Why the Value of Software Is Falling

Software used to be expensive because it was hard to make.

It required teams, time, coordination, and capital. Writing code was slow. Testing was slow. Shipping was slow. Even small changes carried risk. That friction gave software its value.

AI removes that friction.

Agents can now write, refactor, test, deploy, and monitor software. They can scaffold entire applications, wire up infrastructure, and integrate third-party services with minimal human effort. What once took months can now take days. Sometimes hours.

As a result, software itself is becoming less precious.

Replication is easy. Modification is easy. Forking is easy. If an application exists, it can be recreated, extended, or adapted quickly. The marginal cost of software approaches zero.

This is not theoretical. We are already living it.

Internal tools that once justified teams are now built by individuals. Prototypes turn into production systems without formal handoffs. Features are generated on demand. Bugs are fixed by agents. Entire workflows are automated without writing much code at all.

When creation is cheap, ownership loses value.

This has big implications for SaaS and software businesses. The traditional model assumed code was the moat. That assumption is breaking. If competitors can replicate functionality quickly, then functionality alone is not defensible.

What remains valuable is everything around the code.

Distribution matters more. Trust matters more. Brand matters more. Understanding users deeply matters more. Having a tight feedback loop matters more. Owning the relationship matters more.

Software becomes a means, not the product.

This is also why agents are such a big inflection point. They do not just write code. They perform work. They orchestrate systems. They replace entire categories of tooling by acting directly on intent.

When an agent can do the job, the software that used to do the job loses value.

This does not mean software disappears. It means it shifts.

The future looks less like selling tools and more like enabling outcomes. Less like shipping features and more like solving problems continuously. Less like static products and more like living systems.

For builders, this is both liberating and scary.

Liberating because you can build more with less. Scary because differentiation is harder. The bar moves up. You cannot hide behind complexity anymore.

The winners will not be the teams with the most code. They will be the teams with the clearest intent, the best understanding of users, and the fastest learning cycles.

Software is getting cheaper. Agency is getting more valuable.

And in that world, the real asset is not what you build.
It is how quickly you can decide what to build next...