SOFTWARE ISN'T DEAD. WHAT'S VALUABLE IS CHANGING

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

AI is shifting software value from user interfaces to systems that capture data and automate work. The selloff in software stocks followed a narrative that AI makes SaaS obsolete, yet code was never the main moat. The most valuable layer is structured data systems of record that give AI agents the context needed to act, while new systems can now be created by extracting structured information from previously unstructured sources. Workflow products still matter because they encode industry knowledge about how work should be done, even if agents perform the steps instead of humans. The biggest shift is automation that replaces labor, which allows software to sell economic output instead of tools.