Today's SaaS Pulse
OpenAI acquires Ona to embed secure workspaces for autonomous AI agents
OpenAI announced it will acquire Ona, a 79‑person cloud development environment provider, to embed secure, persistent workspaces for autonomous AI agents. Ona’s platform reported a 13‑fold rise in weekly agent sessions across banks, pharma firms, and sovereign wealth funds. Analysts estimate the deal could be valued between $450 million and $500 million.
Also developing:
- Fresho buys UK ERP specialist Nation Wilcox, creating the largest software suite for British food wholesalers
- Freshworks pivots to AI‑driven employee experience with new no‑code builder and experience‑level agreements
- Kraken launches utility‑specific autonomous AI agents to automate customer‑service workflows
By the numbers: NinjaOne raises $400M in Series C extension
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Gets a Major Pay Rise - but Will Its Increasing AI Focus Be Enough to Continue...
Microsoft said CEO Satya Nadella will receive $96.5 million in total compensation for fiscal 2025, a 22% increase from the prior year, with $84 million in performance‑based stock awards emphasizing long‑term value creation. The raise comes amid blockbuster company results — $281.7 billion in revenue, $101.8 billion net income, Azure revenue up 34% to over $75 billion, and expanding AI deployments like Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry — even as Microsoft cut up to 9,000 jobs and reports a CEO‑to‑median‑worker pay ratio of 480:1. The package spotlights the tension between investor‑driven, AI‑led growth and internal cost‑savings, raising questions about whether AI investments will sustainably fund outsized executive pay and broader workforce benefits.
Software Awakens: Real‑time Learning Revives Innovation
Software is waking up again. Ten years ago, apps were the frontier. Screens were canvases. Curiosity was the culture. Then the App Store froze. The same grids, the same playbooks and the same incentives repeated endlessly. We optimized everything except imagination. For a while,...
SaaStr AI App of the Week: Higgsfield — The Video AI Platform That’s Crushing It Where Everyone Else Is Still...
Higgsfield, a mobile‑first AI video and image platform, is gaining rapid traction with a “click‑to‑video” UX that eliminates prompting and produces cinematic short clips via curated presets. The startup has attracted over 11 million users and 1.2 billion social impressions...
No‑Code Platforms Turn Weeks‑Long CRUD Projects Into Minutes
Yes, ‘prosumer’ vibe coding apps like @Replit are best at CRUD and CRUD+AI apps today. But that also means if you have some experience building CRUD apps … that you can just fly when you ‘vibe’ your next one. All the stuff...
5 Tips For Pitching VCs for The Very First TIme
Veteran founder Jason Lemkin offers practical advice for first‑time founders pitching VCs: rehearse with experienced founders, craft a compelling opener that highlights your top growth metrics, be candid about weaknesses without leading with them, and deliver a strong product demo....
“This Is Where We Start to Move Beyond the Hype Cycle” - Slack Tells Us Why It Can Be the...
At Dreamforce 2025 Slack pitched an upgraded Slackbot and an agents-first vision that positions Slack as the workplace operating system and front end for Salesforce’s Agentforce/CRM stack. The company says Slackbot’s contextual awareness—pulling team and channel data—lets agents live alongside...
Lean Execution Drives 24% Revenue Growth and Profitability
2025 has been a big year for us at @acquiredotcom. We have grown revenue, reduced expenses and finally became profitable. > $6.1 million in revenue, up 24%. > $4.5 million in expenses, down 26%. > Operating profit, up 50.2%. > Total profit, $1.6 million. Absolutely...
Built a CRUD App in 5 Days, Now Earning Revenue
I vibe coded a simple CRUD app that is now generating a little bit of revenues using @lovable_dev. It took me about 5 days to build. Here's what it does, and how it came together...
🧠 Community Wisdom: Diagnosing Early-Stage Churn, Automating Cross-Department Release Comms, Paying for UserTesting.com, Integrating Prototypes Into Your Product Development Process,...
