AI agents are starting to do the work software used to help with. If your tool isn’t sticky, it’s auditioning for a part the story doesn’t need.
The story
AI-ish patterns I’d sand down:
– Neat laddering: phase one, two, three. Feels like a slide deck in a hoodie.
– Startup words: moat, per-seat, commodity, proprietary data, network effects, regulatory lock-in.
– Big blanket lines: “software has always…” and “everything else…” sound too tidy.
– Metaphor pileup: middleman, door, script. Strong, but crowded.
– The promo tag at the end shifts tone fast.
🟢 The Software Middleman is Getting Fired
Software has been a middleman for a long time. You have a task. The app helps with the task. You pay the app. Everyone claps politely. Yay.
That deal is getting wobbly.
The awkward part for software companies? For years, the hard part was building the thing. Now tools like Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code make a first version easier to make. Not easy. Easy is how people end up with a half-built app, three tabs of panic, and a cold burrito.
Humans are moving from typing every line to telling AI what to build, then fixing the weird bits. Bossing the robot intern.
Then it gets spicy. If a team can make a small tool in an afternoon, why pay for a generic project tracker, CRM, form builder, or dashboard? If the software doesn’t have data no one else has, or a sticky reason to stay, it starts looking replaceable.
Then agents walk in wearing little digital boots.
Operator, Perplexity Assistant, and Claude Computer Use aren’t only helping people use software. They’re starting to do the work the software was meant to help with.
Instead of opening a spreadsheet, I can say, “Track my expenses. Flag weird stuff monthly.” The task stays. The interface starts looking optional.
Software used to answer, “How do I do this?” Agents answer, “Done.”
The survivors look like platforms where people, data, rules, or habits create gravity. The rest are auditioning for parts the story might not need.
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