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
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In this solo episode, Rob Walling tackles listener questions about SaaS growth, explaining how to respond when marketing channels stop scaling and offering strategies for promoting a product still seeking product‑market fit. He advises founders to publish early‑stage content on platforms where their target audience already congregates, rather than chasing vanity metrics. Walling also explores the idea of building a media company before launching a SaaS, suggesting a "media first" approach can accelerate audience building but isn’t essential for every founder. Throughout, he blends practical marketing tactics with broader strategic considerations for sustainable growth.
AI‑
This Week in SaaS | Oct 6 – 13, 2025 SaaS VC Rounds >$15M💸 EvenUp (AI legal & insurance claims): $150M Series E, $2B+ valuation; fuels product scale & global expansion. DUOS (AI + digital health): $130M growth equity; expands...
Everyone Should Be Using Claude Code More
How to get started, and 50 ways non-technical people are using Claude Code in their work and life
The B2B SaaS Growth System: How to Build a Predictable Engine for Scaling
The post presents the B2B SaaS Growth System, a step‑by‑step framework designed to help mid‑market and enterprise SaaS firms break the $3‑10M ARR ceiling by creating a predictable, data‑driven customer‑acquisition engine. It centers on four pillars—account‑based marketing list building, a...
This Week in SaaS Oct 6 - 13, 2025
The post recaps the week’s major SaaS activity, highlighting ten large VC rounds (including EvenUp’s $150M Series E and several AI‑focused raises) and a wave of strategic M&A deals such as Itron’s $325M acquisition of Urbint and Caterpillar’s $728M purchase of...
From One Email to a Global SaaS: Sam Spencer on Product-Market Fit, Team Building, and the Power of Process
Sam Spencer, CEO of Aristotle Metadata, explains how a single urgent email sparked product‑market fit and set the stage for a decade of SaaS scaling driven by process and incremental steps. He emphasizes building a scrappy prototype over perfect plans,...
Know Buyers' Past Valuations to Set Realistic Expectations
In terms of valuation, it's important to consider a buyer's historical track record. Understanding how buyers have valued businesses in the past will give you clues to whether they're a value buyer or premium buyer. Also, in the event that...
Designers Coding Their Own UI Speeds Product Cycles
3 big AI improvements to quality & quantity of design at @intercom, @Fin_ai 1. All designers ship code - fixing not filing bugs, improving product UX 2. Vibe coding the roadmap - see the future and accelerate design cycles 3. Owning the frontend...
SaasRise Mastermind Recap - Oct 8, 2025
The SaasRise Mastermind recap delivered a rapid‑fire set of tactical recommendations for SaaS founders, covering finance (capitalizing development costs to boost EBITDA), AI integration (simple OCR pipelines, sandboxed APIs, and short‑term AI‑driven email outreach), and market‑specific pricing (usage‑based models for...
Benchmark Your SaaS Marketing with 2025 Survey
You should fill out The 2025 State of SaaS Marketing Survey, hosted by @coreyhainesco. It’s short, just a few minutes, and will help you + other founders and marketers understand how you stack up against the rest of the industry. https://t.co/Z83nhGRe5L
2000+ Public Agents, 54k Citizen‑Built Private Agents
Woo hoo! There are now 2,000+ public agents on Agent.ai and we've made it easier to search/discover them. And, if you can't quite find what you're looking for, you can use our Agent Builder to create your own. 54,000+ private...
The B2B SaaS Growth System: How to Build Scalable Revenue Engines That Actually Work
The post argues that sustainable B2B SaaS growth comes from building repeatable systems—specifically outbound prospecting and digital ads—rather than isolated tactics, emphasizing the importance of clear unit economics, a high‑quality ABM list, AI‑personalized outreach, and data‑driven ad experimentation. It outlines...
Legal Micro‑dramas Surge when Success Finally Arrives
The Problem Folks Don’t Talk About Enough: The Stressful Legal Micro-Dramas That Come Just as Thing Start Getting Good When you’re building your B2B startup, you’re laser-focused on product-market fit, customer acquisition, and scaling your team. But there’s a hidden...
Strong M&A Offers in Frothy Markets Rarely Improve Later
There are many good reasons to say “No” to a strong M&A offer. Many of our top leaders in tech had multiple M&A offers on the way at a small fraction of their current value. Ross Perot famously offered to buy...
SaasRise Enterprise Mastermind Call Recap Oct 7, 2025
The SaasRise Enterprise Mastermind call tackled the toughest challenges faced by high‑ACV SaaS CEOs, from inconsistent outbound prospecting and cold‑email deliverability to slow product development and offshore team management. Participants shared practical tactics such as separating cold‑email tools from CRM...
