Where did the money go in 2026?

Hey Bestie,

AI is eating away our lunch.

On X there's a SaaS apocalypse where everyone is vibe coding each other's apps.

On LinkedIn, people are complaining about their communities not being active.

People are generally fearful. So I did what a good business owner does - and look at data (watch video version here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJj8t01FbE)).

Fortunately, I've dealt with over 400 clients, of which 26 have been my 1:1s this year. I've had the privilege of having my eyes and ears on multiple Stripe dashboards with millions in transactions and I can share some insight on what's working and what isn't.

What's not working?

1/ Cheap, monthly communities.

People are churning. Info is easier to get on ChatGPT than wait around. Unless you're an acquisition machine you end up having 500 people in a room, and 15 of them talking. By Month 3 people start churning. By month 6 you've got to turn up the acquisition dial. Otherwise, it fizzles out. Worth the energy? You be the judge.

2/ Info products AI can replicate in an afternoon. No need to explain this one, it's obvious.

What's working?

1/ A $5 to $99 front end that turns leads into customers. People still buy PDFs, ebooks, challenges, short implementation-based products.

2/ A $2K to $10K backend where you sell judgment and access. Since AI made info abundant, one-to-one time has become more scarce and premium.

3/ Little apps and tools people use daily, in place of long info-based PDFs. The same principle of scarcity applies here with brand, and your proprietary IP. I doubled down HEAVILY on this with Modern Maker (https://modernmaker.xyz) since CustomGPTs were discontinued, and my clients wanted results fast.

4/ Annual billing over monthly, so nobody re-decides every 30 days. Think annual newsletters @ $100/year, en masse.

5/ Supplements are crushing. They're physical goods. If you're in the fitness or wellness space - good on you. Or if you're doing affiliate.

6/ In person events. People want people. You can charge a premium for proximity.

7/ Exclusive, high ticket, annual communities. Low ticket communities are downwards trending. Premium ones, where the ROI is in the room, are upwards trending.

8/ Software and tools for daily use. Not another meditation or to-do app. It's the reason why I doubled down on swipefast (https://swipefast.io). But requires technical depth, and knowledge.

9/ Investing & financial advice. I work with a dozen consultants in this space. When there's fear in the market. Financial advice always does well.

10/ AI service based businesses. Pick a traditional market. Go install/automate parts of their business with AI. This will trend downwards, but for now there's a big opportunity.

There's definitely something in there for you, and it's been the center of attention and the 'big conversation' inside Modern Maker.

You can hit reply if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear from you.

Your biggest fan,
Jacob “adapt" Pegs

oh look, a hooman!