John Carmack is an absolute legend in multiple ways, but Parker Conrad makes some good points here regarding how to organize a business.
I don't take what he says as gospel, but it may fit in certain situations where you're taking on incumbents, or where there are many players focused on just the small SaSS tools.
I would trust Parker Conrad even less on how to build a software business, especially if ethics and morals matter even slightly to you.
Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat on Licenses: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11083706
ADP Sues Zenefits for Defamation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9692635
In May 2015, Conrad made the news after he revoked a job offer he made to an engineer who asked for advice on the question-and-answer website Quora about whether he should accept a job offer from Zenefits or Uber.
2016, California finds Zenefits almost entirely out of compliance on insurance regulation.
2017, Tennessee fined Zenefits for "a pattern of" failing to self-report compliance issues. Then California fined them $7M for "disobeying insurance laws".
I appreciate his company building but he is no John Carmack. So sit down bud.
Also why Saas are struggling is not because they were focused on something narrow. It's because they were not innovating and pushing the edge of technology and VCs were funding the same type of company multiple times to reduce risk etc.