Welcome folks! 👋

This edition of The Product-Led Geek will take 8 minutes to read and you’ll learn:

• How AI is fundamentally shifting who adapts to who in human-computer interaction.

• Why the there’s a massive "cognitive tax" your users pay navigating complex interfaces (and how removing it creates immediate competitive advantage).

• How to prepare your product strategy for the coming shift from UI-first to API-first architecture.

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The End of User Interfaces As We Know Them

The most profound technologies disappear.

They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they're indistinguishable from it.

This is exactly what's happening with the way we interact with software.

Tomasz Tunguz recently shared a post touching on this with some examples of how he's using AI to talk to his computer in plain English.

He wrote:

I think this shift goes deeper than most people realise.

We're witnessing the beginning of the end of user interfaces as we've known them for decades.

Who's Adapting to Who?

For 40 years, humans have bent to accommodate computers.

We've learned their languages, navigated their menu structures, and adapted to their limitations.

The relationship has been fundamentally asymmetric - we've had to think like computers to use them effectively.

This asymmetry is about to flip.

Instead of humans learning computer interfaces, computers are finally learning to understand humans.

When Tomasz shows himself dictating emails or creating tasks through voice, he's demonstrating something revolutionary: the computer is adapting to him, not the other way around.

This is a profound inversion of the traditional human-computer relationship.

The examples he shares might seem simple, but they represent a massive shift.

They're early signals of what happens when the burden of translation moves from humans to machines.

Removing An Invisible Tax

We've been paying a tax we didn't even recognise - the cognitive overhead of learning and navigating user interfaces.

This tax is enormous but invisible because we've never known anything different.

We might have understood it was there, but because it was essential we became blind to it.

Think about the last time you used a new piece of software.

How much time did you spend figuring out where features were hidden?

How many clicks did it take to accomplish a simple task?

How many times did you have to consult documentation?

This overhead is economically significant.

In B2B software, it translates directly to:

1. Longer onboarding times

2. Higher training costs

3. Reduced feature adoption

4. Lower overall productivity

5. Increased support burden

The B2B SaaS companies that recognise this first will have an enormous advantage.

The Unbundling Of UI

Talking to computers is just an example. What's happening now is much more than that.

We're seeing the unbundling of user interfaces from applications.

In the traditional model, software developers created one interface that all users had to adapt to.

But as Tomasz points out, AI allows users to create custom interfaces tailored to exactly how they work.

This is particularly significant for B2B software, where different roles within an organisation often need radically different interfaces to the same underlying data and functionality.

Consider a CRM system.

The sales rep, sales manager, and C-suite executive all need different views and interactions with the same customer data.

Traditionally, product teams have tried to accommodate this through complex permission systems and role-based views - all still within a single UI paradigm.

But what if each user could simply tell the system what they want in plain language?

What if the interface itself became fluid and personalised?

Building For An API-First Future

For B2B SaaS companies, this means a fundamental rethinking of how products are built.

The winners will shift from UI-first to API-first architecture.

The most valuable part of your software isn't the buttons and menus - it's the underlying functionality and data.

In the new paradigm, this needs to be exposed through robust APIs that can be accessed not just by other software but by AI agents acting on behalf of users.

Smart B2B SaaS companies are already preparing for this shift by:

1. Rebuilding their architecture to be API-first

2. Creating comprehensive API documentation

3. Building AI-ready data structures

4. Developing their own AI interfaces before third parties do it for them

5. Rethinking pricing models for an API-centric world

What Changes When UI Friction Disappears?

The economic implications of this shift should not be underestimated.

The productivity gains from removing UI friction will dwarf those from previous software revolutions.

Consider what happens when complex enterprise software becomes as accessible as asking a question.

When specialised knowledge of software operation is no longer a barrier to getting work done.

When every employee can leverage the full power of your software stack without weeks of training.

For B2B software, this means:

1. Drastically reduced onboarding times

2. Higher utilisation of advanced features

3. More focus on high-value work rather than software operation

4. Fewer support tickets and internal training needs

5. Faster adaptation to changing business needs

The Prediction Gap

There's a curious disconnect in how people are predicting this will play out.

Many assume it’s enough to simply add AI features and assistants on top of existing software - a layer that helps navigate traditional UIs.

I think this drastically underestimates the change.

The real transformation will be more fundamental.

It goes way beyond making software easier to use.

The entire concept of a fixed user interface will become obsolete for many applications.

Instead of using software directly - even through natural language - we'll delegate to agents that understand our goals and orchestrate multiple tools to achieve them.

Agents will eliminate our need to interact with most software directly at all.

Think about what following up after a conference looks like today:

You open your CRM, navigate to the lead import section, upload your spreadsheet of contacts, manually map the fields, create a new campaign, set up follow-up sequences, assign tasks to your team, and probably switch between three other tools to get it all done.

One small task, dozens of clicks, multiple context switches.

In the agentic future, you'll simply tell your agent:

"Make sure we follow up with everyone from last week's conference."

The agent will handle everything - importing contacts, crafting personalized messages, setting up sequences, coordinating with your calendar, and even briefing your team.

All that complexity disappears behind a single instruction.

This is why many current AI strategies from B2B SaaS companies will miss the mark.

Adding a chatbot to help navigate your complex UI is thinking way too small.

The UI itself is what's changing.

How long this will take I’m not sure - but things are moving fast.

Who Wins? Who Loses?

For B2B SaaS companies, this shift creates both enormous opportunities and existential threats:

1. Incumbents are vulnerable. Complex, hard-to-use software with large installed bases are prime targets for disruption. Their moats of switching costs will erode as AI interfaces make competitor products instantly usable.

2. Vertical expertise matters more. When UI friction disappears, domain knowledge becomes the primary differentiator. The winners will deeply understand their users' workflows and problems, not just build better interfaces.

3. The end of feature bloat. When users can simply ask for what they need, the pressure to add visible features to win comparison charts diminishes. Quality of execution will matter more than quantity of features.

4. Data becomes even more valuable. AI interfaces work best when they have rich data about users, their behaviour, and their goals. Companies with the most comprehensive user data will create the most effective AI interfaces.

5. The rise of personal AI agents. Users will increasingly employ their own AI agents that interact with multiple SaaS tools on their behalf. These agents will become the new interface layer, making decisions about which underlying tools to use.

This transition won't happen overnight, but it's moving faster than most realise.

The thing to takeaway here is that we’re at the beginning of a fundamental reimagining of how humans interact with software, and that the companies that grasp this first will have an enormous advantage.

The future of B2B software isn't better UIs.

It's no UIs at all.

THAT’S A WRAP

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That’s all for today,

If there are any product, growth or leadership topics that you’d like me to write about, just hit reply to this email or leave a comment and let me know!

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Until next time!

— Ben

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