The Community Wisdom newsletter roundup highlights practical product and growth tactics from a members-only Slack community, including diagnosing early-stage churn, automating cross-department release communications, budgeting for UserTesting.com, and integrating prototypes into development workflows. Contributors shared actionable diagnostics and process templates...
AI Startups Should Target $6T Knowledge‑worker Market
If you’re looking to build an AI business in 2025… Here’s something you need to know. Everyone’s been chasing the $300Bn SaaS industry. But that’s not the real prize. The real prize, the real disruption for new AI businesses? It's the $6Trillion knowledge worker Industry.
7‑Second Deployments with Kamal’s Local Registry
Deploying a change with Kamal using the new local registry against my homelab server is now down to 7 seconds. Getting close to those FTP-drag-to-production days 😄🤘 https://t.co/Okdt1fWiHv
ICE Is Building a Social Media Panopticon
Federal immigration enforcement is expanding online surveillance: ICE has paid $5.7 million to contract Zignal Labs’ AI‑driven social media monitoring platform, which the company says can analyze more than 8 billion posts a day in 100+ languages and surface geolocated...
Win First Customers by Targeting Event Influencers
In 9 years, Alina Vandenberghe grew Chili Piper to over $30m ARR. Here’s her 5-step “IRL Influencer” sales playbook for finding your startups first customers (and why it still works for them today): 1. Go to EVERY industry event Alina’s...
Wabi Revives Playful Discovery in Modern Software
Every few years, something quietly rewrites the rules of how we interact with technology. You don’t always see it when it starts. It begins as something playful. Something that feels small, even strange. But it carries an energy you can’t quite...
How to Scale Your Ad Budget Without Breaking Your Funnel
The post explains how SaaS companies can scale ad spend profitably by treating budget increases as a systematic, data‑driven process rather than a quick boost. It outlines a step‑by‑step framework—starting with a test month, weekly tracking, incremental 10‑20% budget lifts,...
Smart Sustainable Growth Wins Over Doing More
From London to DC, Belgium to SF, and now Miami — week five on the road reminded me how powerful it is when growth leaders come together to reimagine what’s next. The Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) Summit for Revenue and...
Curiosity Fuels the Next Generation Operating System
The next operating system grows from curiosity. What feels like a toy today becomes the foundation of tomorrow. Wabi feels light, even whimsical, but that is how big shifts always begin. The first computers were for hobbyists. The first social...
How to Use Paid Search and LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads to Drive B2B SaaS Growth
The post explains how combining paid search with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads creates a predictable growth engine for B2B SaaS companies, capturing high‑intent demand while building brand authority. It offers a step‑by‑step framework—choosing platforms, structuring keyword tiers, using phrase match,...
SaaS Greed: Price Hikes Threaten Customer Loyalty
We had an app we’d been reference customers for — for years. Our case study was on their website, we got them several of the largest customers in B2B via our direct recommendation. Then last year they told...
AI Success Depends on Data, UX, and Top Talent
My biggest takeaway from Chip Huyen : 1. Most AI product problems aren’t AI problems. When companies think they have an AI performance issue, it’s usually a user experience problem, an organizational communication gap, or a data quality issue. One...
How to Use Matched and Lookalike Ads to Scale Your B2B SaaS Growth
The post explains how SaaS companies can break growth plateaus by using matched‑audience and lookalike advertising to achieve market omnipresence. It walks readers through step‑by‑step setup for Meta, LinkedIn, Google, and AdRoll, offers practical tips to boost match rates, and...
Adjust LTV for Multi-Year Deals Using Renewal Rate
Is LTV Flawed with Multi-year Contracts? Let's find out in today's edition of SaaS Metrics School... This was a great reader question. Should we adjust our LTV calculation when we offer multi-year contracts? Yes and no. We know that multi-year...
