Focus Beats Custom AI Coding for SaaS Replacements
"Why should companies pay for SaaS (HR/CRM/ERP/etc.) when they could just vibe code them?" I get variations of this question or comment with some regularity (granted, it's sometimes just me talking to myself). Here are some biased (but hopefully, well-considered) thoughts: 1) I am a big proponent and user of vibe coding (what I call "agentic coding"). I do it every day, 7 days a week, including Sundays. It's amazing. 2) My company, HubSpot is a software company. We have hundreds of professional engineers -- just about all of them use AI for product development too. They are brilliant and know how to build production-grade products. 3) Even with this powerful army of talent, the number of internal, core SaaS applications that we have replaced with a vibe-coded variant is exactly ZERO. The number of applications we plan to replace is also exactly ZERO. 4) It's not the absence of talent that keeps us from rolling our own SaaS apps, it's the presence of focus. It would be silly to try and replace our HR, team collaboration, expense tracking and 100+ other SaaS apps we use when we can just buy them. Just doesn't make sense. 5) That's us -- as a software company at some scale. If you're a non-software company it makes even less sense for you. Doesn't matter how good the AI coding tools get. Let's say you *could* vibe code a replacement for that SaaS app you're using, who's going to maintain it? Who's going to keep up with industry trends? What are you going to do when the 20-something genius that vibe coded it over a weekend leaves the company? Who do you call when there's a major bug? 6) If you're a Fortune 500 company at some scale, perhaps you could pull this off for some discrete use cases and the tradeoffs are worth it. You have an IT/Engineering department that is larger than the population of some countries. You can take on the pain in return for the positives. For the millions of others, my advice is: Spend every calorie possible on creating value for your customers.
Communication Strategy: Broad, Flexible; Plan: Specific, Fixed
RT @VoxOptima Key differences between a #communicationplan vs #strategy | https://t.co/gmXQhny8cN @indeed "A communications strategy is less specific than a communications plan. This is useful when a team evolves over time and their goals and objectives change.
AI Amplifies Existing Organizational Blindspots, Not Root Cause
Everyone is blaming AI for the chaos in their company. AI accelerated it, but it didn’t start it. The real shift began years ago when the perimeter of the company expanded faster than the organization’s ability to keep it coherent. The touchpoints multiplied...
200+ Agency Owners Reveal Industry Health, Growth, Threats
NEW post: https://t.co/fMrZMJxj34 Thanks to the tireless work of @paddymoogan, our survey of 200+ digital agency owners is now live featuring answers to critical questions about the field's health, growth, and threats. https://t.co/O1PWZVpqWV
Agency Survey Reveals Benchmarks, AI Perception, Growth Trends
Agency owners, don't miss: https://sparktoro.com/blog/the-2025-state-of-digital-agencies-its-still-rough-out-there-but-slowly-improving-and-is-ai-really-a-threat/ How does your revenue, leads, margin, growth compare to other agencies? Do your fellow agency owners perceive AI as a threat? Opportunity? Both? What's happening with juniors, remote work, pipelines? Thanks to @paddymoogan's survey of 100s of agencies, we've...
Align Marketing and Finance to Invest in True Value
RT @VisionEdgeMktg 💼 When marketing and finance are aligned, it’s easier to invest in what truly creates customer and business value AND prove it. https://t.co/UiNSacxRrK #MarketingFinance #CustomerCentricity #Measurement
Focus Beats AI‑built SaaS; Stick with Proven Platforms
"Why should companies pay for SaaS (HR/CRM/ERP/etc.) when they could just vibe code them?" I get variations of this question or comment with some regularity (granted, it's sometimes just me talking to myself). Here are some biased (but hopefully, well-considered)...
Claude Opus 4.5 Outperforms Human Engineers on Real Test
Claude Opus 4.5 just beat every human candidate on Anthropic’s performance engineering exam. Here’s what this breakthrough actually means👇 Anthropic’s newest model outperformed every software engineer who has ever taken their real hiring assessment. And this isn’t a small quiz....
Measure Content Success with 10 Essential KPIs
I'm so over "Likes" and "Impressions". Your business leaders are too. These 10 KPIs help you demonstrate that your content engine is functioning effectively and delivering business value. Content ROI is a 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰. It is not an asset measurement,...
