Horizontal platforms winning over vertical software
Enterprises are increasingly abandoning niche vertical software in favor of doubling down on horizontal platforms to build custom, AI-driven workflows.
The argument
David Friedberg argued that businesses are shifting budgets away from off-the-shelf vertical applications to invest heavily in flexible horizontal platform capabilities, allowing them to build bespoke apps and workflows internally.
The thesis, stress-tested
✓ What validates it
- ✓Increased revenue growth in platform-centric segments of major software providers
- ✓Declining growth rates for pure-play vertical SaaS companies
▸ Risks discussed
- ▸High complexity and cost of building custom internal workflows
- ▸Shortage of internal developer talent to leverage horizontal APIs
Hear it yourself
"And here is these AI cars with all these cameras, American made, you know, Chinese factories driving around China. That is pretty incredible. How do you think he pulled that off? Is that just a one off exception? I think Elon's the greatest salesman in the world. That's how. I mean, the cynical take on Ichimoff would be they wanted him there and they wanted to study the company and the innovation, and they have now become the biggest competitor, with their EVs. And so it is a pretty coopetition, I guess. It would be the cynical way to be. One of those new BYD golf you know, what do you call those with the doors that flip flip up? Golwing."
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