SQL-Powered OCR with LLMs: Beware Auto‑corrections
We never marketed this widely, yet it's growing very fast. Just using our data warehouse and call SELECT ai_parse_document(content) and get OCR working on your document corpus (PDF, docx, etc). This is harder than one might imagine with LLMs. For...
How to Create B2B Ads That Convert: Campaign Structure and Retargeting for SaaS Growth
The post outlines a systematic approach to building high‑converting B2B SaaS ad campaigns, emphasizing proper tracking, attribution, and a layered multi‑channel structure that combines outbound email, LinkedIn, Meta, Google, and retargeting. It details practical steps—from installing pixels and using attribution...
Growth Stalls Aren’t About Pipeline; Four Deeper Issues
Why your pipeline isn’t the problem to your slow growth. 4 deeper issues sabotaging your growth.
Speed Wins Nothing without a Persuasive Point of View
AI tools can crank out X content in seconds…. But words without a worldview don’t make people buy. Speed < POV
How to Build a B2B Ad Strategy That Actually Scales
The post argues that scaling B2B SaaS revenue beyond $5‑10M ARR requires a disciplined paid‑ads system built on solid unit economics, rigorous testing, and continuous optimization rather than luck or creative flair. It walks readers through a step‑by‑step framework—defining CAC,...
From Zero to Twenty AI Agents in One Year
A year ago we had zero AI agents. Zero AI, really. Today, we have 20 AI Agents running SaaStr. And have replaced 12 humans. It's not all better. But it's the future, today. More here -> https://t.co/yEaD8WhJJg
Build Friendships with Competitor CEOs for Founder Success
I always tried to keep a good relationship with the CEOs of HubSpot’s competitors, like Salesforce, Zendesk, Marketo, Eloqua, Mailchimp, etc. It served us well. I recommend founders do the same.
How to Use LinkedIn for Outbound Prospecting: Building Relationships at Scale
The post explains how to integrate LinkedIn into a B2B outbound prospecting and ABM strategy, emphasizing that LinkedIn’s high‑intent audience and accurate data make it a crucial human touchpoint alongside email and ads. It outlines a step‑by‑step system—from syncing ABM...
Knowing Everything Makes You the Best CEO
For a long while, you probably aren't a great CEO But you know the customers The software The feature gaps The roadmap The competition How to sell it How to market it How to build it So maybe as flawed as you are You are still the best CEO
Only One of 16 Core AI Agents Is Legacy
New!! “Everything’s In Play in the Age of AI: Why Only 1 of Our 16 Core AI Agents Comes From a Legacy Vendor” https://t.co/ZWUROQEB9H
How to Write AI-Personalized Outbound Email Sequences That Actually Get Replies
The post explains how AI-driven personalization can transform cold outbound email sequences into high‑response conversations, outlining a five‑email, fifteen‑day framework that balances value offers and reply‑focused messages. It emphasizes building a clean ABM list, warming domains, and using AI tools...
Current Top 10 SaaS Cloud Multiples Revealed
This week in enterprise software: Top 10 #SaaS #Cloud multiples as of today's market close
Fizzy Beta Invites Launch Next Week After Rebrand
For all those waiting on a Fizzy beta invite, a couple things: 1. The initial batch should begin next week. We had our all-company retreat this week and decided to hold off on invites until everyone was back at work. 2. We’re...
How to Use AI-Powered Outbound Email to Scale B2B Growth
The post explains how to build a scalable, AI‑powered outbound email system for B2B SaaS growth, emphasizing the need for a well‑defined ABM list, AI‑driven personalization, and a thoughtful cadence. It outlines the prerequisites (high enough ACV), the four outbound...
AI Empowers B2B Buyers, Redefining Marketing's Funnel Role
AI is changing the balance of power in B2B. “Get on the phone with us and we’ll tell you pricing.” No more. “Get on the phone and we’ll show you our product.” No more. Today’s buyers now self-educate, run deep...
