a16z(@a16z):HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah says ChatGPT and Claude are the new browsers, and like browsers, they won't own the whole software stack: "Everything kind of comes back around again. When we saw the original SaaS development moving to the web-based application world, we had the same kind of thing. We had client-server apps running on our desktops. And then we had this browser thing come along, Internet Explorer and later Mozilla." "But as it turns out, Google did not own the entire application stack. There were lots and lots of software companies that got built. The interface became the browser because that was a convenient way to get to the actual product that you needed to get to." "We have a similar thing now. And it's different, because the AI is doing cognition work, it's doing actual smart things. But if you just look at the ChatGPT and Claude Cowork thing, they're effectively the new OS. They are the new browsers. And there will be companies like HubSpot that sort of plug in." @dharmesh

2026.11.10 17:45

HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah says ChatGPT and Claude are the new browsers, and like browsers, they won't own the whole software stack: "Everything kind of comes back around again. When we saw the original SaaS development moving to the web-based application world, we had the same kind of thing. We had client-server apps running on our desktops. And then we had this browser thing come along, Internet Explorer and later Mozilla." "But as it turns out, Google did not own the entire application stack. There were lots and lots of software companies that got built. The interface became the browser because that was a convenient way to get to the actual product that you needed to get to." "We have a similar thing now. And it's different, because the AI is doing cognition work, it's doing actual smart things. But if you just look at the ChatGPT and Claude Cowork thing, they're effectively the new OS. They are the new browsers. And there will be companies like HubSpot that sort of plug in." @dharmesh

a16z@a16z

2026.11.10 16:02

HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah has built software for over 30 years and has never had a direct report. His latest project is uSpot, a CRM for one-person businesses. It charged money from day one and has been his most successful launch at HubSpot. Dharmesh joins a16z's Joe Schmidt to discuss why startups should avoid the "Yellow Brick Road" the labs are racing down, "yet" test for avoiding ideas the AI labs will flatten, and why it's never been a better time to start a software company. 0:00 Intro 0:47 The best time ever to be a builder 6:46 How to actually pick a startup idea 10:32 From LegalSpot to HubSpot: the SMB bet 14:40 The 60% that weren’t using a CRM 20:29 Building an ecosystem developers trust 23:33 Staying off the yellow brick road 27:23 Why models are becoming infrastructure 31:49 ChatGPT is the new OS 37:04 Rethinking HubSpot’s primitives for AI 40:44 Replaying 20 years of code with AI 43:47 HubSpot Next and the birth of uSpot 46:38 A startup within a startup 49:43 The rise of the one-person company 53:07 AI is still just software 56:06 Lightning round YouTube: @joeschmidtiv @dharmesh

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