High‑growth SaaS Firms Thrive While Low‑growth Tumble
Will designers design first in a world where AI can code software immediately, or just describe the design? Will large enterprises pay for premium observability when AI can migrate & monitor open source competitors? As Michael Mauboussin writes , there’s information in price. These questions are priced in. It’s too early to see revenue erosion, but the market is pricing in the risk. The median SaaS stock is down 14-17% year to date. 64% of software companies are down. Adobe has fallen 32%, HubSpot 57%, Atlassian 54%. Revenue growth predicts returns better than margins, profitability, or market cap. Companies growing above 20% are up. Companies growing below 20% are down. Palantir grows 47%. MongoDB grows 21%. Adobe & Salesforce grow less than 10%. This isn’t a broad market correction. Large caps are holding; small caps are collapsing. Ten years ago, software crashed too. On February 5, 2016, LinkedIn fell 43% and Tableau dropped 49% in a single trading session. Salesforce lost 13%. The Nasdaq tumbled 3.25%. Investors dumped software in a single afternoon. The crime was weak forward guidance. LinkedIn projected 20-22% growth when analysts expected 30%. Tableau’s license revenue growth decelerated from 57% to 31% quarter over quarter. But the selloff reversed within weeks. Nasdaq finished 2016 up 7.5%. SaaS stocks climbed for five more years. No one doubted that enterprises would continue buying CRM software & analytics tools. The products remained essential. Only the price changed. In 2016, investors questioned valuations. In 2026, they question relevance.
Founder Resilience Beats Funding: Mission over Money
When investing in founders, do you check for their karma? Shinichi Takamiya of Globis Capital Partners says he does just that. Looking for spiritual motivation, NOT moneyed interests. Shinichi points to how the best founders are deeply rooted to their...
Real AI Value Lies in Unglamorous, Time‑Bleeding Work
Enterprise AI strategy is backwards. Most people are focusing on Chief AI Officers and pilot programs, when the real value is in the unglamorous work where organizations bleed time. More thoughts:
Upsell & Cross‑sell Boost M&A Valuation
As a SaaS company, the benefits of being able to up-sell or cross-sell a customer go beyond just growing your revenue base. When the time comes to start conversations with strategic buyers or investors, your ability to grow the average...
Sell to the Buyer Who Gets Your Vision
Maxime Berger (@MaximeMB_) didn’t sell BlogBuster to the highest bidder on @acquiredotcom. He had a lot of options and fit was the deciding factor. Some buyers came from totally different industries. Nothing SaaS. Nothing product-led. And Maxime kept thinking about his...
OpenAI Shows U.S. Can Lead AI Through
OpenAI's work here is proof that America can win the AI race and invest in the communities that house the infrastructure to make American AI exceptional.
Learn How to Build True AI-First B2B Companies
Be honest: Do you actually know how to build an AI-first B2B company? Or are you just bolting GPT onto your existing product and hoping? SaaStr AI 2026. May 12-14. SF Bay. Come learn from founders, execs + leaders who've...
Shifting Focus: Exploring Consumer AI After Diverse Investments
our last 10 investments were: - 3 dev tools/infra - 3 vertical niche b2b - 2 deep tech - 1 consumer hardware - 1 general agent would be fun to look at some consumer AI this quarter
Sarah Lacy Unveils Decade-Old Pando Videos, Including Thiel Talk
Sarah Lacy is putting her Pando video archives online, for the first time in YEARS. She just dropped a 2012 discussion with Peter Thiel, and also has an interesting 2026 reaction video from her (which i'll thread in comments below)...
Consistent AI Bull: From Early Bets to 2026 Momentum
me/air street 2014: begin investing in ai startups 2016: what wall st misses on nvidia 2017: why go long on ai 2021: the ai revolution is just starting 2024: ai is not the dot com bubble 2025: a monumental 12 months in ai 2026: lesgooooo ref:...
Pre‑ vs Post‑Money SAFEs Can Crush Returns
That SAFE you signed might tank your returns 😅 If you’re new to angel investing, you’re about to hear “SAFE” a LOT. Here’s the tiny detail that can quietly crush your math: pre-money vs post-money. 🧵 https://t.co/J3udlaBTtA
Expert M&A Advisory Guides Founders to Maximize Exit
What sets @acquiredotcom apart? Our M&A advisory. We guide you through every step of your acquisition to maximize your exit. This M&A Insights Call showcases how Rainier Nanquil leads calls and gives guidance to founders. Learn more here: https://t.co/5hGUQheGfG https://t.co/6GklAPQyK5
Balance Finite Wins with Infinite Growth Strategies
Businesses must play both finite and infinite games. Finite games have known players, rules, and objectives - the goal is to win. Landing a sale. Hitting a milestone. Infinite games are timeless and have unknown players, rules, and objectives - the goal...
