Andrew Wooster

I heard an incredible analogy from a VC friend that I can’t stop thinking about. “The moat in software was the cost of building software. And Claude Code just mass produced a bridge.” It’s wild when you think about the impact of this. The SaaS boom produced a few dozen billionaires and a bunch of zero sum winners. But the AI SaaS era will mass produce millionaires. There will be fewer ServiceTitans hitting $5B valuations, and instead there will be 50,000 companies doing $500K-$5M each, run by 1-3 people with deep expertise and huge margins. To be clear, I believe that the total value of software goes up, and the number of companies created goes up exponentially. But the number of people who capture the value also goes up 100x. I don’t believe in the “SaaS is dying” headline, I think it’s missing the point. It’s simply that the power of SaaS is changing hands.

Secret Service agents responding to the Augusta National Golf Course incident where an armed man took hostages and demanded to speak to President Reagan, Oct. 23, 1983.

Production days in LA are down nearly half and the entertainment industry is feeling it. A friend, who has been working as an editor for over 25 years, compared it to a coal mine shutting down.

one of the most profound cultural differences between san francisco tech and elsewhere is that tech people see automation as axiomatically a good thing, and this idea predates ai by decades. most of a tech company is automating oneself out of a role by writing software or hiring

ok NOW have I seen it all?

I’m on week five of trying to vibe code a replacement for some dumb saas that we use and it’s so incredibly frustrating that I’m slowly realizing it’s actually a quite complex and thoughtful piece of software.

I’m on week five of trying to vibe code a replacement for some dumb saas that we use and it’s so incredibly frustrating that I’m slowly realizing it’s actually a quite complex and thoughtful piece of software.

We have made cost reductions to help make the federal government emergency funds, which were provided to give money for payroll, go as long as possible. Labor savings  •Eliminated 672 vacant positions (251 operating positions) in FY20 saving $32M   •A strategic hiring freeze on 56 positions (FY25 and FY26) with this count increasing each quarter, saving $7.8M annually and impacting all levels, including management   •Renegotiated with unions to reduce near-term retiree healthcare costs   •Executive management salary freeze in FY21   •Negotiated a 0% wage increase in FY22 instead of 2% saving $7-8M annually  •Indefinite deferral of planned staffing increases Efficiencies  •Run shorter trains saving $27M in energy costs through FY26  •5% reduction in non-labor budgets across all departments in FY26 saving $5M annually  •FY20 and FY21 service reductions saving $124M and currently reduced peak-period service   •Locked in low electricity costs though long-term contracts   •Saved $400M in new rail car acquisition with tight project controls, using in-house engineers, and speeding up delivery •Parking garage LED lighting installation saving $1M annually in energy costs  •Reduced feeder bus payments saving $3M annually •Eliminated transfer payment agreements with SFMTA and AC Transit saving $60M through FY26  Reduced office space footprint •BART purchased its smaller headquarters building to eliminate the expensive long-term lease costs of the larger space, reducing headquarter footprint by 33% saving $13-15M annually or $71M through FY26 Increase revenue  •Installed new fare gates to reduce fare evasion, generating $10M in new revenue per year   •Inflation-based fare increases accounting for $35M per year and demand-based parking price increases   •Offer new fare products, such as Clipper BayPass, generating $7M per year •Leasing of BART parking lots generating $6M through FY26

We are happy to discuss inflation, remote work, system expansion, and adding more cleaners and police staff. Our operating budget grew at a rate less than inflation even while adding two new station to expand service into San Jose. Our funding model was the gold standard in the industry but it is no longer sustainable with the Bay Area’s adoption of remote work. We provide a public service and we are not for profit.

Absolutely astounding figures from the NY state comptroller: spending on services for the NYC street homeless population ran to $81,705 per person last year, up from $28,428 pp 6yrs ago. Figures do not include all kinds of other spending, supportive housing, policing costs etc.