In 1995, Jim Barksdale was wrapping up Netscape’s IPO roadshow when a banker asked: “How do you know that Microsoft isn’t just going to bundle a browser into their product?” Jim responded: “Gentlemen, there’s only two ways I know of to make money: bundling and unbundling.”
For three decades, we’ve watched this cycle play out: incumbents expand by bundling more products into their ecosystems, startups break through by unbundling with sharper, more focused products. But right now, we’re witnessing the fastest, most aggressive rebundling wave in tech history.
What this essay explores
- See how Notion and Figma used focused wedges before expanding into broader workflow bundles.
- Understand why shared AI models lower the technical barriers to building across product categories.
- Assess whether your product is central to a workflow or vulnerable as an adjacent point tool.
- Recognize how AI-driven development speed creates an adoption problem as launches disappear into the noise.
- Identify the incumbent advantage in workflow real estate and the startup opportunity for fundamentally better solutions.
- Track how AI is collapsing distinct markets as Figma competes across design, development, marketing, and collaboration.
When AI makes adjacent capabilities cheap, products compete by bundling more of the workflow.
Key takeaway
How AI turned once-distinct companies into direct competitors overnight—and why Figma now battles PowerPoint, Canva, Webflow, Miro, Illustrator, and Cursor all at once.
