SaaS Is the New Cable: The Great Unbundling, AI Agents in Slack, and Why CAC is expensive now

Doom and Quinn discuss why paid advertising is getting more expensive as AI enables advertising at scale without increasing the supply of prospects, driving CPCs up and reinforcing that customer acquisition will not get easier. They argue “software is the new cable” amid a great unbundling: cheaper building and AI tooling make long-tail, niche SaaS viable, likely increasing total software spend and benefiting hyperscalers, while CFO consolidation pressures persist. They cover GTM engineering momentum, agentic workflows in Slack (including Claude Tag) and vendor lock-in via institutional knowledge, plus headless GTM stacks and productivity gains that don’t replace AEs. They note software’s post-2021 reset, the difficulty of going from $0–$1M ARR, and a consulting/services “golden age” as companies struggle to implement AI. Ramp data suggests no “SaaSpocalypse,” with Figma, HubSpot, and AI-native Attio still growing.

00:00 Ads Getting Pricier

01:01 AI GTM Headlines

04:16 Claude Tag Lock In

06:47 Software New Cable

09:44 Fragmentation And Micro SaaS

12:54 Acquisition Never Easy

14:48 Clay Ads Retargeting

18:42 DIY Data Tools

22:18 Golden Age Consulting

28:30 Who Wins SaaSpocalypse

30:49 Wrap Up And Subscribe