OpenAI's Bubble Burst Could Cripple the Entire AI Economy
Will OpenAI be the canary in the coal mine? AI Story of the Week: It’s OpenAI’s Bubble, and We’re Just Living in It... For those of you who primarily know me for SaaS Metrics - there is something else that...
UiPath Drives Real Results with Open Agentic AI Partnerships
Thank you Jon Fortt and Morgan L Brennan for having me on Closing Bell Overtime today to speak about the momentum we are seeing at UiPath. As I shared, the growth of agentic AI is not hype and the customers...
This Week in SaaS: Sep 29 – Oct 6, 2025
The post reviews a wave of AI‑centric SaaS fundraises, highlighting major rounds for Vercel, Glean, and others, and notes that 2025 venture capital remains strong, especially for AI‑native companies. It also details a series of strategic M&A moves, such as...
Re‑imagining the SDLC for a Post‑AI World
Tomorrow in New York I'll be speaking at Canvas( Miro 's massive customer event) on AI Transformation and how to re-imagine your SDLC (software development lifecycle) for a post-AI World. (example slide included) Yes it will be recorded & live...
Title Your Startup Manifesto to Fuel Growth
Every Founder must write a Manifesto. Writing one is one of the most effective way to generate attention and pipeline. But here's the thing... You can't call it a Manifesto. You have to give it a meaningful title. On this...
Webinar: The B2B SaaS Growth System
The post promotes a webinar and upcoming 16‑week Done‑With‑You B2B SaaS Growth Program that teaches a seven‑step system for building a repeatable customer acquisition engine, covering ABM lead list creation, AI‑personalized outbound, content scaling, digital ad strategies, and SDR/AE team...
AI Is Redefining Buyer Behavior—GTM Must Evolve
Congrats to the Topline team on their launch of Topline Media! AI is reshaping buyer behavior. GTM needs to keep up. I’ll be sharing a few perspectives in an upcoming post, but also looking forward to learning from others in...
AI Defies SaaS Rituals; Embrace Hypothesis over Fixed Roadmaps
SaaS let you win by drawing straight lines. Requirements in, code out. QA ran their checklist. Customers got exactly what the roadmap promised. The whole machine ran on one idea. If you could predict it, you could control it. AI ignores your...
The B2B SaaS Growth Program Fall 2025 Cohort
The post promotes SaasRise’s 16‑week Done‑With‑You B2B SaaS Growth Program for mid‑market and enterprise SaaS firms, teaching ABM lead list building, AI‑personalized outbound, and multi‑platform digital ad scaling. It outlines the curriculum, live instruction by Ryan Allis and David Trachsel,...
Design‑First Philosophy Drives Linear’s Fast, Quality Products
Karri Saarinen (@karrisaarinen), co-founder and CEO of Linear, was the first designer at Coinbase and a lead designer at Airbnb. On Design Review with YC's @aaron_epstein, he shares how his design background shaped Linear's product philosophy, why quality and craft matter...
Programming Bottom-Up
Slack Is Turning Slackbot Into an AI Assistant
Slack is testing an update for Slackbot that transforms it into an AI assistant. Presently, it operates as a tool for delivering reminders and notifications. With the update, Slackbot can create custom plans tailored to your workspace, sift through a...
AI Ops Tools Complement, Not Compete, Build Together
AI ops tools combine. They don't compete. Whenever a new tool launches, people go "RIP existing tools" (especially if it's from OpenAI). But they're missing the point. The field of ops and AI automation is WAY too big to be covered by one single...
More Trials, Same Revenue: Execution Beats Metrics
We recently signed a $3M ARR SaaS in the CRM space. This company doubled their trial volume in 12 months but the revenue barely moved. Worse, their trial-to-paid conversion has stagnated at 9.8%, down from ~15% historically. Here’s what was...
Evals, Error Analysis, and Better Prompts: A Systematic Approach to Improving Your AI Products | Hamel Husain (ML Engineer)
Watch now | 🎙️ How to build better AI products through data-driven error analysis, evaluation frameworks, and systematic quality improvement
Dear SaaStr: I Want to Keep Doing 1-on-1s With My VPs, But How Do I Streamline Them?
Dear SaaStr: I Want to Keep Doing 1-on-1s With My VPs, But How Do I Streamline Them? 1-on-1s may be partially out of fashion, but most CEOs I work with still do at least some of them. 93% of you...
Stop Overplanning: Build Small Testable Systems for SaaS Momentum
What kills SaaS momentum? - Waiting for perfect - Overthinking features - Ignoring signals Replace endless planning with small, testable systems. Build the engine, let automation handle the grind.
Your Standards, Not AI, Determine Output Quality
AI doesn’t care about the quality of your work unless you do. Most people drop in a prompt and expect miracles. But the output never rises above the discipline of the person using it. If you accept average, so will your tools....