AI Powers the Next Evolution of Data Stacks
After a decade of success, the modern data stack has entered consolidation. What comes next? The postmodern data stack is AI. The modern data stack created more than $100 billion in market cap with a simple promise : move the data via...
Visible, Honest CEOs Accelerate Startup Growth
What I see CEOs at struggling start-ups do: - Go dark - Hide - Lash out - Tweet about lots of things non-work - Invest time on tiny expenses - Argue internally What should do: - Be Present - Be Honest - Be the Rock - Be Realistic/Optimistic You just plain grow...
Fintech Secures 11% Venture Funding, Second to AI
Fintech is quietly back in the spotlight. It now captures 11% of global venture funding, second only to AI. Rounds are getting larger, and investors are focusing less on hype and more on business models that actually scale. The signal matters. As...
Most Marketplaces Charge Sellers, Many Double Fees
How much do the top marketplace businesses take per transaction? Some charge more than you’d think… “Take rate” is a function of: Purchase frequency × ticket size × platform labor intensity The more work you do, the more juice you...
Turn
if Indiana can go from losingest team in NCAA history to undefeated and CFP champion in two years, you can get to 3x DPI on the late stage SaaS portfolio you invested at 97x ARR in 2021
Beyond Sand Hill: Diverse Investors Fund Hardware Startups
Sand Hill has done a great job selling their capital. But if you don’t fit a certain “archetype” (either in demographics, category, or geography) and strike out on Sand Hill, then there’s plenty of other investors elsewhere. For example: look...
Six Essential Steps to Close an M&A Deal
What are the basic phases of a process (M&A or capital raise)? 1. Pre-marketing Complete the marketing materials (information packet and buyer list) and get your house in order. 2. Marketing Reach out to buyers, execute NDAs, and share marketing...
Overfunded Rivals Overpaying CAC Eventually Burn Out
It’s scary when a startup competitor becomes well-funded. But what I’ve noticed is that while they may be able to overpay on customer acquisition in the near term, it catches up to them. If you can weather the storm for...
Building Reliable AI Requires a New Empirical Playbook
I had a wide ranging chat with Eléonore about Intercom , Fin , and a variety of topics * Why did we need to drop everything and run to AI immediately, and do so regardless of the cost. * Building...
Find Investor Followers on X, DM, Get Funded
Introducing Fast Round. We built a tool to help founders fundraise. How it works: • Enter your X username • See which investors follow you • Send a DM • Get $$$ But seriously, I hope it's useful. If you want to give the beta a try, the...
Buyers Ready to Pay for Real
A good business in a bad market often sells for nothing. A great business in a strong market can sell for something that actually changes your life. That’s where we are right now. > Strategic buyers are buying tech to move faster. >...
B2B Shifts to 70% AI, Old GTM Obsolete
The best B2B companies are now running with 30% humans and 70% AI agents. Or even higher. The old GTM playbook is dead. At SaaStr AI 2026, we're going deep on what the new playbook actually is. And what really...
Six Threats Force SaaS to Deliver Smiling AI
“Can your team ship AI features that make you truly smile? If you don’t smile — your customers won’t either” Traditional enterprise software and SaaS is under assault. The leaders are all still growing, but in many cases slower than...
Dominate AI-Driven GTM at SaaStrAnnual 2026
AI is changing every GTM role. You can run from it. You can argue with it. Or ... you can learn to dominate the new world at SaaStrAnnual.com 2026. Join us.
Series B Startup Naming Contest Tests VC Knowledge
VC autism contest: Who can name the most startups that have raised a Series B. If you get a single one wrong, you’re eliminated at that number. Whoever gets the highest wins.
Founders Must Overcome Sunk‑Cost Bias to See Real Customer Love
Even without a lot of data points, often founders truly know whether customers love their product or not. But it’s easy to delude oneself. Mostly because of sunk costs. But if you’re really honest with yourself, you know your answer.
Late AI Adoption Sparks 100% Growth for Veteran SaaS
Just got an investor update from a 10+ year old vertical SaaS company I invested in a looong time ago. Founders never quit, know space cold, but man it’s been a grind. And they are far, far from “AI Native”. However … They...
Public Software Stocks Tank, Private AI Startups Soar
Strange World Indeed, 2026 January edition: - The worst time in our history to be invested in public software stocks - The best time in our history to be invested in private hot (AI fueled) startup stocks
AI B2B Landscape Shifts: Lawsuits, Billion‑Dollar Valuations, and Market Moves
📰 Top AI+B2B News - Sun, Jan 18 https://t.co/MWFHfEuzpm Top Stories: 1. Musk Seeks Up to $134 Billion Damages From OpenAI, Microsoft 2. ClickHouse Lands $15 Billion Valuation in AI Database Race 3. Figma (FIG) Is Down 13.2% After AI Deal With OpenAI Top SaaStr...
