SaaS is not dead. That was the pushback from a VC panel at the AI Conference, an
By Leosgovio · October 4, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
SaaS is not dead.
That was the pushback from a VC panel at the AI Conference, and I’m glad someone with authority said it.
The argument goes like this.
Everyone is rushing to build their own tools because it looks cheaper than paying a monthly subscription.
But that math only works for simple stuff.
The moment you need security, maintenance, and someone to fix bugs when things break, the cost compounds.
One panelist put it bluntly. Companies are paying $3-5K for an AI expert to build a solution, then paying again to maintain it, then again to patch vulnerabilities.
SaaS companies charge a nominal monthly fee and guarantee the code stays current.
That recurring cost is the hidden price of DIY.
The opportunity for SaaS is to focus on hard problems that are genuinely painful to solve and maintain yourself.
Simple tools will get built in-house. Complex ones will not.
And the security angle is real. Roughly 80% of the sponsors at the conference were cybersecurity companies, which tells you something about how many of these self-built apps are actually safe to run.