B2B reinvented
what's next?

The a16z vision, frequently highlighted in their publications and podcasts, shows that generative AI is fundamentally rewriting the way B2B software is built, sold and used.

For years we talked about SaaS — Software as a Service. What we are witnessing now, however, is a shift that runs far deeper. The arrival of powerful, accessible AI models, especially generative AI, is changing the entire architecture of B2B software. It is no longer a ‘‘feature’’ you bolt on, like a chatbot tucked away in the corner of your screen. It is the very foundation on which the next generation of companies is built.

In practice you often see companies struggle with this transition. They try to slap AI on top of their existing — often outdated — systems. A ‘‘thin layer of intelligence’’ over a dumb database, so to speak. That is a dead-end street. Tomorrow’s winners are building their products around AI from the very first line of code.

From ‘‘system of record’’ to ‘‘system of intelligence’’

A concept that sits at the heart of this shift is the evolution from ‘‘systems of record’’ to ‘‘systems of intelligence’’. Your system of record is your source data: your CRM, your ERP, your customer database. For decades the value of software lay in accurately keeping track of that data. Yet data on its own does nothing; it is passive.

A system of intelligence, by contrast, actively uses that data to assist, advise and automate tasks for the user. Think of a CRM that not only stores contact details but proactively suggests the next sales action based on email traffic, market sentiment and the account manager’s calendar. Or supply-chain software that not only tracks inventory but autonomously calculates the most optimal ordering moments and transport routes based on thousands of variables. That is the essence: the software becomes an active partner, a co-pilot.

The impact on the business model is enormous

And this has far-reaching consequences. The traditional B2B sales model — with long sales cycles, demos and fixed licence fees per user per month — often no longer fits. When the value of your product is directly linked to usage (the more data the AI processes, the more valuable the output), consumption-based pricing models suddenly make much more sense. You pay for results, not for access.

What stands out to me is how this also changes the nature of competitive advantage. In the past your moat may have been a technological lead or a strong sales team. Today your moat is increasingly the unique dataset your AI is trained on and the feedback loops from your users. The more people that use your product, the smarter it becomes — and the harder it is for a competitor to catch up. A powerful flywheel, provided you set it up correctly.

The next generation of B2B marketplaces is not about simply matching supply and demand, but about orchestrating complex relationships and integrated processes.

We all know B2C marketplaces like Bol.com or Airbnb. But B2B is a completely different beast. Transactions are more complex, ticket sizes are larger and the trust factor is infinitely more important. A consumer who orders the wrong book sends it back. A contractor who orders the wrong prefab walls via a platform faces a catastrophe that can halt an entire project.

That’s why many early B2B marketplaces failed. They were little more than a glorified Yellow Pages: a list of suppliers and a contact form. The real value isn’t in the connection but in everything that follows. The a16z mindset emphasises that successful B2B marketplaces take over the entire workflow.

From ‘‘listings’’ to workflow orchestration

So what does it mean to take over the workflow? It means the marketplace provides software for:

• Quotations and negotiations: Structured processes to reach a deal.

• Contract management: Legally binding agreements directly on the platform.

• Project management & communication: A single central place where all parties can track progress and communicate, instead of endless email chains.

• Embedded finance: Integrated financial services such as escrow (where the funds are held until the job is done), invoicing and even ‘‘Buy Now, Pay Later’’ solutions for corporate spend.

By integrating these elements, the marketplace becomes indispensable. It is no longer just the place where you find a supplier, but the place where you get the job done. This massively increases stickiness and justifies a higher take rate because you deliver far more than a lead; you deliver a well-oiled process.

The role of trust and data

In B2B, trust is everything. A successful marketplace must therefore invest heavily in vetting suppliers, making reviews transparent and insuring transactions. And this is where data, as I mentioned earlier, comes into play again. A marketplace processing thousands of transactions gathers a wealth of information. Which suppliers deliver on time? What is a fair price for a given service in a specific region? This data can then be used to make the platform smarter — with better matching, accurate price benchmarks and risk analyses. And so the circle closes, and the marketplace builds a deep, data-driven competitive advantage. It is a self-reinforcing mechanism.

It's long since stopped being about ‘‘free software’’. It's a fundamentally different go-to-market and innovation model that perfectly matches the modern B2B buyer.

Open source still carries a somewhat amateurish, almost philanthropic image among those at a distance — as if it's something hobbyists build in an attic. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the world of B2B software, open source has become a razor-sharp commercial strategy that upends traditional top-down sales models. And it's brilliant.

Why? Because the modern B2B buyer — especially for a technical product — no longer fancies a sales call. They don't want to hear about ‘‘synergy’’ and ‘‘paradigm shifts’’. They want to try the product themselves. Immediately. Without filling in a form and waiting three weeks for a demo.

The bottom-up sales model

And that is exactly what open source facilitates. The model, often referred to as ‘‘commercial open-source software’’ (COSS), usually works like this:

1. Create an open-source project that solves a painful, specific problem for a developer, data analyst or other technical user.

2. Build a community of users and contributors around this project. This becomes your most valuable asset. The community provides feedback, word-of-mouth marketing and a constant stream of product ideas — your marketing and R&D departments rolled into one.

3. Launch a commercial product on top of the open-source project. This is often a managed cloud version that removes all the hassle of hosting and maintenance, or an enterprise version with extra features large companies need, such as advanced security, auditing and support.

The genius here is that adoption happens before a single salesperson gets involved. A developer at a large company starts using your open-source tool for a small project. Colleagues see it and start using it too. Before you know it, your software is running on dozens of systems within that organisation. At that point, the need for a central, managed solution becomes so great that the department's manager naturally approaches you for your commercial offering. It's a sales model that sells itself.

Beyond the code: trust and transparency

But the power of open source goes further than just the go-to-market strategy. It builds trust. Because the code is public, users can see exactly what the software does. There are no hidden agendas. For companies that increasingly rely on software for their core processes, that transparency is priceless. It creates a bond with your users that you can hardly ever achieve with closed-source software. It's a fundamentally different — and in today's world often far stronger — relationship.

Traditional B2B silos are crumbling fast. You can no longer think in terms of ‘‘we sell software’’, ‘‘we run a marketplace’’ or ‘‘we maintain an open-source project’’. The most successful companies of the next decade will be a mix of all three. A marketplace without AI-driven recommendations feels dumb. An AI tool without a community or ecosystem struggles to gain traction. And open source is often the fastest route to that community. It's a mutually reinforcing system. The biggest pitfall is to see these elements as standalone projects rather than the core of your strategy.

It really boils down to a few fundamental shifts in how you think about your business:

• Focus on the entire workflow: Winning B2B solutions are not merely tools but platforms that manage and improve the user's full, often complex, workflow from start to finish.

• Intelligence as the heart of your product: Data and AI are no longer ‘‘nice-to-haves’’ or departments; they form the beating heart of the product value you deliver to the customer.

• Community is the new GTM strategy: A loyal community, built via an open-source project or a dynamic marketplace, is a far more sustainable go-to-market strategy than simply buying more ads.

• Vertical dominance as an opportunity: The biggest opportunities may well lie in vertical SaaS — deep, industry-specific solutions for sectors such as construction, legal or biotech, rather than broad, horizontal tools that work ‘‘a bit’’ for everyone.