The Observation
Companies like Tailwind CSS and Stack Overflow are experiencing a paradox:
- Usage: Trending UP
- Revenue: Trending DOWN
The root cause: their users have shifted from humans to machines.
The Broken Assumption
These business models were built on human users who:
- Visit websites
- Click on ads
- Navigate to products
- Make purchasing decisions
With LLMs and agents consuming this content directly, that assumption is broken. The product isn't broken - it's more useful than ever. But the business model is.
The Anti-Correlation Signal
When you see usage and revenue anti-correlated, something obvious is being missed. There's likely a solution already out there that:
- Lacks critical adoption
- Lacks visibility
- Is missing something to make it "click"
Once discovered, it will feel obvious in hindsight.
The Provocative Questions
What if your ICP is a machine?
- What does it mean to sell to an agent?
- How do you position for machine users?
- Is it SEO? Clear documentation? Something entirely different?
- How do you monetize agent interactions with your product?
The financial infrastructure angle:
- Imagine "Stripe for agents" - a dominant platform for agent financial transactions
- Mercury's API-first banking is well-positioned
- Whoever captures agent transactions captures enormous value
The Shift
Previous era: Humans accessed content with help from machines (crawlers, search) Current era: Machines access and use content directly, bypassing humans
This isn't theoretical - we're seeing real impacts:
- Layoffs at Tailwind
- Stack Overflow's struggles
- Rapid user profile shifts that outpace business model adaptation
The Question for SaaS Builders
Products on the internet are going to be primarily used by machines rather than humans going forward.
What does it mean to sell to a customer profile that isn't human?