The SaaS boom of 2020-2021 created a glut of point solutions. Everyone got funded. If you had a pitch deck and a `.ai` domain, you got $5M. But now, the music has stopped, and the chairs are missing.
We are entering the "Great Consolidation."
The Death of Point Solutions
CIOs are tired. They have 150 SaaS subscriptions. They don't want another tool; they want a platform. This demand-side pressure is colliding with supply-side desperation.
"There are too many companies with $2M ARR, high burn, and no path to IPO. They are zombiecorns walking."
This is where Private Equity (PE) enters the chat. Firms like Thoma Bravo and Vista aren't buying growth anymore; they are buying cash flow and customer bases.
The Roll-Up Playbook
Expect to see vertical roll-ups. A holding company buys:
- An AI legal drafter.
- A legacy case management system.
- A compliance checker.
Separately, they are struggling startups. Together, they are a "LegalOS" platform with $50M ARR and sticky retention.
What This Means for Founders
If you are building a feature, not a platform, your exit strategy just changed. You aren't IPOing. You are selling to a platform aggregator.
Optimize for:
- Integration quality: How easily do you fit into a bigger stack?
- Data gravity: Do you own proprietary data that the acquirer needs?