Consistent Habits Revive Teams During Performance Slumps
Every team hits a flat stretch. The ones that recover fall back on reliable habits. They keep talking to customers, sharpen the product, and finish work that restores confidence. Consistency becomes their anchor until progress begins to show up again.
Collaborate on Content to Expand Reach and Network
"An ally in creating content is an ally in promoting content." That's one reason why I never miss a chance to include others in my content. It's "organic influencer marketing" and there are plenty of good reasons to collaborate on...
Customers Spot Your Brand Blind Spots First
#Branding Blind Spots Your Customers Notice Before You Do - B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity - https://t.co/pDWtyE4928 https://t.co/cfP30zZcZL
Turn Silent High‑Fit Accounts Into Conversations with Proactive ABM Play
ABM is less about building a calendar of campaigns and more about building a system that listens and acts. And that’s super difficult. I’ve been spending a little more time understanding the new stage of ABM, and Tofu ’s dynamic...
Growth Shifts When Market Conditions Change, Not Brand Effort
Growth is highly dependent on the conditions that surround us, and they are often a combination of factors. Take this global Share of Search example for Roborock and the robot vacuum category, where a strong upward trajectory in branded search...
B2B Must Match B2C Investment in Customer Research
B2C invests in knowing their customers. B2B invests in… another feature. In B2C, it’s normal (expected) to put a substantial amount of marketing budget into customer research (sometimes as high as 25-50%!) Why? Because they know the truth most B2B...
Practical AI Tips for Sales‑Marketing Collaboration
It was great speaking with Dorien Morin-van Dam about AI, sales enablement, and modern marketing. I shared practical, step-by-step tips on collaborating with sales teams and using AI effectively in marketing. Take a listen while you work! 🤩 #B2BMarketing #salesenablement...
5 Biases That Drive Every Conversion
Here are 5 cognitive biases that quietly drive most of your conversions: 1. Loss Aversion: People fight harder to avoid pain than gain pleasure. 2. Mere Exposure Effect: The more often someone sees you, the more they trust you. 3. Authority Bias: If it sounds like expertise, people...
Turn December Shoppers Into Q1 Revenue with Personalized Offers
Most brands start January cold. Cold lists, customers, and ad performance. But what they miss is the December goldmine: thousands of warm buyers just waiting for a reason to come back. Here's the move: • Segment December buyers • Score by SKU, AOV, and timing •...
Turn Post‑BFCM Warm Traffic Into a Second Revenue Wave
Most brands treat BFCM like a cooldown lap when it should be a launchpad. The 14 days after BFCM are when your warmest traffic is still lingering: • Cart abandoners • First-time buyers • Engaged lurkers who didn’t convert If you go quiet or keep...
AI Ops and Vertical SaaS Attract Record Funding
This Week in SaaS — Nov 25 to Dec 1, 2025 Another packed week in SaaS—AI infra is getting the biggest checks, workflow automation is heating up, and consolidation continues across fintech, travel, and accounting. If you're building in mid-market...
Success Isn't Luck—It's Years of Unseen Persistence
Foolish people dismiss hard work as "luck." "They're lucky they can work from home." "They're lucky their business took off." "They're lucky they have that lifestyle." Luck? Let me tell you what's really behind every "overnight success": Years of unglamorous...
AI‑Derived Customer Questions Drive Better FAQ Content
I used AI to analyze over 50 customer calls around video production and podcasting. Then I looked for patterns in their questions. From there, I created a list of 36 questions written in the customer's own words. The purpose of...
Empower Top Teams with Autonomy, Don’t Split Them
Almost never break up a top performing team Get them their own office Let then own a key feature set Let them own a segment to market to Let them keep selling together Scale with and around them
Marketers Must Train AI with Concrete Evidence for Sales
New job for 2026! Train AI to be a sales rep for your brand... That means writing copy and adding evidence that gives the AIs reasons to recommend you when your future prospect starts the research process. This post by...
Human Voice Beats AI: A Linguistic Superpower
Sent this email to SparkToro subscribers this morning and received ***the most*** replies to an email we've had all year. My takeaway: NOT sounding like an AI is a linguistic superpower.
Listen to Quiet Signals to Become a Best‑Answer Brand
What do high-performing best answer brands do differently? For one, they listen to the quiet signals that shape thought leadership content. A lot of B2B marketers say they're data-driven, but not so many are genuinely "data-informed". In today's post on...
