// PLATFORMS · STRATEGY + PRODUCT

Five products. One platform. Agents welcome.

Buyers are consolidating, seats are losing to usage and agents are becoming users. These notes are about what to unify, how to price it and what to build first.

Read the shiftsAll writing
LAYER 3 · WHO USES IT
People and agents · UI, API, MCP
LAYER 2 · THE PRODUCTS
Scheduling
Analytics
Workflows
Messaging
Integrations
LAYER 1 · THE PLUMBING · BUILD THIS FIRST
IdentityDataBilling
fig. 1 · the order I'd build it in
41%
of IT buyers plan to consolidate apps, most within six months
27%
median Rule of 40 score among public SaaS companies
$163B
projected cloud marketplace sales by 2030

Four shifts every platform roadmap has to absorb

v2026.10
MODULE 01 · CONSOLIDATION

Point solutions are now line items to cut.

65.9%of IT buyers now buy mostly platform; best of breed fell to 20.7%

Buyers are cutting the number of tools they pay for, and the vendor that can absorb the job next door wins the renewal. If you're the point tool, you're on someone's consolidation slide right now.

$ next --moveName the two adjacent jobs your platform should absorb, and the one it never should.

src: Futurum, May 2026
MODULE 02 · PRICING

Don't charge for chairs in an empty room.

65%of vendors Bain reviewed now use hybrid seat and usage pricing

When an agent does the work of five people, a per-seat price shrinks just as you deliver more value. None of the vendors Bain reviewed has gone fully outcome-based. The hybrid middle (seats plus credits) is where packaging decisions decide your margin.

$ next --moveFind the unit of work customers already count. Price the meter there.

src: UC Today on Bain, May 2026
MODULE 03 · AGENTS AS USERS

Your next power user won't see your UI.

97Mmonthly MCP SDK downloads, Python and TypeScript, Dec 2025

Agents now operate software through MCP, the open standard for exposing a product's actions and data to them. If an agent can't use your product, you get left out of the workflow. The interface you design for agents is now as strategic as the one you design for people.

$ next --moveShip one agent-ready surface this quarter: the three actions your best customers repeat most.

src: Anthropic, Dec 2025
MODULE 04 · INTEGRATION

Returns now come from the plumbing.

11.7xmedian SaaS EV/EBITDA in H1 2026, down from 20.4x

Buying cheap and selling at a higher multiple stopped working. Private equity and strategic buyers now make returns by integrating: one data model, one login, one bill. Five houses, one set of plumbing.

$ next --movePick the shared layer first (identity, data, billing) and let product roadmaps sit on top of it.

src: Forvis Mazars & PitchBook, H1 2026

PATTERN · INTEGRATING AN ACQUIRED PORTFOLIO

Five houses, one set of plumbing: the order that works

  1. STEP 01IdentityOne login before anything else. Customers notice this first.
  2. STEP 02DataOne model for the customer and the account, so products can see each other.
  3. STEP 03BillingOne bill. It forces the packaging and pricing decisions everyone has been avoiding.
  4. STEP 04RoadmapOnly now do product roadmaps converge, on top of the shared layer.

Consolidating a portfolio or repricing for agents? Let's look at the plumbing first.

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