The Exchanges

Q bots to go in and find some information for you, uh, if I'm reading you right, if I'm hearing you right, the answer is that they just are dealing with a con, you know, just an unbelievable amount of data. They're struggling to pull it out. Um, so how do you, how do you then go up and, and put that infrastructure into limit and then find the right stuff?

A From a data perspective, you know, by the way, we acquired a company a few years ago for enterprise search and the infrastructure and platform that they built was allowing us to synchronize any application in real time and store that data in a universal database. So a data model that is consistent across the board, regardless of what application it is. We can plug into HubSpot and Salesforce and Slack Uh, and your task management platform if it was outside of ClickUp. And we can synchronize that into one database in real time with permissions and privacy aware. And this is what we optimize for AI retrieval. So our, our agents understand this, this singular data model. It can do semantic search in one place. It doesn't have to go kick off 10 APIs and then try and pull that back together. Uh, and then do re-ranking. It's very slow. Um, and it just doesn't work at scale. Use it using APIs to do that. Uh, so certainly this, this is where the world will be headed is actually unifying that data into like a single database. And I do think that's part of the reason why, you know, Salesforce started putting up those, those walls, um, is because they, they do want to be that provider. They want those, those, that database, that full universal data model inside of their ecosystem, not somebody else's.

AI assessment note: “the infrastructure and platform that they built was allowing us to synchronize any application”

Q Okay. I want to ask, ask you a question about something you said at the beginning of that answer, which is that you don't believe that we're going to end up having software that, uh, basically condenses everything into one platform. Uh, why is that?

A So I do believe that we'll have software that convinces into everything in one platform. That, that is absolutely what we're focused on. What I don't believe is this notion that you're going to use just AI chat experience for all of your software needs and that you won't actually need UI, um, or application layers to, to back that up. And, you know, we, we, I think as, as humans, you always, I mean, take chat for example, right? Chatting team chat. You are always going to want A consistent experience where I can go see the history of all my messages, regardless of how I send a message or receive it. You're going to want a DM that you can go visualize that, that history of your communications with a given, a given person. And that same thing is true for all of those, those core primitives. Um, so I certainly don't believe, you know, that, that everybody's going to want just to have a single AI chat all day long, and they're not going to want to see any application layers or experiences. Um, but I do believe that, you know, these separate software categories will all converge. I think AI will ultimately also converge with, with software.

AI assessment note: “So I do believe that we'll have software that convinces into everything in one platform.”

Q the marketing database just live in the same product? Um, and, and then is this something that is going to be built by the incumbents? Like, is this something you already mentioned, OpenAI and Grok, uh, embedding Uh, spreadsheets. So is this something that's going to be built by these big foundational research houses that need to turn profits? Or do you think it will be something that others build?

A I tend to think that the giants will build offerings, uh, but it will take them a long time. I think also that the AI labs, um, will struggle cracking into B to B, especially with collaboration. Um, that is like a, you know, a core block in AI right now of AI chat. It's, it's your own chat, right? You're chatting with your own stuff and that's, that's it. There is no like element of collaboration. Um, and the context is also missing and, and, and, and the AI labs today, but they know that, right? And, and so that is, is certainly part of, of their strategy in the longterm. Um, but yeah, I do think to answer your question, yeah, I think that you will have one software provider that has ERP system of record. It has all of your customer system of record. It has your marketing, um, certainly has HR and project management and work management along with team communication.

AI assessment note: “I tend to think that the giants will build offerings, uh, but it will take them a long time.”

Q Figma's doing it too? Why is Figma also? It's one, one that you've listed as well.

A Yeah, you know, they are, and I not, look, I, I think if I was them and, and their case, it's, it's hard to say, you know, is it the right decision? Is it, is it the wrong decision? Uh, because in, in Figma's case, you know, they do have that engagement layer, like where people are actually working. They also have the, Platform, the data platform layer, like the source of truth of designs and the very detailed specs along with that. It's not just a screenshot. They have all of, all of the actual components within the wireframes and yeah, they, they started locking it down to where, where, you know, we were. Uh, synchronizing all of your Figma prototypes and you could search across them and, you know, you could do AI across the prototypes. Um, and recently they, uh, notified us that. Uh, you know, they've, they are deprecating that across the board, not just, not just for us, for, for everyone. Um, and so that will, you know, that will, will be a bit of, I actually think that it does, it will create problems where consumers are pissed off because they're using their favorite vibe coding tool right now, and they're trying to plug it into Figma. And when that access gets cut off, you have to go use Figma's product, right? Which is imagine, I imagine that is, is kind of the intention here. Is to go use their Figma make product for, for vibe coding rather than using something else o…

AI assessment note: “when that access gets cut off, you have to go use Figma's product”

Q Okay. And so talk a little bit, you reference ClickUp obviously as the company you run. Talk a little bit about what you're building there. You mentioned that there's going to be, you know, personalized software for people that are using it. Uh, how does, how does that work?

A We try to give you the best experience based on your intent. Um, and intent is, is very tricky to figure out sometimes. If you have enough data, of course, it's very easy. So after a ClickUp user is using us for a week, two weeks, we really start to be able to personalize that experience, uh, pretty much automatically for them. They can give inputs. They can, they can refine how, um, things are prioritized and visualized. I, I am experimenting right now of viewing my inbox, uh, like a newspaper and, and, you know, like an old school kind of news newspaper. We have a, a branch that I was just trying that out on. Um, and so it, I, I do think that it gives you a new level of like creativity and control as an end user that just doesn't really exist today. Um, inside of, at least inside of B to B software, I think you can go vibe code, something that's a consumer. Ish, but you struggle with adoption, um, across teams. Uh, so we, I've always believed in horizontal, massive horizontal platform primitives that are very flexible, uh, that allow you to accomplish any given use case, any vertical use case, uh, and really any core work management or productivity need inside of one platform. Uh, because, you know, similar to, I think what is getting a lot of attention now with AI is like underneath, Um, the hood. Why aren't all of these primitives the same? I don't know. You just have data …

AI assessment note: “after a ClickUp user is using us for a week, two weeks, we really start to be able to personalize”

Q know, does business software collapse into sort of this singular user interface, or, um, can you replace a lot of it with AI solutions? I'm curious if you think that's, if you think that's the case and, and how that, ah, how these, these hopes might stack against the reality today, which is that a lot of companies are struggling to Uh, even implement some of the basic use cases.

A I look, I think we're, we're very early still and things don't change as quick as everyone thinks that they do, right? Everyone thinks there's overnight, everything's going to be blown up. Uh, but I, I don't subscribe to that. I do think a lot will, will change to be clear. And I, and I do think that software businesses that have a very simple product offering, um, are in trouble for sure. You can, Argue what will happen with software, but I think everyone agrees that you will be able, and you already are able to build software much more efficiently than we could in the past. Therefore, every company will build more software, right? Not less. You're going to build more software. If it's more efficient, if it's easier to create new products, easier for you to go into different markets, of course you will create more software. Um, so that goes along with our thesis of convergence of software, that software will converge ultimately given a long enough period of time. Uh, all of your software will be provided by one software provider. I believe one AI provider also. Um, and I don't think that there will just be one of them as far as monopoly goes. I think that there will, there will be several, not that many, um, but several. And then along with that, you will have this whole new category of what we call bespoke software, where the small business that previously Was not able to aff…

AI assessment note: “software will converge ultimately given a long enough period of time.”