Arthur built four internal tools he used to pay for, and says distribution is the last moat
Arthur built four internal tools this month that he used to pay for, in a few evenings with Claude. His warning to founders: if he can do that, so can their customers, and their competitors. Features aren't a moat anymore, he says, and neither is price. What's left is distribution. The founder who knows where their users hang out wins, and the one who only builds gets copied. AI made building easy, but it didn't make marketing free. Even zombies have to go find the brains.
SaaS is dead
This month I built 4 internal tools I used to pay for
Took me a few evenings with Claude
If I can do that, so can your customers. And your competitors.
Features aren't a moat anymore. Price isn't a moat anymore
What's left?
Distribution
The founder who knows where their users hang out wins. The one who just builds gets copied
AI made building easy. It didn't make marketing free
— Arthur, read the original on XMore SaaS obituaries
- David Kobia hit a broken support link and vibe coded a SendGrid alternative by Sunday night
- Hunter Bohm cancelled 5 subscriptions in two weeks with Claude Code, about $134 a month
- Kelly C. built a half-decent CRM in about the time it took to research and price CRMs
- Noah Kagan says Claude Max killed $15,788 a year of software, Carta and Zapier included
- Pawan cancelled $1,700/month construction software after bots rebuilt it on QuickBooks