Chris Gregori on why we're not entering a golden age of SaaS - we're entering an era of personal, disposable software.
## tldr
- •barrier to entry collapsed, barrier to building something that matters hasn't moved
- •shift from SaaS to "scratchpads" - personal, disposable software you generate and discard
- •Claude Code is Excel for devs (immediate problems), not Shopify (permanent foundation)
- •code is cheap; maintenance, edge cases, UX debt still expensive
- •engineering value shifting from "how" (syntax) to "what/why" (systems)
- •"$10k MRR weekend project" posts are mostly marketing plays, not blueprints
## saas → scratchpads
- •software as disposable utility for the "now", not the "later"
- •CLI-first, local data, zero onboarding makes "temporary" a feature
- •like how spreadsheets were originally used - scratchpads to reason through problems
## code cheap, software expensive
- •"weekend apps" are thin CRUD wrappers that crumble on contact with reality
- •real cost: maintenance, edge cases, data ownership, offline support
- •not end of engineering - new era of it
## distribution illusion
- •AI removed engineering leverage as differentiator
- •taste, timing, audience understanding matter more than ever
- •code is the easy part - getting people to care is still hard
## bottom line
- •tools changed, fundamentals haven't
- •AI good at writing code, poor at architecting systems
- •judgment, taste, responsibility still the job