Op-Ed: SaaS is not dead. You are just being sold the funeral
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The 'SaaS is dead' narrative is driven by hyperscalers, VCs, and foundation model labs who benefit financially from the story — not by evidence. The Klarna case is the clearest example: the CEO's claim that they replaced Salesforce with AI turned out to be a replacement of one SaaS with other SaaS tools. MIT research found 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots produced no measurable P&L impact. SaaS stocks did take a hit in early 2026, but historical tech transitions show layers accumulate rather than replace. Incumbents like Salesforce and HubSpot are adapting with AI features. The real risk for SaaS companies is chasing AI-first rebrands while neglecting existing customers. The likely outcome is not extinction but rearrangement, with disciplined operators who adopt what's useful without abandoning what works.
Table of contents
The 95% number that should have ended the hypeThe collapse that did not collapseThe new gods are not newSort: