Feels like software is a part of the shift from mass to niche then; that it’s becoming more personalized.
And it seems that it’s also part of a big, sweeping trend in which people/users are losing trust in a powerful center; because they are not getting their needs met by that center.
So content, and media and software, yes, but you see the same decentralization (or “fractionalization” or “unbundling”, if you like) happening in:
- crypto — from traditional to centralized finance
- at work
People opting out of or unbundling from traditional, centralized work, is spurring decentralization in these other realms; while those realms becoming more of an option into which to unbundle our work is in turn feeding the unbundling of work. Round and round it goes and I imagine the cycle accelerates as it becomes easier and more socially acceptable to do non-traditional, non-one-job-at-a-time work.
Agree on this happening in other sectors too besides consumer media and that it'll lead to a change in mix of potential work structures and environments. I think the downstream impact won't be all positive though -- more instability and uncertainty for individuals caught in the interim period of decentralization / unbundling, and power laws often still at play.
Agreed, the downstream impacts are very worrying. They will almost def be a mix of good, and bad; at a minimum hard for us to navigate.
Scott Belsky has this idea of the Japan-ification of things: a long tail of craftsman-like creators (software makers included!) addressing the niche needs and quirks of a long tail of users, in much more personalized ways. Which is…inspiring, on some level. I just don’t know that it plays out so elegantly. And as you say, we know from other creative fields that the power laws are real; and unkind to most.
Great post! I like how you talk about “short form”, “long form”, and other dimensions. Would be cool to see a “map” of these emerging software creators. Looking forward to you revisiting this topic as it plays out!
map of creators is one thing, but i'd be more interested in seeing the tools behind them at this point. e.g., what's the youtube of software creators? 😉
I currently maintain two private repos with my blockchain blogging software. Software creation has definitely evolved in the innovative blockchain and AI space in recent years, especially when it comes to participating in creator - focused hackathons. I've witnessed many weekend hackathon projects become full on businesses and as well as become abandon. I think today's creators are more empowered with so many incentives from organizations willing to pay for the space to create and see what happens next.
Absolutely, under no elusion that all software or expensive goes away. Just a bigger long tail that comes up and has the potential to have outsized impact on all kinds of culture, similar to how consumer startups today already do.
The trend makes sense to me – software becomes yet another tool in the creator economy. But we're *quite* a ways away from software being as easy to create as taking video with your phone and passing it through some quick filters. I'd imagine there's opportunity for this more "consumer" no-code tooling.
agreed, if i put a timeline for every theory this would take a bit longer than most, but i do think it's already playing out at small scale. i'm also betting the definition of software itself will expand such that there'll be more sub-types of software that are more or less "technical" in the traditional sense. more likely there's a new word that's used instead of software.
I think the people who are closest to software creators today are more technical than they'll need to be in the future when more people can leverage AI tools to offload technical skill needs. So the people today that come to mind are those that are approaching software building with the fidelity, frequency, scale, creative and direct distribution focus that I'd expect.
Thanks for the great post. What you're describing reminds me of how music and films get made. And suggest some new roles (eg, producer) we haven't seen so often in software yet
💯 I think more non-technical roles (in the software definition) will be catalysts for successful software products and experiences going forward. Community, brand, and content have already become important for consumer distribution. Will also more of this upstream too irrespective of the name - non-technical designers, producers, creative directors.
Hadn't thought of the word software creators and I can absolutely see that occurring. In fact with people like Jason Levin (Head of Growth at Product Hunt); he's admitted that he's not technical and understands that now with LLMs he can build small things & leverage his skillset (growth) to make things happen :)
A version of this is already happening in a space I know well -- consumer social apps. More simple apps being built for short-term virality and individual people building dozens off these apps. Of course some of these are just shots that fail, but the way they're able to do it is similar to what I think we'll see a lot more of in the future.
I think there'll be an explosion of utilitarian apps too, single-player in particular. We've seen so many apps like this for journaling, productivity, health & fitness that people are using AI to build and also to augment the user functionality.
I agree with this. The development will be particularly amplified as GenAI tool use and agentic capabilities improve so that such software can be built with low to no code.
Yep, much lower code and in a different way than before too -- the no / low code tools won't be as cookie cutter as they have been, and you can now upskill yourself in real technical skills while building (I've actually done this myself, contributed more code that I ever have before).
