Many AI-first companies still make money the old-fashioned way—here’s how
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
A brutal market reset last month colloquially dubbed “Black Tuesday for Software” wiped out nearly $1 trillion in market value. Wall Street remains panicked, gripped by a sudden, terrifying narrative: that autonomous AI agents are decimating the traditional “per-seat” software licensing model that has fueled the SaaS industry for two decades.
The SaaS giants began deploying an aggressive AI-first marketing campaign in 2024, when the focus shifted from generative AI to agentic AI.
But if you look past that and crack open their latest financial statements, a massive disconnect emerges. It’s the secret 95-percent rule: despite all the “agentic” rebranding, traditional, seat-based subscriptions still account for over 95 percent of their actual revenue.
Read the full story | INC.
