With Cursor/Lovable/Claude Code, the cost of software creation is approaching zero. I think this will fundamentally change software business models over the next decade. Software itself will be less differentiated, meaning differentiation will have to come elsewhere; in many cases, the software itself will be "free" in order to charge for another offering. As I see it, there are seven business models that benefit from this: 1. Hardware: Use software to sell hardware (or vice versa) 2. Vertical Integration: Offer vertically integrated hardware and software 3. Services: Charge for the work itself (accounting, legal) or offer services to integrate software into complex, custom deployments 4. Payments: Give away software, charge for interchange fees 5. Platforms: Customers will pay for the convenience of platforms, not the functionality of point solutions 6. Advertising: Software essentially becomes “interactive content.” Infinity bonus points if network effects are involved 7. Infrastructure / Compute: The platforms that enable software creation will collect their tax on each piece of it So I’m writing a several-part series laying out a framework for business models in the age of “free software"