This is a good analogy but I always struggle with the idea of "creators".
What is a creator? How is it different from other professionals?
Are we saying that somebody writing a newsletter on Substack is a creator (ie, he/she creates something) while a journalist writing for the local newspaper isn't? What's the line?
An indie software developer is a creator, but a software engineer working for a corporate isn't? And why not? They both create.
So, my point is more than the idea of the creator itself is nebulous.
PS: software isn't going anywhere of course despite what VCs say, but I thought that's the least controversial point for me to comment on 😅
i don’t think software is going away, i hope that was captured in my first line ha.
I agree on the nebulousness of “creator” - but mostly I think it’s often people who don’t get the professional distinction and traditional experience, e.g. film maker, journalist, etc. and similarly here. But the analogy is more important than the term tbh!
Yes, the only reason why I added the PS is to clarify that the analogy is fine...
I went on a tangent on the "creator" terminology (nothing to do with your great piece!) because I've always believed it to be a bit BS, so I couldn't help myself... 😅
Whilst it's coming at the concept of 'software creators' from a slightly different philosophical starting point, seeing multiple people identify and name this evolution suggests that this wave is about to break over us.
Wow, what an incredible post! As a first-time visitor, I'm thoroughly impressed by the depth and quality of your content. This thought-provoking piece provided a fresh perspective, especially considering the advent of new tools in the field. Thank you for sharing your expertise and crafting such an informative and accessible article. Keep up the excellent work – I look forward to reading more of your insightful content!
I really enjoyed this post.
Feels like software is a part of the shift from mass to niche then; that it’s becoming more personalized.
And it seems that it’s also part of a big, sweeping trend in which people/users are losing trust in a powerful center; because they are not getting their needs met by that center.
So content, and media and software, yes, but you see the same decentralization (or “fractionalization” or “unbundling”, if you like) happening in:
- crypto — from traditional to centralized finance
- at work
People opting out of or unbundling from traditional, centralized work, is spurring decentralization in these other realms; while those realms becoming more of an option into which to unbundle our work is in turn feeding the unbundling of work. Round and round it goes and I imagine the cycle accelerates as it becomes easier and more socially acceptable to do non-traditional, non-one-job-at-a-time work.
Agree on this happening in other sectors too besides consumer media and that it'll lead to a change in mix of potential work structures and environments. I think the downstream impact won't be all positive though -- more instability and uncertainty for individuals caught in the interim period of decentralization / unbundling, and power laws often still at play.
Agreed, the downstream impacts are very worrying. They will almost def be a mix of good, and bad; at a minimum hard for us to navigate.
Scott Belsky has this idea of the Japan-ification of things: a long tail of craftsman-like creators (software makers included!) addressing the niche needs and quirks of a long tail of users, in much more personalized ways. Which is…inspiring, on some level. I just don’t know that it plays out so elegantly. And as you say, we know from other creative fields that the power laws are real; and unkind to most.
Great post! I like how you talk about “short form”, “long form”, and other dimensions. Would be cool to see a “map” of these emerging software creators. Looking forward to you revisiting this topic as it plays out!
🙌
map of creators is one thing, but i'd be more interested in seeing the tools behind them at this point. e.g., what's the youtube of software creators? 😉
I currently maintain two private repos with my blockchain blogging software. Software creation has definitely evolved in the innovative blockchain and AI space in recent years, especially when it comes to participating in creator - focused hackathons. I've witnessed many weekend hackathon projects become full on businesses and as well as become abandon. I think today's creators are more empowered with so many incentives from organizations willing to pay for the space to create and see what happens next.
Love this! Really well put.
Individuals and small shops will not replace Google or Stripe. The precision, uptime etc. needed by those services is simply a different scale.
But as the price per unit of software decreases the number of potential use cases for software goes up massively.
Exciting times.
Absolutely, under no elusion that all software or expensive goes away. Just a bigger long tail that comes up and has the potential to have outsized impact on all kinds of culture, similar to how consumer startups today already do.
You're ahead of the curve here, I like it.
