The AI Embedding Business Model
In traditional SaaS, value comes from what the software does.
In the embedding era, value comes from what the software connects to.
The mental model is deceptively simple: Your product stops being the thing companies buy and becomes the thing other systems assume exists.
Salesforce isn’t a CRM. It’s the canonical source of customer truth that 47 other systems read from and write to.
Workday isn’t HR software. It’s the identity layer that single sign-on, payroll, benefits, and performance management depend upon.
Stripe isn’t a payments processor. It’s the financial infrastructure embedded into revenue recognition, subscription management, fraud detection, and compliance workflows.
Snowflake isn’t a data warehouse. It’s the analytical gravity well that data science teams, business intelligence tools, and machine learning pipelines orbit around.
The product is the interconnection.