I’m Unable to Create a Headline without Knowing the Content of the Link. Could You Provide a Brief Summary of...
🧠♻️ https://lnkd.in/gGt8wQmK
VC Expectations Escalate: From $1B to $100B Targets
10 years ago, VC was optimized around $1B+ outcomes, for the most part. 5 years ago, VC was optimized around $10B+ outcomes. Today, VC is optimized around $100B+ outcomes. It’s exciting and bold and startups in the Age of AI...
Never Sell: Growth Compounds, Starting over Is Hard
If the company was going well, a lot of founders I know who sold their companies later regretted it. Because success compounds, they lost out on the revenue compounding over the next several years. AND, when you start a new...
Hidden Stripe Fees Lurk Beyond Dashboards
I wonder how much of Stripe’s margin comes from junk fees that aren’t on any of the pretty dashboards, only the CSV that takes 24 hours to generate.
2026 Vertical SaaS Outlook: Buyers Return, AI Valuation Shifts
How do we see vertical Software M&A and fund raising shaping up for 2026? A lot of founders we speak with are trying to figure out what 2026 might actually look like if they're thinking about raising capital or selling....
Leadership Excellence Cuts Through Market Idea Overload
Today, if there’s a good idea, prepare to see 100s of it. There’s a lot of sameness. In this market, leadership excellence wins. @marissamayer's experience is a major edge, but so is her ability to know how to put it...
Push Through Early Burnout to Reach Product-Market Fit
The first 3 years of starting a company really wears you down. Finding product-market fit is hard. But once you get some success and push through that wall, that’s when it gets good. Unfortunately, too many people run out of...
Sign up for the VC AI Show & Tell
I got so much positive response to my previous post about hosting a VC AI tool show and tell that I created a form to capture interest - if you'd like to stay in the loop please fill this out...
Tech‑Savvy Finance Fuels Growth and Flexibility
Postscript 's Chris Brubaker is not afraid to color outside the lines of finance. In fact, it may be his superpower. As a master at partnering with sales and an advocate for finance leaders to have tech skills past the...
YC Mentors Founders for a Decade, Not Just Launch
One of the things that surprised me about YC is how long we continue to advise founders. We thought we'd just help them get started and then hand them over to later stage investors, but in fact we're still talking...
Skip “Strategist” Hires Until You Hit $20M ARR
Before $20,000,000 in ARR Maybe even before $50,000,000 in ARR Do not hire anyone with "strategist" in the first few lines of their LinkedIn bio
Align Finance and Operations for Clear Growth
If you had to arrange one marriage in your business, it should be between your finances and your operations. Most businesses don’t struggle because they lack effort. They struggle because finance and operations are not aligned. Finance shows the what. Operations show the how. If your...
Solve Real Problem First, Then Exit Becomes Simple
I see this pattern over and over in great exits. Founders don’t start by trying to sell. They start by solving a real problem well. Arman Iranpour (@ArmanIranpour) and Matt Aleali (@aleali_mahdi) were real estate investors frustrated by how slow and...
OpenAI's Dilemma: No Core Product, Competing Everywhere
The strategic problem for openAI is that if the input box isn’t the product, then either the product is dozens of new apps or dozens of features in existing apps, and that means they’re competing with every startup on earth...
Mega‑Fund Returns Require Unrealistic Share of Biotech Exit Pie
The Mega-Fund Math vs Reality Below is a simple case study on fund math. People are asking if a16z can really do a 3-5x on a $15B fund. To 3x net on $15B, you need ~$45B back. Assume ~5% ownership at exit. 👉 That...
2026: Free Yourself, Scale Without Being the Bottleneck
I caught up with a portfolio founder who is doing super well. Profitable. Throwing off $1m+ in annual cash. Growing quickly. Doesn’t need to raise. But he didn’t take a holiday break - because he’s the bottleneck. If your company...
Acute Infections May Reopen Investment Door for Anti‑Infectives
1/ The Back Door Is Open How Acute Infection Could Make Anti-Infectives Investable Again Anti-infectives never died. The business model did. Low prices. Short courses. High resistance risk. Pharma walked. Now look at Alfasigma stepping into HSV encephalitis. Small deal. Narrow indication. Big implication....
How I Misread Airbnb’s Potential in 2008
I passed on Airbnb in 2008. My note to the founders said I had "concerns about travel-oriented startups." A masterpiece of missing the point. Here's what I got wrong: https://t.co/syj5L8gRxz