Subscriptions Are a Lagging Indicator: Why Adobe May Be 'Running in Mid-Air'
esrtweet · x · 2026-10-21
John Loeber argues subscription pricing lets SAAS keep charging customers who've stopped using the product, making churn a lagging indicator of business failure. esrtweet adds that today's pace of change makes that lag fatal: many AI-native and traditional SAAS firms look healthy on financials while bleeding utilization to AI-native competitors and labs. He names Adobe as the likely victim — customers furious and trying DaVinci and new tools like Photocraft, while dark-pattern subscription stickiness masks the signal, 'like Wile E. Coyote running in mid-air.'
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