Unique Challenges in Building a Martech Company in 2026

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Introduction

# Scott Brinker, the godfather of martech and founder of chiefmartec.com, reveals why building a martech company in 2026 faces unprecedented challenges. With over 5,384 martech tools in existence and an 8.6% vendor churn rate, the landscape has fundamentally shifted. AI hasn't consolidated the market as predicted—instead, it's created new complexities where commercial solutions now compete against custom-built software that any business can create using AI assistants.#n#n1

The Death of Traditional Martech Business Models

# The era of building a better mousetrap to compete against incumbents has ended. Professional developers using AI coding assistants can achieve 10x productivity gains, while non-technical marketers can build custom applications tailored to their specific needs. "Between those things, you've got a place now where this ability for businesses to create their own custom software that really tailors to their particular operations or their particular customer experience that they want to deliver. This is a new player in the market," Brinker explains. Martech vendors now face dual competition: existing commercial solutions and the prospect's ability to build better custom solutions themselves.#n#n1

The Rise of Personal Software

# The democratization of software development through AI has ushered in the era of personal software. Marketing teams no longer need dedicated engineers to create custom solutions—marketers themselves are building software to solve their specific challenges. This shift transforms a 300-person company where previously 50-100 were engineers into one where all 300 can create software, introducing both opportunity and risk.#n#n1

The Orchestration Opportunity

# While many martech categories face extinction—writing assistants, prospect research tools, and competitive intelligence platforms have been absorbed by core AI assistants—one significant opportunity emerges: orchestration. As organizations empower individuals to build agents and automations independently, complexity multiplies exponentially. Companies desperately need software that provides guardrails and orchestration engines to manage this chaos. "We need software that is going to serve as the guardrails, as the orchestration engines. So that yes, we want to empower people to do lots of things on their own, but they have to fit it within a certain set of structures and rules," Brinker emphasizes.#n#n1

The Customer Revolution: AI Breaks Marketing Playbooks

# The most disruptive force facing martech companies isn't technological—it's the fundamental shift in buyer behavior. AI agents enable customers to bypass traditional marketing fu els, extract pricing information across competitors, and control their entire journey. Agentic browsers can analyze complex pricing pages, compare competitors, and even predict discounting practices based on web-wide data. This breaks the control playbooks that sales and marketing teams have relied on for decades. Information asymmetry now favors buyers over sellers, forcing companies to compete on product quality and customer experience rather than process manipulation.#n#n1

Adapting to the New Reality

# Success in 2026 requires accepting that traditional demand generation levers are weakening. While AEO (AI Engine Optimization) becomes critical for discovery, companies must diversify beyond digital tactics. The fundamentals—great products, strong brands, exceptional service—become paramount when buyers control the journey. Predictability challenges will emerge as companies lose control over pipeline mechanics, but history shows that markets functioned with relative stability before digital marketing's micro-controls existed.#n#n1

Conclusion

# Building a successful martech company in 2026 demands recognizing three fundamental shifts: the rise of personal software as competition, the critical need for orchestration solutions, and the complete transformation of buyer behavior through AI. The companies that survive won't be those with marginally better features, but those solving genuinely complex problems that custom software can't address—particularly in managing the chaos of distributed AI adoption. As traditional playbooks break down, success returns to timeless principles: build exceptional products, create genuine value, and respect that customers now hold all the cards.#n#n1