The SaaS Exit Firm

You pay for the software. Then you pay around it.

For twenty years, buying software was the safe answer. Not anymore. We go through your stack tool by tool — what each one really costs, and whether to keep it, renegotiate it, or leave — and when owning wins, we build your replacement. You own the code.

Start the Exit Interview →How it works

The Exit Interview is twelve minutes of questions, $0, no sales call — you leave with your stack priced and a recommendation for every tool. A named senior specialist signs every engagement.

A patent-style engraving of one office machine drawn twice: first with coins queued into its slot, flowing out through a chute to a strongbox — then owned, the coin slot removed and lying beside it in blue ink, a hand crank fitted in its place — Rented, then owned — the same machine, minus the coin slot. Read a complete sample Brief →

Why now

In February 2026 the market cut roughly $285 billion off listed software companies in two days1. The press named it the SaaSpocalypse; we took the name.

Operators have already started building replacements for software they used to buy — Starbucks says its Dynamics inventory and Maximo maintenance systems go by 20272 — and your own renewals reopen the same buy-or-build question on their own dates, whether anyone raises it or not.

You know how to buy software. Deciding whether to keep buying it is a different discipline — one where keep is a real answer. That discipline is what we sell. The full argument, sourced and graded.

1.Bloomberg, “What’s Behind the ‘SaaSpocalypse’ Plunge in Software Stocks,” 2026-02-04; Forbes, 2026-02-04 and 2026-02-06 coverage of the same drawdown.
2.Bloomberg via press coverage, July 2026: Starbucks’ stated plan to build AI-assisted replacements for Microsoft Dynamics inventory and IBM Maximo maintenance, against roughly $400M/yr software spend; an announcement, not yet an outcome.

35%

of enterprises had already replaced at least one SaaS tool with a custom build, by their own account — and counting

Retool, “Build vs. Buy 2026” — a survey self-report, quoted as one; 78% of the same respondents planned more replacements in 2026.

What we do

Three engagements, in order. You can stop after any of them.

Built for 100-to-1,000-person companies — big enough that the spend matters, small enough to move.

Exit Audit

Your stack priced and judged, tool by tool — keep, renegotiate, or exit — with the reasoning written down.

$2,500–$12,000 · fixed · never credited toward a build →2

Replace & Own

The tool worth replacing, rebuilt as AI-first software you own — code in your repository from the first commit.

Fixed price, set by the Audit →3

Run & Govern

What you own stays secure, patched, and compliant — with a named human accountable for it.

Priced alongside the Audit →

The Audit is decoupled — never credited toward a build — so its advice owes nothing to the sale. Sometimes the advice is to stay. Every price we charge is public, on one page.

The Exit Brief

Twelve minutes and $0 gets you an Exit Brief — your stack priced, a recommendation on every tool.

The problem was never just the subscription price. Software that almost fits makes work around itself — and the Brief puts figures on what that actually costs you. The spreadsheet is the tell.

Your cost, computed — seats × published list price, source and date attached; your own stated spend always wins.
Lock-in, explained in words — reasons you can argue with, never scores we made up.
A recommendation per tool— with the reasoning; tools we haven’t studied are marked assess, never guessed.
What we refuse to print — no savings percentage, no build estimate: the interview doesn’t collect the usage data those numbers need. The paid Audit does. Arithmetic on /methodology.

Read a complete sample Brief →

Exit Brief — a verdict per toolexcerpt

keepJira · 300 seatscheap per seat, deeply embedded

renegotiateSalesforce · 120 seatsfight the renewal first

exitMonday.com · 200 seatsboards export; habits follow

assessInternal rostering toolnot studied — no guess

Every verdict ships with its reasoning. The red strike means a line item leaves the ledger — the only thing we ever cross out.

Exit Brief — worked exampleannual cost, at list

Salesforce · 120 seats × $2,100$252,000

Zendesk · 40 agents × $1,380$55,200

Monday.com · 200 seats × $144$28,800

Cost per year$336,000

Illustrative: the seat counts are invented, the prices are not. Published list prices per named plan, sourced and dated on /methodology.

List prices are not standing still while you decide. Salesforce raised its list an average of 9% in 2023 and another 6% on Enterprise and Unlimited from August 20253; Microsoft 365 Copilot is $30 per user per month on top of the license you already pay for4.

Every line is measurable without a discovery call.

Put a number on it →

3.Salesforce pricing announcements: an average 9% list increase announced 2023-07-11, its first in seven years (salesforce.com; Salesforce Ben coverage), and an average 6% increase to Enterprise and Unlimited Editions effective 2025-08-01 (salesforce.com/news, June 2025).
4.Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing, microsoft.com: $30.00 per user per month, annual subscription; “a separate license for a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan is required.” Checked 2026-07-09.

Who answers for the work

saaspocalyp.se is AI-first: agents do the research, the drafting, and much of the building, in the open. The judgment that reaches you is human and senior — a named specialist signs every engagement, and while the firm is young that signature is Sharad Kumar’s, on every client-visible commitment. We have no logo wall to show you. What we have is arithmetic you can check, and names that go on the work. The whole arrangement — including what is still forming — is on the about page.

Signing off on this rather than exploring it? The terms and the arithmetic are public — start there.

Own what runs you.

Start the Exit Interview →