'Disrupted or Dead': AI Is Crushing a Generation of Startups Built Before ChatGPT

CNBC's June 1 feature argues that the post-ChatGPT era has created an existential dividing line in enterprise SaaS: post-2022 startups are already outearning pre-ChatGPT peers, while incumbent workflow-driven SaaS companies face a decade-long disruption-or-death clock. Ex-DoorDash engineering head David Zhu, founder of AI sales-automation platform Reevo, argues generative AI will shrink the capital required to build successful software companies — threatening the core assumptions behind the past decade's venture boom. Public SaaS incumbents including Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Workday have already seen AI-driven stock declines, with a quieter reckoning now spreading through private markets.