SMB Sales Provide More Deals, Faster Growth, Longer Tenure
So there’s a lot of angst on social media (esp LinkedIn) about CROs and VPs of Sales getting fired. But let give tell you a tip: maybe go SMB. What do I mean? I see so many of the top sales leaders that started SMB stay 6, 7, 8+ years at leading tech companies in VP and CRO level roles. Again and again and again. Why? You just get more at bats, more chances. If you sell $3k deals, to hit a $600k quota, that’s 200 deals. Per rep. If you manage even a tiny team, that still can be 1000s of deals a year. You get better — fast — if you care. 1000s deals is a lot. Compare that to coming in as a CRO at a solely enterprise play that’s still early. You might work on just a few deals really at a time, with long sales cycles. You might never get a chance to truly learn. And if even a few push, sales might even go down under your watch at first. SMB sales really can lead to longevity if you keep at it. You just get so, so many at bats. So quickly.
AI B2B Sales Teams Halved, Efficiency Soars
AI B2B companies do need sales teams. Almost all of them. The question is just … how large of a sales team? It’s a question no one fully questioned until recently. But now founders & CEOs are asking: - is...
It’s Not Just You. Everyone Is Paying a Lot More for AI Engineers. Especially Equity.
In this SaaStr AI episode, Jason Lemkin highlights Carta’s data showing AI engineers’ equity grants soaring up to 40% while salary growth remains modest, driven by an "AI or Die" mindset, big‑tech poaching, and perceived massive upside. He warns founders...
AI-Native Status Now Essential, Even for Legacy Firms
Today, legal software @goclio announces a round at $5B and presentation software @GammaApp at $2.5B valuations What do they have in common? Both were around well before the AI Era. Clio in 2008, Gamma in 2020. Being “AI Native” is critical to...
Boost Sales: How We Fixed Our Terrible Qualification #shorts
The speaker recounts fixing a broken lead qualification process where prospects landed on the website and waited days for human follow-up while SDRs resisted outbound outreach. They deployed an automation/qualification tool (Qualified) and agent-like automation across support and go-to-market functions...
Master the #1 Skill That Elevates Sales Executives
New!! “The #1 Thing That Separates Mediocre Sales Execs From Great Ones” https://t.co/4xLUiEHYpc
SaaStr's Jason AI: Revolutionizing Founder Advice #shorts
SaaStr launched an AI platform called Delphi, a digital clone of its founder‑advice persona Jason, that ingests roughly 20 million words of the company’s 12‑year content library—including YouTube videos, tweets and LinkedIn posts. The tool lets entrepreneurs ask real‑time questions about...
Free AI Reviews 2,000+ VC Pitch Decks Instantly
This week we’ll cross 2,000 (!) VC Pitch Decks reviewed for FREE on SaaStr AI Try it here -> https://t.co/hVolcGvbUt - Real time scoring - Real time valuation based on 5,000+ rounds - Exact odds of funding based on top VC rounds this...
Customer Success Shouldn't Report to Sales: Future at Stake
My least favorite idea of all is to have customer success report to sales It's trading off the future for the present
Nice CTOs Stifle Innovation and Halt Growth
A VP mis-hire is always tough. A VP Sales mis-hire can set you back a year in sales. A VP Marketing mis-hire can lead you down massive time and money ratholes that don’t get you any more customers. But,...
CEOs Must Drive Orders, Not Chase Sales Magic
There are some sales magicians out there, don't get me wrong. The ones that can conjure sales out of thin air. I've met maybe ... 3. Possibly 6. Everyone else really, one way or another, is an order taker. And your job...
AI Fuels B2B Growth: Salesforce Ac
📰 Top AI+B2B News - Sat, Nov 8 https://t.co/MWFHfEuzpm Top Stories: 1. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Spindle AI 2. 1Password Surpasses $400M ARR and Expands Executive Team 3. 'Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary Top SaaStr Articles: 1. When...
Automated Agent: Scaling Outreach Without Human SDRs #shorts
The speaker explains how their firm now relies on a dozen AI‑driven sales agents to handle outreach, replacing traditional human SDRs and BDRs. Each morning they spend about an hour training the agents, reviewing outputs, and providing context, which frees...
SaaStr AI VC Matchmaking Delivers 183 Intros in Two Weeks
The new SaaStr AI VC Matchmaking tool has already made 183 VC intros in its first 2 weeks Try it here -> https://t.co/ZbU9L2c0td https://t.co/HXWF2pE3Gx
Tactical AI Agent Playbooks at SaaStr AI London
We're two weeks out from SaaStr AI London (December 1-2), and I wanted to break down the must-attend sessions if you're serious about deploying AI agents in your B2B company. Not the theoretical stuff. The tactical, in-the-trenches playbooks from companies...
