Today's SaaS Pulse
Fire disrupts Google Cloud India network, performance stays sluggish
A fire damaged Google Cloud India's network infrastructure, and the service remained slower than usual a week after the incident.
Also developing:
By the numbers: GIA acquires 30% stake in De Beers' Tracr blockchain platform
Fortanix and NVIDIA Partner on AI Security Platform for Highly Regulated Industries
Fortanix Inc. and NVIDIA unveiled a joint turnkey AI platform that leverages NVIDIA’s confidential‑computing GPUs to run agentic AI in on‑premises or sovereign environments, targeting highly regulated sectors such as healthcare, finance and government. The solution integrates Fortanix’s Data Security Manager (a FIPS‑140‑2 Level 3 HSM) with a new Confidential Computing Manager that performs composite attestation of CPUs and GPUs before releasing encryption keys, creating an end‑to‑end chain of trust from chip to model. Offered as both a zero‑footprint SaaS and a self‑managed 1U appliance, the platform supports NVIDIA Hopper and Blackwell GPUs, includes role‑based access, audit logging, and post‑quantum cryptography, and can scale from three‑node clusters to larger deployments. Fortanix will demonstrate the offering at NVIDIA’s GTC conference on Oct 27‑29, 2025.
Tech Giants Cut 192K Jobs While Spending $80B on AI
2025 Tech Layoffs: The Great Restructuring 192K+ workers cut across 582+ companies through October. The numbers: Big Tech bloodbath: • Intel: 22-25K (biggest tech layoff at time) • Microsoft: 15K+ • Amazon: 14K announced, 30K rumored • UPS: 48K total (34K ops) • Meta: 3,600-8K • Google: 100s...
The End of Ransomware? Report Claims the Number of Firms Paying up Is Plummeting
Coveware’s Q3 2025 report shows the ransom‑payment rate fell to a record low of 23 % of all ransomware victims, down sharply from previous quarters. The average ransom dropped 66 % to $376,941 and the median to $140,000, while data‑exfiltration‑only attacks saw only...
Metrics Alone Won’t Fix a Flawed Strategy
You don't resolve a flawed strategy by excessively committing to ineffective OKRs. If your team is focused on metrics without a clear path to victory, it’s not about execution—it’s about evasion. In this edition of Playing to Win, we explore why...
From Zero to Eight Figures in 18 Months: Decagon CEO’s Playbook for AI-Native SaaS Growth. And Why They Partnered With...
Decagon, founded in late 2023, scaled to eight‑figure ARR in roughly 18 months by selling AI customer‑service agents to major enterprises including Hertz and Chime, claiming roughly $800K in annual savings for every $250K spent. Backed by Accel at Series...
Humans Win Big Deals, AI Dominates Routine Outreach
On SaaStr’s own little sales team, “outbound” from humans has still crushed “outbound” developed by our AI SDRs But the nuance is >whichSDR< we’ve ever had But the best AEs have still brought in deals the AI SDRs never would have, and...
AI in Tech Isn’t So Much About Laying Off Humans. It’s About AI Backfills
Jason Lemkin explains that SaaStr has replaced departing employees with AI agents as a routine backfill, not as a cost‑cutting layoff, and now runs over 20 agents covering sales, marketing, support, RevOps and operations. He notes that AI agents require...
Build Reliable AI Products, Not Just Flashy Demos
.@Jacob_Heller is the co-founder & CEO of Casetext, the AI legal startup behind CoCounsel, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters for $650 million. In his talk at AI Startup School, he shared how his team did it—from picking the right idea...
The Brutal Truth About Series B: Only 1 in 3 Deals Even Double Investors’ Money, Per Latest Carta Data
Carta’s analysis of 547 U.S. startups that raised primary Series B rounds in 2018 shows that only about one‑third of those investments doubled investors’ money, while 66% delivered two‑times or less – including 38.6% that are now worth the same or...
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In this solo episode, Rob Walling tackles listener questions about product positioning, debating vertical, orthogonal, and horizontal strategies for bootstrapped SaaS founders, and examines whether AI now makes inventing a new category viable. He stresses evaluating how much a product...
