Stop calling them tech companies: GenAI and SaaS — are they really tech? It’s time to call a spade a spade.
Stop calling them tech companies: GenAI and SaaS — are they really tech? It’s time to call a spade a spade.
When I started angel investing in the late 1990s, a tech investment included a significant technology risk, with the potential upside being groundbreaking innovation. Being an investor at this time meant taking a considerable technology risk and betting on actual tech, such as nanotech, semiconductors or biotech.
E-commerce, albeit hyped and interesting, was not considered tech. It was “Business 2.0”, plain and straightforward, hype included.
All companies are tech companies, those that aren't will be replaced by those that are. It's been a common theme for a decade. I don't really care that some venture capitalists lost their easy button to decide where to throw money for massive returns. Investing is supposed to require diligence.
I read four words then was hit with this.
You’ve just hit the article limit with your free Sifted account.
Ok, ok. If you insist. I won’t read your article.
Remember WeWork? It’s the ultimate example of putting tech-coloured lipstick on a pig.
Daaaaaaamn
To summarize, "I have a POV that almost no one else has. Why is everyone not naming things the way I see them."
Seriously. Your opinions and hate aside, LLM, deep learning and reasoning models are amongst one of the most advanced software technologies available to consumers.
This post is lame
No, no they're not. These are just repackaged and scaled-up neural nets. Anyone remember those? The concept and good chunks of the math are over 200 years old. Hell, there was two-layer neural net software in the early 90s that ran on my x386. Specifically, Neural Network PC Tools by Russell Eberhart. The DIY implementation of OCR in that book is a great example of roll-your-own neural net. What we have today, much like most modern technology, is just lots MORE of the same. Back in the DOS days, there was even an ML application that would offer contextual suggestions for mistyped command line entries.
Typical of Silicon Valley, they are trying to rent out old garbage and use it to replace workers and creatives.
This doesn't change the fact that SaaS is lucrative because unlike producing hardware, you can add users/subscribers without paying to produce additional units.
By that measure shouldn't Disney be considered a Tech company too? Or I guess banks and insurance companies.
I hadn't thought of it that way, but maybe the article (at least the small part I can read with no paywall) is on to something, Companies that sell access to technology or rely on technology to sell something else (he does give the example of e-commerce) should not be "Tech" companies.
The part I didn't get to is where the author draws the line to tell what companies ARE Tech. I guess OpenAI or Google would qualify. They sell services but they are services they invented and made, with considerable researxh and investment. But what about Amazon or Netflix?
By that measure shouldn’t Disney be considered a Tech company too? Or I guess banks and insurance companies.
Yeah, in the same way that every company that uses a phone is a phone company.
I'm on board with it if people want to change the terminology around these things, but it seems like the core of what the author is discussing is the valuation of these companies and potential bubbles.
I think it makes sense that Disney and Amazon and Netflix who are able to make money through more of a SaaS-like model would have a higher valuation than a car company that has to produce a new car for every unit sold. Maybe there's a recent example of an over-valued car company we can think of?
Consider that an auto mechanic and a software engineer can have a similar problem-solving skill set, and could both be very intelligent. Why then does an auto mechanic make so much less money? It's partly because of the economies of scale involved with software. The owner of the software company can sell the software to thousands of clients without having to pay the software engineer to build the software thousands of times. The owner of the auto shop still has to pay the mechanic to perform every job every time and get paid for it.
So while I agree that Disney and Netflix maybe aren't "Tech" companies, it seems to me the real problem the author is grappling with is whether they should be valued similar to tech companies. So I guess the question becomes, are "tech" companies highly valued because they are expected to make some huge technological leap that shakes up industries, or is it because of the economies of scale inherent in the SaaS-like business model?
