Unbundling ChatGPT: How SaaS Is Unbundling Excel to Unbundling AI

SaaS has been evolving from just finding all those use-cases inside Excel to now finding all those use-cases inside ChatGPT. Before, we relied on spreadsheets for pretty much everything, from calculations to invoices to project management and CRM. SaaS figured out a way to build more in-depth solutions to all those use cases, making trillions of dollars. If we take a step back, we saw how we unbundled Craigslist, leading to different verticals for buying and selling. Then, we unbundled Excel, and now we are seeing the same trend with ChatGPT, where every popular use-case is being spun out into its own SaaS product.

I believe the waves are coming fast. First, founders spot a need and quickly build a dedicated SaaS that does a direct 1-to-1 replacement of that ChatGPT use-case. The second wave will go much deeper, adding features the users are not* even thinking about today, and go beyond what ChatGPT alone can do.

Unbundling Excel

First Wave Excel Use-Cases → SaaS Companies

• Invoices: FreshBooks and Jobber replaced the classic invoice template in Excel, making billing easier for freelancers and SMBs.

• CRM: Salesforce and HubSpot turned basic contact tracking spreadsheets into super powerful sales and relationship management platforms.

• Project Management: Asana and Monday.com came from Gantt charts and task lists in Excel to project management tools.

Second Wave Excel Examples

• Industry-specific SaaS: Sandbox (childcare management), Swept (janitorial services), and Little Hotelier (boutique hotel scheduling) are examples of SaaS that go far beyond basic spreadsheets and into tailored features for niche markets.

• No-Code / Low-Code Platforms: Airtable and Coda let people build interactive databases and apps, something Excel users never dream of doing.

Unbundling ChatGPT

First Wave ChatGPT Use-Cases → SaaS Companies

• Customer Support: Intercom Fin and Gorgias took the basic Q&A chatbot use-case from ChatGPT and packaged it into a 24/7, always-on, AI-customer support.

• Content Creation: Jasper and Copy.ai wrapped around ChatGPT’s content-writing capability into dedicated features to create blogs, email writing, and marketing copy.

• Data Analysis: Humata and Glean use AI to analyze documents and summarize trends, replacing manual data review.

Second Wave ChatGPT Examples

• Industry-specific Copilots: AI “copilots” for legal, healthcare, finance, and construction that answer questions, handle compliance, and automate routine operational workflows.

• AI Chief of Staff: AI that reads every document, data point, update, and conversation across an organization, then delegates tasks and keeps everyone aligned from the top down.

• AI Voicemail & Communication: AI tools that handle, transcribe, summarize, and respond to voicemails and calls.

The common pattern is that SaaS keeps evolving and unbundling horizontal tools like Excel and ChatGPT. The first wave is a very straightforward replacement, while the second wave goes deeper, creating new ways to manipulate data. I believe we are seeing these patterns now, and we are addressing direct user needs. Eventually, a switch will flip, and we will start to lead users on how to think about the problem, create new categories, and develop new solutions that fundamentally transform their work, helping scale them like never before. It's a bit cliché, but I truly believe that the next wave of SaaS unbundling with ChatGPT will raise the stakes on operating a better business.

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I am Gary Yau Chan. 3x Head of Growth. Product Growth specialist. 26x hackathon winner. Building ClarityInbox. I write about #PLG and #BuildInPublic. Please follow me on LinkedIn, or read about what you can hire me for on my Notion page.