I actually think this article is late and we’re already seeing the next evolution of this trend: flexible SaaS.
Right now SaaS products are mostly single-purpose workflows and aren’t super customizable (until the start-up ages and enters a few enterprises who demand customizations). This is a step-up from Excel which was general purpose but didn’t facilitate workflows seamlessly.
However what Airtable is finding is almost any specific SaaS can be recreated with general purpose spreadsheet-like products. Essentially they merged the ease of use of Excel with additional shared workflows of SaaS.
Right now SaaS products are mostly single-purpose workflows and aren’t super customizable (until the start-up ages and enters a few enterprises who demand customizations). This is a step-up from Excel which was general purpose but didn’t facilitate workflows seamlessly.
However what Airtable is finding is almost any specific SaaS can be recreated with general purpose spreadsheet-like products. Essentially they merged the ease of use of Excel with additional shared workflows of SaaS.