SaaS is crumbling fast & AI’s not just swinging the axe—it’s crowning emperors

Welcome back, today, we’re diving into the SaaS meltdown—a collapse that’s starting to echo Rome’s fall, with all the chaos and opportunity that entails.

AI is the barbarian at the gate, and the old empires like Salesforce and Microsoft are scrambling to keep their empires together.

This isn’t about who’s got the shiniest software anymore. It’s about who’s building the future with AI agents (or Aaas as we like to call it).

We’re breaking it all down below, sparked by our thread on X —join the conversation here and weigh in with your take.

Let’s comb through the rubble.

Rome Fell Faster Than You Think

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it didn’t limp to its grave either. Once the cracks showed  and barbarians were at the gates, the end was a sprint. It took just 66 years - that’s a heartbeat for a superpower.

Traditional B2B SaaS is racing down the same chute. AI’s the axe, swinging through workflows and jobs that SaaS once “fixed.”

Valuations are cratering—down 76% from their 2021 peak—and smart investors are jumping ship before the rubble settles.

This isn’t a slow fade; it’s a fast fall. Dump the losers, back the winners. The new empire? Agent-as-a-Service (AaaS). Long may it reign.

Takeaway: Empires don’t announce their demise—they unravel when the pressure hits. SaaS’s pressure is AI, and the unraveling’s begun.

SaaS Is Bleeding Out—Who’s Toast?

AI’s already inside, and it’s slaughtering the weak. To spot the walking dead in your portfolio, ask two brutal questions:

1) Are the Users Still Breathing? If your SaaS serves the grunts—QuickBooks clerks tapping numbers, support drones clicking tickets—AI’s replaced them. Cheap bots do it faster, better, and for pennies. Survivors target the top: Directors, VPs, C-suite. If the user base isn’t calling shots, the SaaS is toast.

Example: QuickBooks is flailing—AI bookkeeping’s undercutting it at $10/month vs. $50/user. Sorry, clerks.

2) Is the Industry on Life Support? SaaS tied to fading trends is a death sentence. Envoy’s workplace tools rode WeWork’s co-working hype—then Zoom’s remote reign buried them. What’s next on AI’s hit list? Manual CRMs? Bloated project trackers? Ask yourself: What’s obsolete tomorrow?

Case Study: Salesforce’s Agentforce pivot is a Hail Mary—Microsoft Copilot’s already feasting on their market. Too little, too late.

Value Add: Test every SaaS bet with these. If it’s “no” or “maybe,” walk away.

Tech Moats Are Melting

Your SaaS edge is code? Adorable.

AI’s not cloning SaaS; it’s outsmarting it.

Georgi Gerganov’s latest demo (X post here) proves it: AI agents on a call realize they’re both AI and switch to a high-speed audio signal, leaving humans in the dust. That’s not a competitor—that’s a conqueror.

Here’s what might still hold as a moat:

• Regulatory Armor: Carta’s cap table chaos lives because AI can’t charm regulators—yet. Compliance is a shield, not a sword.
• Network Stickiness: Slack’s “fancy chat” isn’t tech—it’s a brand with ecosystem glue. People stay where their tribe is.
• Speed Flex: GitHub Copilot’s pace is relentless—outrun AI, or it outruns you.

Value Add: Code’s dead as a differentiator. Bet on regulation, networks, or speed. Scour X for chatter on these moats—real-time sentiment beats polished PR every time.

Valuation Gut Punch

SaaS valuations are taking a bigs hit—multiples are at 7.0x ARR to start 2025, a 76% drop from 2021’s 29x fever dream. Asana and Monday.com bulls are huffing copium, calling it a “buying opportunity.”

Wrong. It’s not cheap—it’s charred.

• Who’s Bleeding: Feature-stuffed platforms with no AI answer—project management relics, legacy HR tools, overcomplicated CRMs. They’re Rome’s unpaid legions.

Value Add: Ignore this, and you’re throwing cash at “cheap” SaaS stocks headed for the landfill. Get it, and you’re focused on the trillion-dollar AaaS shift.

Search X for “SaaS multiples 2025” to see the latest investor pulse—don’t trust the old guard’s hype.

AaaS: The Only Game in Town

Rome’s fall birthed feudalism—SaaS’s collapse is birthing Agent-as-a-Service.

Satya Nadella’s steering Microsoft full-tilt into it, calling SaaS “CRUD on a ventilator.” AaaS isn’t software—it’s your stack, orchestrated by AI.

Watch this clip to see the revolution live.

Players to Watch:

• Adept ($350M raised): Conducting workflows in real-time—HubSpot’s Breeze AI’s choking on their dust.
• Decagon ($100M to date): Building AI agents that rethink work from the ground up.
• Big SaaS Swings: Salesforce’s Agentforce, Microsoft’s Copilot Studio, HubSpot’s Breeze, Dharmesh Shah’s agent.ai—they’re pivoting, but they’re late. Braze, Bloomreach, Zeta? AI as a side gig won’t save them
• New Blood: CrewAI, Rox, OfferFit—no-code agents sprinting past the dinosaurs.

AI’s not automating SaaS—it’s replacing it. Rome fell fast when the end hit—66 years from breach to bust. SaaS is next. Investors, tech bubbles don’t do 66-year time lines, winds of change are much faster.

Value Add: Back the revolutionists, not the establishment. Dig into Adept and Decagon - their funding signals momentum. Track them on X for updates. Start small with the upstarts; they’re risky but ready to redefine the game.

Wrap-Up: Back the New Empire

Rome’s collapse wasn’t a gentle fade—it was a fast, messy end once the tipping point struck. SaaS is on the same trajectory, and AI’s the barbarian at the gate. Ditch the old guard, bet on AaaS, and ride the wave to the next era.

Ready to take the next step? Join the community.

Signing off…