AI Productivity Gains Require Upfront Workflow Redesign
There is a wide gulf between those getting major productivity gains from AI agents and those that don’t. The difference comes down to being willing to do the work up front to make the agent effective by giving them the...
Microsoft Outlook Is Getting an AI Overhaul Under New Leaders
Microsoft has reorganized its Outlook team under Gaurav Sareen to rebuild the email client as an AI‑native assistant integrated with Microsoft 365 Copilot, shifting from incremental add‑ons to ground‑up redesign. Sareen is pushing faster development cycles—weekly experiments and days‑scale prototyping—and...
AI‑Powered Agentforce Transforms IT Support via Slack
Today, with the launch of Agentforce IT Service, Salesforce is helping customers transform IT support with an agent-first, conversational IT suite that delivers instant, AI-powered resolutions directly in Slack. For decades, IT teams and employees have faced frustrating productivity drains...
Software Valuation Multiples Skyrocket with Growth Rate
This week on Clouded Judgement: Long Live Benchmarks! - Median software multiple: 5.2x - High Growth software median: 26.8x - Mid Growth software median: 7.7x - Low Growth software median: 4.0x - 10Y: 4.0% https://lnkd.in/gmxVt3u6
Building Your ABM Lead List: How to Target the Right People and Scale Faster
The post explains how Account‑Based Marketing (ABM) hinges on building a precise, verified lead list that targets the ideal customer profile (ICP) and keeps your brand omnipresent across channels. It walks readers through essential steps—defining CAC, CPL, and LTV; crafting...
ClickHouse Powers Netflix's 5PB Daily, Scaling for AI Era
ClickHouse is handling 5PB PER DAY, 10M+ events per second for Netflix ...Having a database that can scale like this while staying performant will become more important than ever as data explodes in the age of AI
Exercise.com Joins Daxko in Strategic Acquisition
Congrats to Joel Ohman , Alicia Howson , John Gadbois , Joel VanderPol , and the team at Exercise.com for their recent acquisition by Daxko . Best of luck as you kick off the next stage in your journey. Glad...
1500+ Pitch Decks Uploaded, Get Real-Time VC Feedback
Woo-hoo!! Crossed 1,500 VC Pitch Decks uploaded to SaaStr AI VC -> https://t.co/XzJ5d0OYvZ Get real time feedback on your deck, benchmarking against 1000s of rounds, and optional intros to the best VCs https://t.co/BIC0fmziG2
Bootstrapped AI SaaS Duo Generates $200K Profit
What’s better than one B2B SaaS? Two B2B SaaS. Two profitable AI SaaS duo for content creation + SEO automation. > $252K TTM revenue > $200K TTM profit > 20% YoY growth > 5K+ customers Bootstrapped + Lean Listed on @acquiredotcom: https://t.co/hVgmr7nPE3 https://t.co/gTiI2EJmqJ
Results, Not Connections, Secure VC Funding Instantly
You don't have to know the 'right people' anymore to get funded If you've got the results -- we'll tell you And introduce you to top VCs. In minutes. SaaStr AI VC. Sign up here -> https://t.co/Eg5TFmnXmm https://t.co/4KllqrnwZp
Velvet Offers Adobe‑Premiere‑Level AI Video Creation in Seconds
Velvet (@Velvet_Videos) is building the Adobe Premiere of AI video, allowing creative teams to generate and edit dozens of cinematic AI videos in seconds. https://t.co/lYvqpwSEXb Congrats on the launch, @lrmantovani_ & @luke_tux! (They made this launch video using Velvet by spending ~$50 in...
Guest Speakers Aren’t Growth Hacks—Build a Demand Strategy
If you’re relying on your guest speaker to drive signups, it’s because you don’t have a demand strategy. Guest speakers aren’t your growth hack. They’re your marketing partners.
Stay Close to Customers: Let Market Feedback Guide
Always be close to your customers. Don't build a product nobody wants. Too many startups fail from this. The market has the feedback you need to hear.