Stripe是互联网吗？
我认为Stripe的内部战略是对其行业内产品的整合。这在其他行业中也有类似的趋势，比如网络安全领域，我认为Cloudflare也在尝试做同样的事情。更广泛的想法显然是企业的整合。我认为现在正是技术周期中进行这种整合的合适时机。
许多企业公司的涌入是由于从本地计算/存储转向云计算的出现，降低了新公司创立的门槛。因此，创建“细分”企业业务（如Dropbox或Intercom）在某种程度上是可能的。这些企业能够创造可持续的经常性利润，得益于商业模式的繁荣以及客户在企业切换成本方面的黏性。因此，这些企业并不会消失，应该能够在很长一段时间内保持稳定。更广泛的趋势是增加与公司相关的产品，以进一步巩固客户关系，并在一定程度上实现核心业务的多样化。
随着人工智能支出导致企业成本上升，企业需要削减开支，而不是为20种不同的细分企业解决方案买单。因此，市场需要一种更为捆绑的体验。Stripe围绕核心支付业务推出了多个产品，以帮助处理会计、税务和公司注册等事务。Cloudflare也在做类似的事情，创建了一套网络安全产品，涵盖VPN、硬件防火墙和CDN等。
这种新技术的广泛重复概念导致市场碎片化，进而导致增长放缓，并需要扩展核心业务以继续增长和发展各自的业务。
因此，Stripe近期在PayPal和OpenRouter的收购努力进一步加强了这一点。PayPal很有趣，因为它为Stripe提供了一个强大的品牌和在互联网支付中的接受度，同时也为Stripe进入消费者市场和点对点支付提供了机会。OpenRouter则更有趣，因为它在人工智能价值链中的潜在位置。似乎仍然没有任何经济壁垒能够保护前沿模型免于不可避免的商品化。OpenRouter在某种程度上充当了聚合器，可能成为人工智能价值链中的首要应用。
虽然这两项收购仍在谈判中，但它突显了构建产品套件的更广泛战略。这创造了一个更有价值的业务，因为增长和可防御现金流的可能性增加。你可以将所有文件从Dropbox转移到GDrive，这虽然困难但并非不可能。然而，你可能无法轻易切换你的支付、税务、会计和其他产品。
总体而言，整合只是行业中的一个自然阶段，也许是对股东最有价值的阶段。这是基于资本周期进行投资的战略，也是当前企业SaaS状态下一个有趣的发展。当前新一波以人工智能为首的公司可能不会长久存在。在企业界，新技术几乎总是更适合捆绑使用。Figma与人工智能结合后是一个更为增强的产品，这并非无关紧要。然而，要建立防御性，你不能只是一个单一的功能；显然，那些仅仅是一个功能的公司将在这波碎片化的SaaS潮流结束时面临困难。
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I think Stripe’s internal strategy is a consolidation of products within its sector. Similar across other industries, such as cybersecurity, where I think Cloudflare is attempting to do the same. The broader idea is clearly enterprise consolidation. I think now is the correct period in the technology cycle for such consolidation.<p>The influx of many enterprise companies was due to the advent from on premise computing/storage to the cloud, lowering the barrier to creating new companies. Hence, it was somewhat possible to create “Niche” enterprise businesses, such as a Dropbox or an Intercom. These businesses were able to create sustainable recurring profits because of a business model boom and customer captivity in terms of enterprise switching costs. Hence, none of these businesses are disappearing and should remain stable companies for a long time. There is a broader move to add company-adjacent products to further entrench customers and somewhat diversify from a core business.<p>As costs rise for enterprises via AI spending, there is a need to cut costs and not pay for 20 different niche enterprise solutions. So there is a market need for a more bundled experience. Stripe has launched several products around the core payments business to help with accounting, taxes, and incorporation. Cloudflare is doing something similar by creating a suite of cybersecurity products, all under one roof, VPN’s, boxes, CDN’s.<p>This broader repeated concept of new technology leads to fragmented markets, then slower growth, and a need to expand the core business to continue to grow and expand their respective businesses.<p>So this is further strengthened by the recent acquisition efforts Stripe has made in PayPal and OpenRouter. PayPal is interesting because it gives Stripe a powerful brand and acceptability in payments on the internet. It also gives Stripe an entry into the consumer market and p2p payments. OpenRouter is more interesting because of its potential position in the AI value chain. There still does not seem to be any kind of economic barrier protecting frontier models from an inevitable commoditization. OpenRouter acts as an aggregator of sorts, and could be the premier application in the AI value chain.<p>While both are still under negotiation, it highlights the broader strategy of building a suite of products. This creates a much more valuable business because the likelihood of growing and defensible cash flows increases. You can switch, perhaps all your files on your Dropbox to a GDrive, difficult but not unreasonable. You likely cannot switch your payments, your taxes, your accounting, and additional products.<p>Overall consolidation is just a natural phase in the industry, and perhaps the most value accruable to shareholders. It is the strategy of investing based on capital cycles and an interesting development in the current state of enterprise SaaS. The current new wave of companies building AI first is likely to not stick around. New technologies are almost always better bundled in the enterprise world. Figma is a much more enhanced product with AI, not irrelevant. Though to build defensibility, you cannot just be a one-trick pony; surely companies that are really just a feature will struggle as this wave of fragmented SaaS comes to an end