Group Bots and Recorders Into One Zoom Video Box
Idea for Zoom : Have a special designation/detection for participants in a meeting that are agents, bots and meeting recorders. Put all of these participants in their own single "box" in the video gallery (so you could show up to...
AI Could Replace Slow Sales Reps With Instant Answers
Last Thursday I reached out directly to a sales rep with a product I wanted to buy. I’m busy at SaaStr AI LDN and just wanted to buy. I just had 2 questions, ready to sign and go for $10k+...
Brand Tracking: Strategic Lens for Real Market Demand
Brand tracking too often gets reduced to a data story that feels very far from revenue impact and too much about feelings. But it can actually be an incredibly strategic lens to understand demand in the market and how we...
Fear and Guilt, Not Strategy, Drive AI Adoption
Why do we HAVE TO implement AI…? This year, everything in marketing seems wrapped in the language of productivity and acceleration. Yeah, I know that’s every year. But this year in particular feels like marketing and content teams became Hogwarts...
Cultivate a Feedback‑Friendly Culture for Continuous Growth
Building a Company Culture That Encourages Feedback - https://t.co/Yco19nCcRR - https://t.co/1oObzNjeuR by Jeff Wetzler
Only 250 Docs Can Poison LLMs, Threatening Brands
New research finds Black Hats can poison LLMs with just 250 malicious documents. Learn how poisoning threatens your brand and what to do about it. https://t.co/rFmSyPh3ig via @sejournal
AI Hype Promises DIY Enterprise Tools, Businesses Remain Skeptical
X: “You can just roll your own Workday or Salesforce in a day using AI why would anyone pay anything” 95% of Businesses: “What”
SaaStr AI London Conference Now Open for Registration
And SaaStr AI LDN is open!! https://t.co/ahWAezvXSB
AEO Strategies for Modern Marketers at ShowPro
ShowPro is one of my top events to speak at during the autumn season. Each year, I find myself impressed by the exceptional efforts of MHI: The Association That Makes Supply Chains Work in supporting both exhibitors and event managers....
Executive Fear: One Mistake on LinkedIn Can Cost Jobs
Raise your hand if you've almost been fired for posting something on LinkedIn? I have. Twice (maybe three times). 🤚 🤚 Important to note: it's been a while. I want to think I've learned from my failures so I can...
Brand Activism Delivers Measurable ROI and Cultural Impact
Brand activism isn’t soft — it’s measurable. In this week’s On Brand episode, Neil Callanan of LooseGrip explains how purpose-driven marketing creates a quantifiable halo effect that moves both culture and the bottom line. In this clip, he breaks down...
AI Hype Dies; Startups Shift From Replacement to Augmentation
11x and Artisan burned brighter than any AI startups in early 2025. Massive funding rounds ($500M+). Viral media campaigns. You couldn't mention AI SDRs without talking about them. Now? Crickets... But here's what nobody's saying: They didn't disappear. They pivoted....
Stop Overspending Bad Offers; Test, Learn, Scale Cleanly
Trying to “out-spend” a bad offer is burning your cash. Test less, learn more, launch better. That is the recipe to scaling clean.
Prioritize Contribution Margin Over CPM for Sustainable Scale
Stop worrying about CPMs. Contribution margin should be your focus. You can only scale a business that earns more than it burns.
AI Stack Delivers 70% Response, 15k Emails, $1M Leads
We’ll share TOMORROW at SaaStr AI LDN our whole AI stack live, how it works, what doesn’t, and an open AMA: - How we really got a 70%+ response rate on @salesforce Agentforce - How we sent 15,000 outbound emails with AI...
Buyer Journey Now Pinball, Not Funnel: 7 New Problems
NEW post - https://lnkd.in/g9mxMCt3 This week's #5MinuteWhiteboard is a follow-up to last week's exploration of how the clean, funnel-shaped buyer journey of years past no longer exist (and today that journey looks more like a pinball machine). It's not just...
AI Cuts Weeks of Segmentation Work to Hours
I’ve been thinking about one of the most impactful projects I worked on at Meta. A full segmentation analysis of our user base. Most marketing and growth teams rely on averages and broad summaries. The real insights live in the...
