Software Has Made Us Soft

Think outcomes, not tools

The last few decades made software the perfect business. Great margins. Infinite scale. Per-seat pricing. No wonder every grad wants to be a "software" engineer at a big tech company.

Companies are hitting tool fatigue. Another dashboard, another subscription, another piece of software to learn. As SaaS bills balloon and tooling sprawls, businesses are rethinking their entire software spend. The old playbook of "find a SaaS product for every need" is breaking. A founder recently turned a $20,000 app quote into a $30 solution on Replit. AI is making the gap between thought and running software disappear.

We are seeing startups evolve quickly. Robotics companies integrating hardware and code to solve labor shortages. Service layers replacing entire customer support organizations. Vertical solutions that combine software, hardware, and services. The pattern is clear—certainty is the new moat. Success isn't about building tools anymore—it's about owning problems end to end.

This shift isn't just exposing builders—it's exposing investors. VCs who mastered the traditional software playbook are struggling with this new reality. Value is shifting from those who make software to those who know how to use it. Hospitals reimagining care. Studios reinventing storytelling. When complete solutions include operations and hardware costs, the traditional patterns of evaluating software startups break down.

The most concerning part is our lack of curiosity to adapt. The hard part isn't building anymore—it's understanding what to build and why. Before writing a line of code, ask yourself: are you solving for the complete outcome, or just building another tool that AI could generate tomorrow? Tools won't matter. Outcomes will.