198. Jakob Lilholm, Co-Founder & CEO, Formalize - The S-Curve Bet: How to Time Product #2 Before Product #1 Peaks?
In the episode, Jakob Lilholm, CEO of Formalize, explains how the company timed its transition from a single‑point whistleblowing tool to a multi‑product GRC platform by leveraging EU regulatory trends and an S‑curve model to launch product 2 before product 1 peaked....
Launching AlertMouse: Superior Real‑Time Web Mention Tracking
I've got a new job. Not leaving my old ones, but... alongside my friends @adamdoppelt & Nathan Kriege, we're launching https://alertmouse.com today -- just think "what if Google Alerts was really good at tracking web mentions, instead of completely useless?" We built...
SaasRise Enterprise Mastermind Call Recap Oct 21, 2025
The Oct 21, 2025 Enterprise SaaS Mastermind call covered five practical themes: optimizing holiday‑season sales pipelines with early‑sign incentives and deferred starts; evolving content personalization using AI‑driven cold emails and segmented newsletters; launching a low‑friction PLG product for hotel reputation management as...
The Science of SaaS Unit Economics: How to Nail Your Numbers and Scale with Confidence
The post explains why mastering SaaS unit economics—especially CAC, LTV, ARPA, churn, and lifespan—is essential for predictable, scalable growth, showing how these metrics determine the LTV:CAC ratio and payback period. It walks readers through calculating each metric, setting target CAC...
How to Build a SaaS Dashboard That Turns Marketing Data Into Predictable Growth
The post argues that measurable data is the foundation of predictable SaaS growth, urging marketers to build comprehensive dashboards and weekly KPI sheets that track revenue, CAC, NRR, and funnel metrics. It outlines a step‑by‑step process—from setting up visual revenue...
How to Build a B2B Content Machine That Scales Your Brand and Pipeline
The post outlines how SaaS and B2B companies can create a repeatable "content machine" that delivers one high‑quality piece of content each week, repurposes it across email, LinkedIn, blogs, ads, and SDR outreach, and tracks brand impressions to reach a...
How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Clay to Build a Winning ABM Lead List
The post teaches B2B SaaS founders how to combine LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s up‑to‑date professional data with Clay’s enrichment and automation to create high‑quality, verified ABM lead lists. It walks through precise LinkedIn searches, exporting via Chrome extensions, email verification, then...
This Week in SaaS Oct 20 - 27, 2025
This edition of “This Week in SaaS” surveys the latest wave of AI‑centric funding, high‑profile M&A and SPAC filings, underscoring how investors are gravitating toward vertical AI integration and secure enterprise orchestration. The author highlights key takeaways for founders—building modular,...
How to Turn Leads Into Customers: Building a Scalable SaaS Sales and Success System
The post outlines a step‑by‑step framework for turning SaaS leads into paying, retained customers by building five interlocking systems—ABM lead sourcing, content creation, advertising, sales, and customer success—and measuring unit economics before scaling. It emphasizes calculating target CAC and CPL,...
How to Use Conversion Rate Optimization to Cut CAC and Scale Your SaaS Ads
The post explains that SaaS founders can dramatically lower Customer Acquisition Cost and scale ads by focusing on conversion rate optimization (CRO) across the entire funnel, not just on generating leads. It outlines a step‑by‑step framework—tracking the right metrics, improving...
SaasRise CEO Mastermind Recaps for the Week of October 19-23, 2025
The SaasRise CEO Mastermind recap for the week of October 19‑23, 2025 distills ten actionable insights from founders on scaling smarter—ranging from holiday sales tactics and M&A fee negotiations to hyper‑personalized outreach, PLG‑driven vertical SaaS, and AI‑accelerated product development. Across...
AI Makes Cheap Tools, Reshaping Jobs Beyond Automation
“Many of the projects I do with Claude day to day I just wouldn't have done at all pre-Claude.” One of the underestimated impacts of AI agents will be the fact that work will just change in unexpected ways because we’ve...
