AI & The Collapse of SaaS-Era Organizations
The shift from SaaS to AI-native isn’t just a technology transition or a business model evolution—it’s a complete reordering of competitive advantage. Companies that dominated the SaaS era face structural disadvantages. Infrastructure players suddenly control the value that previously flowed to application vendors. And entirely new categories of AI-native vertical players emerge to bypass the SaaS layer entirely.
Understanding who wins and why requires examining three distinct competitive dynamics: the Innovator’s Dilemma facing SaaS incumbents, the structural advantages of infrastructure players, and the emergence of AI-native vertical opportunities. Each dynamic creates different strategic imperatives and organizational transformations.
This isn’t a story of “better products winning.” It’s a story of architectural advantages compounding, business model misalignment destroying profitable companies, and organizational structures either adapting or becoming obsolete.
