"On this Friday the 13th, I didn't have to try hard to come up with a scary story for you. It all started a little over a week ago. Everything in the public and private markets for 2026 seemed as normal as can be. We were all talking about the bizarre, AI-old social network that is Moltbook. And then, advancements in enterprise AI agents like Claude dropped and it all still seems pretty normal (after all, the models get updated and improved all the time)."
"Then, a relentless selloff materialized: As of market close yesterday, over the last five days, Salesforce is down more than 3%; Adobe is down 3%; Docusign is down 5.5%; and Workday is down more than 10%. (These numbers include some recovery from the lowest lows.) These companies are among the hardest hit in what has now been termed "SaaSpocalypse." And if you're wondering how this applies to startups and private markets, the answer is simple."
""The software slump is proving that code alone was never a real moat," said Zach Lloyd, CEO and founder of AI agent startup Warp, via email. "For VCs and founders, this changes everything: you can't bet on execution anymore when the cost of building software is going to zero. The question is now 'what's stopping someone from copying this next week,' and if your only answer is 'we have good engineers,' you're in trouble.""
Public and private markets appeared normal until sudden advancements in enterprise AI agents prompted investors to reevaluate assumptions underpinning the SaaS industry. A rapid selloff hit major software companies—Salesforce, Adobe, Docusign, and Workday—triggering the phrase “SaaSpocalypse.” Investors questioned whether SaaS metrics and economics translate to AI-native firms, and whether code remains a defensible moat as development costs fall. Startups and VCs face uncertainty because the industry lacks a clear, repeatable playbook for monetizing enterprise AI. Concerns include easy copying of software innovations and the diminishing value of execution alone. Market volatility reflects a shift from SaaS-era certainties to open questions about sustainable AI business models.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]