B to $1.285B Sale: What SaaS Founders Missed 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 9
- SaaS IPOs Now Require $1.5 Billion in ARR 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Oct 18
AI agents break traditional software defense moats
Pieter Levels argues pure software features and per-seat pricing models offer zero long-term defense against autonomous agents. Value flows toward foundation model providers and companies possessing proprietary data, physical infrastructure, or strong network effects.
- Naveen Rao Says Pure Software SaaS Margins Will Collapse 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Oct 25
- Pieter Levels Thinks SaaS Moats Are Dead My First Million · Oct 25
- Why Agentic AI Will Crush Leveraged SaaS in 2 Years 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 23
- Why AI Breaks Traditional SaaS Moats How I Invest · Oct 4
In-house AI generation replaces commercial software subscriptions
Enterprises are canceling specialized vendor contracts and generating bespoke internal tools using natural language. Organizations reduce external dependencies and save millions by centralizing spend into a few core platforms.
- Enterprise SaaS Will Consolidate From 5,000 Vendors to 10 All-In Podcast · Oct 25
- Why Allocators Are Replacing Commercial SaaS With In-House Code Capital Allocators · Sep 20
- AI-Built Bespoke Software: The $1M SaaS Replacement Strategy All-In Podcast · Jul 19
- Emergent AI: Skip SaaS, Build AI Apps in Natural Language TBPN · Jul 19
Outcome-based pricing captures large service budgets
Enterprises spend $6 on outsourced human services for every dollar spent on software tools. Companies that sell finished business outcomes capture entire services budgets instead of settling for smaller tool subscriptions.
- Why the Next Trillion-Dollar Software Firm Sells Outcomes 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 30
- Why Long Lake Buys Businesses Instead of Selling SaaS Founders Podcast · Oct 4
Switching costs protect core enterprise systems of record
AI coding tools struggle to replace legacy software suites that handle enterprise compliance. Dylan Field notes professional creative workflows require precise mechanics that raw generative models cannot replicate.
- Software Moats Survive the SaaS Apocalypse How I Invest · Oct 11
- Why the SaaS Apocalypse Narrative Just Collapsed All-In Podcast · Aug 30
- Dylan Field Says Model Progress Is Not Product Progress All-In Podcast · Oct 25
Most interesting insights
One company, Nursa, replaced over 10 existing enterprise SaaS tools with custom-built applications on Lovable, saving more than $1 million per year in subscription costs.
From AI-Built Bespoke Software: The $1M SaaS Replacement Strategy, All-In Podcast · Jul 19
The safe threshold for taking a software company public has jumped from $500 million in ARR to between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
From SaaS IPOs Now Require $1.5 Billion in ARR, 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Oct 18
Winning builders proved autonomous coding agents fail when treated as chat-based code generators; high-output builders spent hours planning schemas and scraping documentation before writing prompts.
From How Builders Cloned a $43,000 SaaS With Autonomous Agents, Latent Space · Oct 18
From our research reports
The State Of: Q2 2026
AI Agents Drive SaaS to Headless APIs Amidst Worsening Compute Scarcity and Political Resistance
Across 7 shows, there was broad agreement on two critical trends: AI agents are fundamentally reshaping software value, shifting it from traditional user interfaces to headless, API-first architectures. Concurrently, a severe and escalating compute and power crisis, driven by infrastructure limitations, rising costs, and increasing public opposition to new data center construction, threatens AI's growth.
Where they split: A key tension emerged around the necessity versus the environmental and social costs of expanding AI infrastructure. Some argued for the critical need to build more data centers to maintain global AI leadership, while others highlighted the immense energy consumption and local burden of these facilities, fueling public and political opposition.
The Monthly Read: August 2026
Airtable's 90% valuation plunge signals a severe market reset for horizontal no-code SaaS amid AI disruption
Across 2 shows, commentators agreed that Airtable's sale at roughly 1.28 billion dollars down from an 11 billion dollar peak highlights a brutal valuation correction for horizontal SaaS businesses facing slowing venture growth and AI substitution.
Where they split: All-In framed the collapse as a product vulnerability caused by AI tools replacing traditional no-code platforms, while 20VC emphasized financial mechanics and the lack of private equity buyer competition for legacy SaaS assets.
People quoted on SaaS
Latest write-ups
Aydin Senkut on Why Physical AI Beats SaaS
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Shawn Wang: San Francisco Is Trapped in a B2B SaaS Bubble
San Francisco software companies are trapped inside a B2B SaaS bubble, selling internal software to other venture-backed tech firms, while builders in Shanghai focus heavily on open-source tools like ComfyUI.
WHOOP Replaced a $500 Price Tag with a Monthly Fee
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Hector Serrano on Scaling Paid UGC to 30x Revenue
Wispr Flow drove 30x revenue growth by ditching organic vanity metrics and treating paid UGC creators as uncapped performance partners.
Naveen Rao Says Pure Software SaaS Margins Will Collapse
Naveen Rao warns that venture capitalists backing pure software SaaS face vanishing margins as value flows directly to underlying model providers.
Enterprise SaaS Will Consolidate From 5,000 Vendors to 10
Enterprise software portfolios face severe reduction: Krishna notes the average enterprise buys from 500 to 5,000 distinct vendors, but predicts CIOs will replace hundreds of point solutions with basic AI tools and centralize spe…
Why Mega-Funds Ignore Profitable Non-AI SaaS
Harry Stebbings highlighted a software company generating $20 million in annual recurring revenue, growing 600% to 700% profitably, that received zero interest from venture capital firms because it lacked an AI narrative.
Pieter Levels Thinks SaaS Moats Are Dead
Indie hacker Pieter Levels pivoted to AI applications in 2022 and now claims pure software features offer zero long-term defense against competitors.
Why AI Models Kept Calling Resend the Most Expensive Email Service
Resend discovered that Claude and ChatGPT were telling prospective buyers the platform was the most expensive email service on the market, despite offering competitive rates.
Dylan Field Says Model Progress Is Not Product Progress
When Anthropic launched Claude Design, critics declared Figma obsolete, yet Figma reported 48% year-over-year revenue growth soon after.
Why Foundation Model Revenue Is Not Real SaaS
Anthropic reportedly cut its target public valuation from $2 trillion to $1.5 trillion as percentage growth cools ahead of an IPO.