Instant AI Mockups: Build Product Designs in Seconds
Should there be a "HubStr?" HubSpot + SaaStr? Maybe! This mockup took me 12 seconds to create. Not 12 hours. Not 12 days. 12 seconds. I used https://t.co/82tRYBCmdz - an AI prototyping tool built specifically for Product Managers who want to prototype...
Secure AI Funding Now or Fall Behind
"If you haven't captured any AI budget for your start-up yet, your team failed. They had all of 2025 You had to grow faster due to AI in 2025. Twilio, Mongo, Snowflake, startups like WorkOS and RevenueCat all did. The budget was...
If You Ever Think "Should I Fire This Person?" Even Once ... Well, Then It's Time
In this episode, Jason Lemkin argues that the moment a leader questions whether to fire an employee, the answer should be an immediate, compassionate termination. He explains how gut instincts synthesize performance data, and why retaining "pretty good" or mediocre...
Team Needs a Plan, Not Blame or Lament
Founders: "Woe is me" is the absolute worst message to the team in tougher teams "It's my fault" is OK but it doesn't even help much "Here's the plan" is what people want to hear
Vibe Coding Lets You Ship Fast without Learning New Tools
One interesting think about vibe coding on @Replit is I can do things with it I in theory could do with other tools, maybe better -- but I don't have time or skills to learn those tools. For example, I...
AI Agents Already Outpace Average Humans—Start Monetizing Now
New!! @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me on 20VC: 1/ "AI Agents really are already better than mediocre humans. So you better be tapping into that revenue as a startup. You better be getting some of that revenue by now, by late...
Cash Burn: No Escape for Founders
New on SaaStr!! "You Can Hide From a Lot of Things as a Founder. Cash Burn Isn’t One of Them." https://t.co/GzWBxOnn2k https://t.co/KFM0DeUeuo
Tiny Audience, Massive ROI From One High‑value Subscriber
If only 100 people listen to your podcast, but it’s really good and provides a ton of true value And 10 of those 100 are potential customers, and they really get value And just 1 buys say a $20k annual subscription, and...
Free AI Calculator Scores 600K Startup Valuations, Predicts Funding Odds
Woo-hoo!! Just crossed 600,000 start-up valuations on new, FREE SaaStr AI valuation calculator here -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA The 2.0 version not only tells you what you’re worth, but now also tells you the odds you’ll get funded! Try it! -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA https://t.co/T2LLQpqSkK
T3D2 Deals Are Attractive but Could Cost
New!! “The Problem(s) With T3D2 Venture Deals. They’re Still Great. But They Might Get You Fired.” https://t.co/lXKYxMt3Lo
Don't Let Mediocre Partners Drag Your Success
The biggest mistake of all you will make, that we all make, is working with the mediocre -> A mediocre co-founder -> More than 1 mediocre VP on the team -> Mediocre partners The energy it sucks up trying to get the mediocre to...
Free Tools for Startup Valuation and Pitch Deck Grading
FREE startup valuation tool -> https://t.co/jvgsU2zIKA FREE VC pitch deck grader -> https://t.co/S5UFYzoN7a
Ignoring Data Leaks May Become Acceptable in 2025
If you posted a customer's data online, is it better to apologize or ignore it? @promptwatch did the latter with my data But maybe that's the right approach in 2025 https://t.co/6wZeI3hVNN
Big Funds Skip Follow‑on when Upside Seems Limited
I remember a few years ago, a SaaStr Fund portfolio company was struggling to get a Series A round done They found a lead to put in $8m, but wanted the insiders to put in the other $2m. I wasn't a very...
Explore SaaStr's New AI Tools in Live Demo
SaaStr AI Live: A Hands-On Guide to SaaStr's New AI Tools https://t.co/ZTGASBhFQa
SaaStr AI Live: A Hands-On Guide to SaaStr's New AI Tools
SaaStr unveiled a suite of AI-powered tools on SaaStr.ai, including a digital mentor trained on the company’s entire content library, an AI VC platform that links founders to over 400 B2B and AI venture firms, a startup valuation calculator, a...
Startup Fundraising Used to Be Far Tougher
When I founded my first start-up, * I had to sign a full recourse note to my VCs for $750,000 to get a tiny bridge * We had to sell 60% of the company in the first round * I had to agree...
