I am grateful for all the conversations I've had with founders tackling "sell work, not software" opportunities. Some follow-up reflections from those conversations.
Really interesting. I’m very bullish on the interplay of human <> machine interaction to tackle more work jobs & faster. Unlocking a positive feedback loop between the two is critical.
What a super article. Perhaps Founders who adopt a “sell the work” strategy have another advantage also: their large incumbent SaaS competitors may be slow to adopt the strategy and catch up. Three possible causes:
1) If their competitors sell on a per-seat basis they are incentivized against “selling the work” since it cannibalizes their revenues.
2) Their user base may advocate against it because they see it as a competitor to their labor. Per "competition ... [from]... the company’s own human capital" - from Sarah's original post.
3) Selling the work may involve getting your hands dirty with things that are not just coding, especially “if it is your own employees or contractors that are in the loop”. Many software companies will perhaps be reticent to do that.
If selling work is an option, why not establish direct relationships with end users instead of going through other businesses? In what cases is it more beneficial to act as a work provider for other companies, rather than pursuing direct sales to consumers?
Thank you Sarah, I’d be curious if a marketplace can coexist with both human work and AI assisted work. I see human marketplaces using AI tools to do work but I wonder what it would look like to give people a choice. Pay a human or pay for AI… I also wonder if the price point was relatively the same if they would pick human over AI… I am sure speed and quality of finished product would also come into play. Thank you for the thought provoking insight! -with gratitude-Jenny
Thought provoking! What are your thoughts about the long term gross margins of such businesses? How much of the value created through automation will they be able to retain? Intuitively it feels like gains will be shared with buyers or end up with buyers due to competition.
Really interesting. I’m very bullish on the interplay of human <> machine interaction to tackle more work jobs & faster. Unlocking a positive feedback loop between the two is critical.
Great read
What a super article. Perhaps Founders who adopt a “sell the work” strategy have another advantage also: their large incumbent SaaS competitors may be slow to adopt the strategy and catch up. Three possible causes:
1) If their competitors sell on a per-seat basis they are incentivized against “selling the work” since it cannibalizes their revenues.
2) Their user base may advocate against it because they see it as a competitor to their labor. Per "competition ... [from]... the company’s own human capital" - from Sarah's original post.
3) Selling the work may involve getting your hands dirty with things that are not just coding, especially “if it is your own employees or contractors that are in the loop”. Many software companies will perhaps be reticent to do that.
Thank you for the great read.
2 Follow ups:
(1) https://www.ketryx.com/ - does this company qualify as doing the 'work' for you?
(2) What are your thoughts on this article? Found this a fresh PoV on GenAI: https://platforms.substack.com/p/how-to-win-at-generative-ai
If selling work is an option, why not establish direct relationships with end users instead of going through other businesses? In what cases is it more beneficial to act as a work provider for other companies, rather than pursuing direct sales to consumers?
Thank you Sarah, I’d be curious if a marketplace can coexist with both human work and AI assisted work. I see human marketplaces using AI tools to do work but I wonder what it would look like to give people a choice. Pay a human or pay for AI… I also wonder if the price point was relatively the same if they would pick human over AI… I am sure speed and quality of finished product would also come into play. Thank you for the thought provoking insight! -with gratitude-Jenny
Thought provoking! What are your thoughts about the long term gross margins of such businesses? How much of the value created through automation will they be able to retain? Intuitively it feels like gains will be shared with buyers or end up with buyers due to competition.
Does Scale fall under this category?