Series B Deals Rarely Deliver 10x Returns—Pick Wisely
The latest data from @cartainc is brutal. Of 547 Series B deals in 2018: - Figma did 100x ... but - 39% are worth 1x or less - Only 34% are worth 2x or more after 7 years But - 11.7% do achieve...
New Corporate Espionage Claims Emerge, Centered on Two Highly Valued 401(k) Admin Startups
Human Interest, a $1.4 billion‑valued 401(k) admin startup, sued rival Guideline in Utah federal court alleging that three Sterri brothers, two of whom were junior sales reps at Human Interest and one a Guideline employee, stole confidential lead data, partnership information...
Attend Niche Industry Conferences to Stand Out
This is how I learned it was happening (happened?) Go to your industry specific, unsexy, conferences that do not center startups. Not only can you shine, but people will genuinely want to learn about your solution If you’re a little bored you...
New Tool Detects AI Agent Failures in 10 Lines
The Context Company (@thecontextco) is redefining observability for AI agents. Catch silent failures like bad tool calls, infinite loops, and hallucinations in just 10 lines of code. https://t.co/zR42TgnUrw Congrats on the launch, @rohil_ag & @ksw_arman! https://t.co/KEehDDAOFL
LexisNexis CEO Says the AI Law Era Is Already Here
LexisNexis CEO Sean Fitzpatrick announced that the company’s new AI platform, Protégé, is moving beyond research to generate draft legal documents, promising higher accuracy by grounding output in its 160 billion‑document corpus and a built‑in citator to prevent hallucinated citations. The...
Parrot's TikTok‑style App Disrupts Duolingo, $715K ARR
🦜Parrot (https://t.co/Vp7Z5oZ6Zj) is taking down Duolingo. Parrot is the TikTok for language learning - $715K ARR, doubling every two months. They're turning scrolling into learning. https://t.co/KR8mBvZS29 Congrats on the launch, @byAmirHanna, @TheErikDahl, and @JuliAndreeaH!
AI Tools Shift From Research to Infrastructure when Delivering Value
If an AI tool creates motion without movement, it’s research. When it compresses a release cycle, trims spend, or expands revenue, it becomes infrastructure.
Experts Warn Microsoft Copilot Studio Agents Are Being Hijacked to Steal OAuth Tokens
Datadog Security Labs identified a new phishing method called CoPhish that hijacks Microsoft Copilot Studio agents (called Topics) to present fake login or consent flows, tricking users into granting OAuth permissions and handing attackers tokens that provide access to email,...
AI Procurement Platform Secures $5M Seed, Boosts Quote Speed
Congrats to @NelsonRay18966, @benrk100, @szymczyk06, and @salespatriot_ on their $5M seed! SalesPatriot is building the next-generation procurement platform for defense and aerospace – replacing decades-old systems with an AI-native platform that helps suppliers quote 7x faster. https://t.co/w4SUzjaqRh
AI Accelerates Category Creation for Bootstrappers
Does AI make it easier to “create a category” as a bootstrapper? Tune in to find out 👇
Kaizen Secures $4M Seed to Accelerate Browser Automation
Congrats to @aquariusacquah, @michaelssilver, and the @joinkaizen team on their $4M seed! Kaizen allows companies to deploy complex browser automation in minutes instead of weeks. Kaizen powers critical automation in healthcare, finance, and logistics.
Vesence AI Secures $9M Seed to Power Office Law Tools
Congrats to @HenrikTaro, @LudvigSwanstrom, and @VesenceAI on their $9M seed! Vesence brings AI agents to Microsoft Office for law firms. Built for accuracy and quality control, Vesence helps lawyers avoid costly mistakes across Word & Outlook, already seeing 90% weekly...
Start at $1M ARR, Let Customers Map Growth
If you aren’t sure how to get to $100m ARR, just get to $1m ARR Then just ask your customers They will basically tell you
From Seats to Credits: Next Bubble's Lingering Hangover
There was a “seats” hangover after the 2021 bubble There will be a “credits” hangover after the 2025 bubble
Apten AI Agent Proactively Engages Leads Across All Channels
Apten is an omnichannel AI agent that engages leads across text, call, email, and webchat. It's not only able to start a conversation through webchat, but proactively reaches out via SMS/voice/email once the lead goes inactive. https://t.co/N7hPSoVvG8 Congrats on the launch, @dho1357 and...