The trend makes sense to me – software becomes yet another tool in the creator economy. But we're *quite* a ways away from software being as easy to create as taking video with your phone and passing it through some quick filters. I'd imagine there's opportunity for this more "consumer" no-code tooling.
agreed, if i put a timeline for every theory this would take a bit longer than most, but i do think it's already playing out at small scale. i'm also betting the definition of software itself will expand such that there'll be more sub-types of software that are more or less "technical" in the traditional sense. more likely there's a new word that's used instead of software.
Do you have an example of someone you consider a 'software creator' to illustrate your point, please ?
I think the people who are closest to software creators today are more technical than they'll need to be in the future when more people can leverage AI tools to offload technical skill needs. So the people today that come to mind are those that are approaching software building with the fidelity, frequency, scale, creative and direct distribution focus that I'd expect.
A couple of examples:
https://engineergirlfriend.com/
https://chia.design/
Fascinated by this idea.
Another example that comes to mind is https://neal.fun/
Thanks for the great post. What you're describing reminds me of how music and films get made. And suggest some new roles (eg, producer) we haven't seen so often in software yet
💯 I think more non-technical roles (in the software definition) will be catalysts for successful software products and experiences going forward. Community, brand, and content have already become important for consumer distribution. Will also more of this upstream too irrespective of the name - non-technical designers, producers, creative directors.
What are some examples of software you can see software creators building?
As in what use cases do you think will emerge where say it doesn't make sense to use a platform solution?
Hadn't thought of the word software creators and I can absolutely see that occurring. In fact with people like Jason Levin (Head of Growth at Product Hunt); he's admitted that he's not technical and understands that now with LLMs he can build small things & leverage his skillset (growth) to make things happen :)
A version of this is already happening in a space I know well -- consumer social apps. More simple apps being built for short-term virality and individual people building dozens off these apps. Of course some of these are just shots that fail, but the way they're able to do it is similar to what I think we'll see a lot more of in the future.
I think there'll be an explosion of utilitarian apps too, single-player in particular. We've seen so many apps like this for journaling, productivity, health & fitness that people are using AI to build and also to augment the user functionality.
I agree with this. The development will be particularly amplified as GenAI tool use and agentic capabilities improve so that such software can be built with low to no code.
Yep, much lower code and in a different way than before too -- the no / low code tools won't be as cookie cutter as they have been, and you can now upskill yourself in real technical skills while building (I've actually done this myself, contributed more code that I ever have before).
This is a good analogy but I always struggle with the idea of "creators".
What is a creator? How is it different from other professionals?
Are we saying that somebody writing a newsletter on Substack is a creator (ie, he/she creates something) while a journalist writing for the local newspaper isn't? What's the line?
An indie software developer is a creator, but a software engineer working for a corporate isn't? And why not? They both create.
So, my point is more than the idea of the creator itself is nebulous.
PS: software isn't going anywhere of course despite what VCs say, but I thought that's the least controversial point for me to comment on 😅
i don’t think software is going away, i hope that was captured in my first line ha.
I agree on the nebulousness of “creator” - but mostly I think it’s often people who don’t get the professional distinction and traditional experience, e.g. film maker, journalist, etc. and similarly here. But the analogy is more important than the term tbh!
Yes, the only reason why I added the PS is to clarify that the analogy is fine...
I went on a tangent on the "creator" terminology (nothing to do with your great piece!) because I've always believed it to be a bit BS, so I couldn't help myself... 😅
The term is overused and not precise imho.
Well said! 👏
I read your essay just after taking in Maggie Appleton's conference talk on the concept of barefoot developers: https://maggieappleton.com/home-cooked-software
Whilst it's coming at the concept of 'software creators' from a slightly different philosophical starting point, seeing multiple people identify and name this evolution suggests that this wave is about to break over us.
Here's to the "long tail" of software!
Great point.
Curious about which platforms or apps you see as already allowing this. Roblox, Replit, Glide, Zapier, all possible examples of enabling tools.
Sharing a related post that will resonate hard with anyone who enjoyed this one: https://maggieappleton.com/home-cooked-software
Wow, what an incredible post! As a first-time visitor, I'm thoroughly impressed by the depth and quality of your content. This thought-provoking piece provided a fresh perspective, especially considering the advent of new tools in the field. Thank you for sharing your expertise and crafting such an informative and accessible article. Keep up the excellent work – I look forward to reading more of your insightful content!
good post but no examples?