Palantir's Sky‑high Valuation Defies Low Sales
Palantir: the highest valuation on the least sales of any public company ever I’m still very bullish Just a reminder things in AI are well valued https://t.co/0CNJSRuhax
AI's Impact: Why Everything's In Market Right Now #shorts
Companies are rapidly reallocating budgets toward AI, prompting an unprecedented wave of buyers actively seeking new vendors. Unlike the traditional five‑year purchase cycle, executives now feel top‑down pressure from boards to demonstrate AI innovation, making AI the primary source of...
The AI Revolution in B2B: Insights From SaaStr CEO's and Qualified's CEO
SaaStr and Qualified CEOs discussed their rapid adoption of AI agents to automate sales and support functions, starting with a generalist agent that handled 20% of qualification tasks and scaling to 12 verticalized agents across SDR, BDR, marketing, and customer...
Dust Tackles Enterprise AI’s Last‑Mile Knowledge Gap
🎉 Thrilled to welcome @dusthq as a top Super Gold sponsor at SaaStr AI LDN Dec 1-2! Dust is solving one of the hardest problems in enterprise AI—making your company’s scattered knowledge actually useful. Their platform helps teams deploy AI agents...
Unauthorized Access Shows Need for Data Permission Controls
A small startup @promptwatch logged into my account today without permission and shared a screenshot of it. They were trying to show the app worked properly. But don’t do this yourself. It’s a violation of trust and more. Be...
AI Sales Agents Do the Work Humans Won’t
$495 is a tough price point to hire a human sales rep for But an AI agent? 🤖They don't mind. They don't mind -- at all. If nothing else, put AI agents + AI SDRs and AEs on the deals...
Get Real Fundability Scores by Uploading Your Deck
How fundable are you -- really? How well are you doing -- really? Just upload your deck here to SaaStr AI VC -> https://t.co/S5UFYzofhC And don't guess anymore https://t.co/80nrRXLnXb
Thursday's VC Deep Dive: IPOs, Valuations, Ownership Shifts
Coming Thursday with @HarryStebbings @rodriscoll + me: - The Navan IPO, and What It Really Takes Now - Why You Have to Have Reaccelerated by Thanksgiving - Why Harvey at $8B could be cheap - AgentForce is really good. What That Means. - Single...
Never Share Customer Data—Vendor Leak Shows Risks
It's never OK to share customers' confidential information Promptwatch . Especially with others. It happened to me today. Don't do this. A vendor shared my account data on X.
AI Agent: From Horizontal to Vertical Growth #shorts
A company piloted a general-purpose AI agent that could handle a range of tasks, initially using it for event support and basic customer queries, achieving about 20% of the performance of a specialized qualified agent but delivering instant responses. The...
Never Access Customer Accounts Without Explicit Permission
IMHO it is never OK to log into a customer’s account without their permission What do you think?
Modern Tools Eliminate Excuses for Outdated Copy
I just got an Adobe Sign email, deal sign for @saastrfund! Hooray!! But the copy in the email I wrote in 2005. Yes, 2005. Before we launched. We used to tolerate this in SaaS because it was so much...
AI Agents Replace Human Drama in Modern Work
I wake up, have some coffee, answer a few emails And then ... fire up Replit and other AI Agents. And we just pick up right where we were yesterday. No complaints. No arguments. No forgetting. No sick days. No...
Last Chance to Sponsor SaaStr AI London
Want leads? Want to meet 2,500+ of The Best in B2B + AI? It's the LAST CHANCE to sponsor SaaStr AI London Dec 1-2! Join the best of the best, from @Replit to @DuploCloud, from @cleverbridge to @happyfoxchat, from @AvaArtisan to @remote!! ...
VC Carry Reveals How Much of You They Own
Founders: Ask your VCs in a quiet moment how much carry they have in the fund Very roughly, multiple this by the funds’ ownership stake in your startup … and then once again by 0.2 That’s about how much they...
The Top 10 Mistakes I See In The VP of Sales Hiring Process
The post lists the ten most common errors founders make when hiring a VP of Sales, emphasizing that a successful hire must deeply understand the product, be willing to sell and close deals themselves, and bring a ready pipeline of...
Assistant UI Dominates AI Chat Interface Market
New!! AI App of the Week: Assistant UI – The React Library That’s Eating the AI Chat Interface Market https://t.co/Yg3QisTxnX
Market Soars, Yet B2B Deals Remain Hard
New!! “Nasdaq Reaches Another ATH. Nvidia Tops $5T. But Navan’s IPO and JAMF’s $2B Exit Show B2B Still Isn’t Easy.” https://t.co/T5c5VRn0Sp https://t.co/T5c5VRn0Sp