One Bad Campaign Doesn't Mean a Channel Fails
The more founders I work with, the more I realize: most teams write off entire marketing channels based on one failed campaign. The channel isn't broken. You're just not looking at the campaign-level data that actually matters. https://t.co/FI8G6RNGXZ
Founders Hire Likable VPs, Ignore Product Expertise
The #1 mistake I see founders hiring their first VP of Sales? Hiring someone they like. That talks the talk. But that never understands the product. https://t.co/xqO0h14EFc
Redesign Your Business Around AI, Not Just Augment It
Founder: I’ve got 35 AI agents now. They're making me 100x more productive! Me: And you’re still on Zoom calls all day??? [Founder nods.] Me: Then you’re missing the whole point of AI. Founder: What do you mean? Me: You’re trying to bend AI to...
Mantle Automates Grunt Work, Letting Companies Focus on Building
Mantle (https://t.co/acxDq4HklH) is the operating system for every company. Tell Mantle about the grunt work you do and it does it for you in the background, exactly how you would, directly in your stack. Let Mantle do the boring stuff for...
Public SaaS Stagnates; Private AI Unicorns Lead Growth
As the world follows every whisper & rumor from AI, what has happened to public SaaS? The answer is not much! All the fun is in the private markets. Multiples haven’t moved outside of a narrow band since the post-Covid crash in...
AI Gives Basketball Scouts 10× Insights in 10% Time
PlayVision (@playvisionai) is the AI Moneyball for Sports: the future for scouting, recruiting, and playing the game. After scouting for Cal Athletics, the team built PlayVision to automatically analyze film for basketball teams, giving them 10x more insights— in 10% of...
AI Agents Boost Productivity, Especially for Non‑technical Teams
My biggest takeaways from Dhanji Prasanna, CTO of @Blocks: 1. Block’s internal AI agent "Goose" is saving employees on average 8 to 10 hours per week. The company built an open-source tool called Goose that handles tasks from organizing files to...
B2B Must Offer Instant Value, Not Delayed Features
Today your B2B product has to deliver immediate "WTF" value now. Not "interesting." Not "I'll think about it." Holy Cr*p, Almost Instant Value. The old playbook of annual releases, 12-month enterprise rollouts, and quarterly webinars? Dead. 🧵Here's what's replacing it...
AI Marketing Startup Hits $1.15M ARR, 997% Growth
AI startups are printing cash. Live on @acquiredotcom: AI platform helping marketers maximize every dollar. Automating research, creative testing and scaling campaigns. > $1.15M ARR > $798K TTM revenue > $678K TTM profit > 997% YoY growth Full listing: https://t.co/jNAVKv3ABY https://t.co/GOthuI0JQl
Customer Sales Feel Better than Investor Pitches
Selling to customers is so much nicer than selling to investors.
Strategy Starts With Aspiration, Field, and True Advantage
Strategy isn't just a trendy term—it's about making a series of courageous, coordinated decisions. In our newest Playing to Win: Practitioners Insight, @RogerLMartin and I explore why effective strategy begins with a distinct aspiration, a strategic playing field, and a...
RPO Shows Future Revenue—Track, Grow, Storytelling
RPO reveals your future revenue. 📈 Track it. Grow it. Use it to tell a stronger story. New SaaS Metrics School episode is live 👇 https://t.co/gchRtmCwJr #SaaS #SaaSMetrics https://t.co/IIQl3eHxfb
Play Health Redefines Perimenopause Care with Data-Driven Tracking
Play Health (@playhealthco) is setting a new standard for perimenopause care through comprehensive in-app tracking combined with hormone testing to provide data-driven insights that support faster care and improved outcomes. https://t.co/Sff2rkedc7 Congrats on the launch, @a_mazzocchi and Ian!