The online user experience has deteriorated significantly, and this decline is evident to anyone who spends time on the internet.
Websites are now cluttered with autoplay ads, pop-ups, and tracking scripts, which can be frustrating for users. Customer service chatbots, despite being powered by generative AI, often fail to deliver satisfactory results. Social media algorithms prioritize rage-bait content to keep users engaged, while dating apps hide their best features behind paywalls. Furthermore, many devices, such as printers, require monthly subscriptions to function properly, and canceling these subscriptions can be a cumbersome process.
This shift towards a poor user experience is a consequence of the internet’s transition from a user-centric approach to one that prioritizes engagement, ad revenue, and subscriptions.
According to Ed Zitron, CEO of EZPR and host of the Better Offline podcast, this phenomenon is known as the “rot economy.” It stems from a tech industry that has become overly obsessed with growth, viewing paying customers as a nuisance to be mitigated rather than as participants in a valuable exchange.
In a recent episode of the Equity podcast, I had the opportunity to discuss this topic with Zitron, who is currently writing a book titled “Why Everything Stopped Working.” We talked about how the stagnation of major companies creates an ideal environment for startups to challenge incumbents across various industries.
Zitron was candid in his criticism of Big Tech’s decline, attributing it to an obsession with quarter-to-quarter growth that results in subpar products. He described these products as “ugly, expensive, and not working very well,” adding that users do not enjoy using them. Zitron argued that many dominant players have become “fat and lazy” and “overconfident,” relying on business models that assume it is easier for customers to stay with them rather than switch to alternative options.
However, Zitron believes that this can be changed, stating “You can beat that. Anything you see on the web that sucks right now is at threat.”
One area ripe for disruption is social media, where platforms like Instagram and Facebook prioritize their own interests over those of their users. Zitron noted that using Instagram requires fighting against Meta’s algorithm to access the content you want, while Facebook is even more challenging to navigate.
The poor user experience, combined with the controversy surrounding Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, has led to a mass exodus of users from platforms like X and Meta. Many are turning to decentralized web platforms, which offer private and secure access to information and services.
Alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon have emerged as popular alternatives to X, while startups are challenging Instagram and TikTok. In the decentralized space, Bluesky is launching a photo-sharing app called Flashes, and Pixelfed is already attracting users.
Enterprise and Productivity Software
Zitron also sees significant opportunities for disruption in enterprise and productivity software, particularly with offerings like Microsoft 365 that are not “great.”
Zitron criticized Microsoft, stating that the company does not produce great products and has not done so for some time. He exempted the gaming division, saying he likes the Xbox division, but added that the company’s tendency to lay off employees will eventually lead to its downfall.
It’s not just Microsoft, as Zitron argued that many once-beloved Silicon Valley companies, such as Salesforce, Dropbox, and Zoom, lost their way after going public. The pressure to deliver quarter-over-quarter growth to appease shareholders forces companies to prioritize short-term gains over long-term product quality.
He cited Google Docs as an example of corporate overreach designed to benefit the company at the expense of its users. Initially, Google Docs was a clean and easy-to-use tool, but now it is pushing users to adopt AI-powered features like Gemini.
Zitron described Adobe as “the weakest company in tech” at the moment, calling them “desperate” and in need of replacement. Potential challengers include Figma, Affinity, and Blender.
In general, Zitron believes that consumers will drive the shift away from incumbent companies as they become aware of their self-serving “laziness.”
Within the next year, Zitron expects to see a significant shift in consumers, both business and otherwise, away from “shitty companies” – a term he uses to describe most of Big Tech.
Search
Google, in particular, is facing challenges from numerous startups, and Zitron believes this is justified. Google Search used to provide the best links for a query, but now it surfaces sponsored links that fail to answer the question.
Zitron described Google search as “bad now,” noting that DuckDuckGo “apparently makes money” and may be able to rise if the judge in Google’s search antitrust trial forces the company to share its datasets with competitors.
Other search competitors, such as Perplexity, are emerging with chatbot-style search that answers questions directly in a conversational way while citing resources. Diem is a female-focused social search engine with an AI chatbot that fights against data bias in a world designed for men. In the decentralized space, Marginalia Search boosts obscure, non-commercial sites rather than SEO-optimized junk, while OpenSearch is an independent, crawler-based engine.
For users prioritizing a better search experience and privacy, there’s Kagi, a paid, private search engine with a focus on high-quality results and no ads. Additionally, Brave Search offers a fully independent search index that doesn’t rely on Google or Bing, and its browser blocks ads and trackers by default.
Zitron believes email is another area where a startup could “take on” the incumbents. While email is a dominant communication tool, most inboxes are cluttered with spam and disorganized due to clunky UX from giants like Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo. The same is true for enterprise email, like Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace.
There are opportunities for disruption in this space, notes Zitron. He says an offering from the end-to-end encrypted email service Proton “isn’t as usable as it needs to be,” but it’s not the only option (rival services include Tutanota and Skiff). At the same time, alternatives like Superhuman, Hey, and Shortwave are trying to rethink the user experience in email.
Build Products That Don’t Suck
Zitron sees opportunities for disruption everywhere, not just in the digital sphere. He also sees potential for startups to challenge Amazon’s shipping and logistics business by “creating a coalition of other companies with smaller businesses – a Shopify for the delivery side.”
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