Ben and Andrew react to a bloodbath for public Saas companies with thoughts on the future of software in the AI era, beginning with why companies choose to outsource solutions to Saas companies today, and why those moats may be more durable than skeptics think. Then: Why SaaS skepticism remains fair, including an analogy to the newspapers in the ’90s, the absence of anti-fragility, a variety of headwinds that will impact pricing power, start-ups with superior cost structures, and looming consolidation and layoff questions. At the end: The biggest SaaS company of them all and what Microsoft’s roadmap should look like, a response to data center skepticism, supply and demand for hyperscalers, why Ben hated the Anthropic Super Bowl ads, should AI hallucinations be good case law?, and a Vision Pro announcement. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube @Stratechery Channel — YouTube Microsoft and Software Survival — Stratechery An Interview with Benedict Evans About AI and Software — Stratechery Interview OpenAI Bets on Super Bowl to Break Through the Competition — Bloomberg Sam Altman’s Response to Anthropic — X: @sama Anthropic’s Super Bowl ads — X: @jmsltnv Hallucinated Cases Are Good Law — X: @ProfRobAnderson Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
Analysis: done · source seed