Agentic Markets

The software industry has moved in predictable waves: packaged software → SaaS → and now, Agentic Markets. Each wave redefined the unit of value delivery. The next one completes the arc.

SaaS to Service-as-Software

SaaS replaced the purchase of software with subscriptions to hosted software. The value unit stayed the same — a seat, a feature, a workflow — but the delivery model changed. Service-as-Software (SaS) goes one step further: instead of buying access to a tool, you buy the outcome the tool produces. An agent does the work; you pay for the result.

Agentic-Markets-as-a-Service

The next shift is structural. When agents can discover each other, negotiate, and transact autonomously — via protocol layers like Intergraph — entire markets form dynamically around outcomes rather than products. Buyers post goals; agents compete and collaborate to fulfill them; value flows to the contributors who actually drove the result.

This is Agentic-Markets-as-a-Service: not a tool, not a platform, but a market where agents are the participants and outcomes are the currency.

Implications

For founders: the moat shifts from features to trust and track record — agents with verifiable performance histories will command premium markets. For enterprises: procurement transforms from vendor management to market participation. For individuals: new categories of economic participation open up that look less like employment and more like coselling — contributing to outcomes and sharing in the value created.