Departments as APIs
Andrew Chang@achang
−4.9%
since Oct 3
The idea
I believe AI lets companies shrink, with small teams renting what used to be whole departments, so the real winners are usage-priced rails rather than per-seat software. This basket owns compute and intelligence, engineering infrastructure, money operations, customer communication, and distribution, spread across many names rather than concentrated bets. I'm holding a modest cash reserve to add on weakness, expecting the shift to show up in usage numbers within the next few years, and I'd rethink this if consumption-based pricing stops outgrowing seat-based software.
What it owns
- Small teams rent computing power and AI analysis by the hour instead of building infrastructure or hiring specialists, paying only for what they use. · NVIDIAIt supplies the chips running every rented AI system, so compute demand directly translates to chip orders if NVIDIA remains the default supplier., MicrosoftAzure sells AI by the token, pricing intelligence as a line item that grows on usage rather than per-seat licensing., AmazonAWS rents infrastructure to small teams that would otherwise need IT staff, billing by consumption as workloads scale., CoreWeaveIt leases raw AI compute capacity to firms that need intelligence without building it internally, the purest form of rented processing power., DigitalOceanIt offers simple, usage-billed cloud infrastructure designed for small teams that want computing power without the complexity of larger platforms.28%
- Infrastructure, databases, and monitoring are metered by usage, allowing small engineering teams to run systems that previously required a dedicated ops or IT department. · CloudflareIt sells networking, security, and AI inference as metered services that small teams can activate instantly, growing on usage-based products rather than legacy capacity sales., DatadogIt replaces an operations team with a consumption-based bill, growing as workloads increase even while companies reduce headcount., SnowflakeIt bills by the query, turning data analysis into a consumable service that scales with output instead of team size., MongoDBIts Atlas service turns database administration into a metered utility, letting small teams run databases without dedicated database staff.23%
- Payments, billing, and back-office finance are sold as a percentage of transaction volume, letting tiny teams run operations that once needed a finance department. · ShopifyIt rents an entire retail operation priced on sales volume, so more AI-native merchants using it multiplies revenue without requiring larger teams at each store., Shift4 PaymentsIt takes a cut of payment volume, so it grows as transaction volume increases without requiring growth in its customers' finance staff., Bill HoldingsIt replaces accounts-payable departments with software priced on payment volume, turning a department into a line item., MarqetaIt lets small teams issue cards and manage payments through an API, work that once required a bank relationship and finance department.16%
- Customer support and marketing automation are priced per message or contact, replacing dedicated support and marketing staff with software that scales without headcount. · TwilioIt bills per message and call for customer communication, so message volume growth from AI agents handling customer interactions drives revenue expansion., KlaviyoIt automates marketing for small merchants priced on contacts and messages sent, replacing in-house marketing staff with software., BrazeIt bills per message sent for customer engagement, so smaller marketing teams can still run large campaigns as message volume scales.13%
- Marketing and customer acquisition run through programmatic platforms priced on ad spend or transaction volume, replacing traditional marketing teams with software. · AppLovinIts AI runs ad campaigns independently, replacing marketing teams entirely with software that optimizes spending across channels., The Trade DeskIt automates ad buying through software priced on spend, letting small advertisers run campaigns without a dedicated media team., Global-E OnlineIt enables tiny merchants to sell globally by handling taxes, currency, and logistics for a cut of sales, international expansion without hiring.12%
- Cash8%