Will incumbents acquire innovation before startups acquire distribution?

Anish Acharya, general partner at a16z, about the future at SaaS in an AI world on a16z Podcasta16z Podcast · Anish Acharya: Is SaaS Dead in a World of AI?

Because he says the most brilliant thing, which is, and I'm gonna butcher it slightly, but you know, will the incumbent incumbent acquire innovation before the startup acquires distribution?

8:23 / 9:06

Because he says the most brilliant thing, which is, and I'm gonna butcher it slightly, but you know, will the incumbent incumbent acquire innovation before the startup acquires distribution? That's right. Yeah. How do you think about who wins in this world? The the public SaaS company who has distribution, be it a HubSpot or a Salesforce who has millions of customers? Yeah. Or is it actually the startup who has speed, agility, and incredible engineers?

So if history is any guide and, you know, to reference Alex, he would say that it often is. You know, those who have actually studied history tend to do better than those who have not. And what I would say is that when you have this product cycle and you have a capable incumbent, what happens is they usually make their product better for their existing categories.

About this clip

Anish Acharya explores the critical question of who wins when AI disrupts SaaS: established companies like Salesforce and HubSpot with massive distribution, or agile startups with superior technology. He argues that history shows capable incumbents typically focus on improving their existing products rather than defending against new categories.

Why this clip

This presents a clear strategic framework for analyzing competitive dynamics between incumbents and startups during technological disruption.

8:23 - 9:0643sframework

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