The latest roundtable hosted by 20VC and SaaStr highlighted a major shift in B2B software spending, focusing on the ratio of dollars allocated to engineers versus AI tokens. This shift is influencing how companies structure their product and engineering teams, with the choice between maintaining headcount or investing in AI tokens becoming central to budget decisions in 2026, according to saastr.com.
During the discussion, Jason from Adobe illustrated a scenario where a 400-person engineering organization faces a budget choice: retain all 400 employees or reduce headcount to 300 and allocate the saved salaries to AI tokens. In 2024, companies tended to keep full headcount to maintain customer engagement, but by 2026, if AI tokens can boost output by 1.5 times, companies are more inclined to reduce staff and invest in tokens. This leads to cuts in lower-priority roles such as marginal customer success and inbound sales positions.
This trend reflects a broader transformation in the software industry, where AI-driven automation and token-based resources are starting to replace traditional human roles. The discussion noted that this reallocation of budgets could redraw organizational charts across engineering teams globally. The move towards tokens over humans is seen as a critical factor shaping the future of B2B software development and operational efficiency.
Anthropic's recent $65 billion funding round and plans to go public the same week underscore the scale of investment flowing into AI technologies. Additionally, Cognition's $26 billion valuation and the strongest public software earnings week in two years highlight the financial momentum behind AI adoption in software companies, as reported by saastr.com.