It’s a great time to be in Software
My Affair with Software - Part 2
👋 Hi friend,
Welcome to Part 2 of the essay with which I’m relaunching the databeats newsletter in 2025. Here’s Part 1:
I find it amusing that those who predict the demise of a technology or exaggerate its importance are often the very same people who stand to benefit if their predictions come true. In fact, if you notice closely, you’ll see that these people essentially sell the same piece of tech they claim is doomer, cleverly repackaging it and crafting narratives to confuse and capture the market.
I’ve seen this play out before but not at the present scale where folks are making sweeping claims about the death of SaaS – not just a particular category but all of SaaS.
I don’t think it’s true – far from it. My recommendation is to understand the facts and form your own opinion rather than blindly follow the pundits, even though it’s the easier option.
So, why do I think it’s a great time to be in software?
For starters, the commodification of GenerativeAI has led to an explosion of new SaaS tools, some of which enable you to do things that were not possible in the absence of LLMs.
At the same time – and this is what I’m more excited about – deriving value from existing software now requires a lot less effort, skill, and time, enabling more people to use software they already have access to. It might sound ironic that most people, including the ones selling software, don’t actually like spending time learning how to use software.
It should come as no surprise that a powerful tool has a relatively steep learning curve, else it wouldn’t be labelled powerful in the first place. This is something I saw play out at Integromat big time; Zapier users were coming in droves only to find that Integromat’s blank canvas was intimidating and that the learning curve was too steep. Today, you can describe in words the tools you wish to connect and the necessary modules will show up – AI has flattened the learning curve.
LLMs have not only made it dead easy to work with APIs and build workflows, but have also added a whole new dimension to what’s possible when it comes to automation while enabling the consolidation of disjointed capabilities; one SaaS tool is now able to do what would take three or four disparate tools in the pre-LLM era.
The renewed interest in workflow automation and building with visual tools (not a fan of “no-code”) has the automation enthusiast in me incredibly excited and optimistic. I haven’t experienced this level of excitement since my Chatfuel and Integromat days when all of a sudden, I was building stuff I could never build before. So yes, I wholeheartedly believe in the transformative power of LLMs, which is why I think now is an incredible time to be in SaaS.
A quick story before I go into the tools I’m using or following closely. I think it was sometime in early 2020 when a colleague of mine from Integromat suggested that I should build a SaaS given my deep knowledge of the space. My response to him was this: “Dude, I’m not at all interested in building a tool because there’s absolutely no paucity of products in the market. If you can think of a problem, I can point you to a tool that solves that problem. I’d rather become a pro at solving problems using existing tools.”
I’ve always thought of myself as the equivalent of an artist or a musician and software as the equivalent of an artist’s toolkit or a musician’s preferred instrument; nobody goes asking rockstars why they don’t build and sell instruments – you get the idea, don’t you?
Now, let’s quickly discuss the LLM-enabled applications that I find game-changing.
First, I’ve been blown away by tools being built at the intersection of Music and AI that are enabling wannabe musicians like me to turn our dreams into reality. I’ve started bringing my poems and lyrics to life using Suno and am also exploring Udio. These two products are particularly impressive because they don’t just generate audio but are able to process custom lyrics and compose entire songs.
Second, there’s a new breed of tools bringing the power of LLMs to familiar interfaces like spreadsheets and workflow builders, enabling savvy folks to build incredibly useful things incredibly fast. I’ve been playing with Clay while also chatting with its power users and boy, the possibilities are endless and the level of creativity is truly impressive. I’ve also heard good things about AirOps and Gumloop.
It’s worth highlighting that these tools have taken the best of what already exists in the world of automation and supercharged them with LLM capabilities, enabling semi-technical folks like me to leverage AI in our everyday workflows.
But there’s also a third category of tools – ones that are focused on enabling people to build software without knowing how to code. While such AI-native tools like Lovable, Bolt, and Wordware look promising, I’m not yet convinced that they are game-changing (I hope I’m wrong) because they have only made it easier and faster to build simple apps – something that people have been building for years using low-code tools.
Moreover, sooner rather than later, once monetization becomes a priority, they will be competing with established low-code app builders like Retool, Appsmith, and Superblocks, all of whom have added AI capabilities already. I’m personally not interested in building software; however, I’m still excited about the innovation that AI has brought to this particular category and I’m keeping an eye out for useful apps built using modern tools.
When I say it’s a great time to be in software, I mean that it’s a great time to not only build a SaaS but also to become a power user of modern tools that inspire you to bring your ideas to life.
Let me know if you’re building something cool – I’d love to check it out and provide feedback!
In the next part of this essay, I’m sharing how I broke into data, worked with a bunch of data startups, decided to go independent, and everything I discovered along the way.
Thanks for reading!
Awesome links
The list below includes all the tools mentioned above (besides Integromat and Zapier)
Music x AI
My Suno Profile (words are all mine; everything else is AI)
Workflow Automation x AI
AI-native App Builders
Established Low-code App Builders
Would you like to show me what you’re building? Hit me up on LinkedIn!
Thanks for sharing these tools, looking forward to trying some out! I also really liked your concept around being "an artist or a musician and software as the equivalent of an artist’s toolkit or a musician’s preferred instrument; nobody goes asking rockstars why they don’t build and sell instruments"