Weaponized AI Can Dismantle Patches in 72 Hours — but Ivanti's Kernel Defense Can Help
Adversaries from cybercrime gangs to nation-state cyberattack squads are fine-tuning weaponized AI with the goal of defeating new patches in 3 days or less. The quicker the attack, the more time to explore a victim’s network, exfiltrate data, install ransomware...
Interview with Canva's Most
I’ve got @MelanieCanva, CEO of Canva, coming on the podcast this week. She’s the most successful female tech founder in history. And one of the most successful founders in history, period. What would you love to learn from her?
Nanonets Launches OCR2: Image-to-Markdown for All
After 1M+ downloads of their previous model, @nanonets is launching Nanonets-OCR2, a next-gen suite for image-to-markdown conversion & visual QA. From LaTeX math & tables → mermaid charts, signatures → watermarks. It handles it all. https://t.co/qK76htUkO6
SaasRise CEO Mastermind Recaps for the Week of October 5-9, 2025
The SaasRise CEO Mastermind recap for the week of Oct 5‑9 2025 delivers a fast‑track guide for founders, covering AI integration, product development, accounting, financing, scaling, leadership, security, and cold‑email tactics. It stresses treating AI as a strategic tool—deploying it where ROI...
Aim for ROSE $1.50+ to Scale SaaS Efficiently
Want a PE exit or a durable SaaS business? Track this metric. 💡 ROSE = Return on SaaS Employees It shows how efficiently your team drives recurring revenue. Hit $1.50+ and you’re scaling smart. 🎥 https://t.co/VPN9Qc0set #SaaSMetrics #SaaSFinance https://t.co/91Z4lKzqGJ
Pulse AI Unveils Ultra Nano: Self‑Hosted Enterprise Document Extractor
.@Pulse__AI just launched Ultra Nano, their new enterprise-focused document extraction model with complete self-hosting, already running across Fortune 50s, insurers, investment firms, banks, and foundational model labs. https://t.co/Yvoajxl8Gy Congrats on the launch, @sid_mnk and @ritvikpandey21!
Close Deals via DMs, Skip Endless Zoom Calls
It’s wild how people still spend hours on Zoom trying to close deals… Half won’t ever buy. The other half ghost you. When I started closing deals in DMs, everything changed. Zero sales calls, but my company keeps growing. How? Comment "SALES" for my Sell...
AI Analyzer Instantly Scores Your Pitch Deck's Funding Odds
Don't go into fundraising ... in the dark Try the NEW SaaStr AI Pitch Deck Analyzer Find out in seconds: - Where you stand - Odds of getting funded - Where to improve your deck ...
Create Studio-Quality AI Video Ads in Minutes
🐦@_claybird is an agent that plans, generates, and edits your AI video ad. Marketers rely on slow, expensive agencies to produce ads. With Claybird, they go from idea to studio-quality ad in minutes. https://t.co/PFE7rJVOPl Congrats @_AbdullahNauman & @sadjamz_! https://t.co/5yANw2t8hj
Dbt Labs and Fivetran Merge, Creating $600M ARR Powerhouse
Huge congrats to the @dbt_labs and @fivetran teams on their merger! Cant wait to see what they accomplish together The combined company will have ~$600m ARR and north of 10k customers https://t.co/6mGdI01dap
Automate Recruiting Back‑Office, Cut Costs 60%
Clicks (https://t.co/gxJWa7Xl6V) automates repetitive back-office work for recruiting & executive search firms, saving 60% on costs while reducing time-to-close. Describe your process via video call or documentation, and they'll ensure it's automated exactly your way. https://t.co/R6f6da7EYS
Automation Slashes Compliance Time and Consulting Costs
ComplyDo (@ComplyD0) automates how enterprises comply with hundreds of global regulations. Already used by leading global players to replace months of manual work, reduce consulting hours, and accelerate market access. Without a fleet of consultants. https://t.co/VpcLqrcbeT Congrats on the launch, @SchuhmannLeo, Moritz, and...
Top Sales Reps Do the Heavy Lifting for Prospects
A great sales rep does most of the work for the prospect: Does the scheduling Does the demos Solves the problem Helps sell other stakeholders Follows up Simplifies deployment Yes, this is a lot more work than sending a Calendly link the next day, I do admit
Annual Discount Over 20% Signals High App Churn
Sign of a high churn app? The annual discount is more than 20%
Vercel and Supabase: Lucrative Pre‑AI Infrastructure Essentials
Sometimes, the most straightforward, on-trend deals are the most lucrative. Vercel and Supabase, pre-AI infrastructure components, have become essential for building next-gen apps, riding the wave of growth. https://t.co/6tI8ChhNfe
Founders Panic as Rivals Fundraise at Half ARR
Founders when they see competitors raising another round at half the ARR: https://t.co/bVyXFoWmI0
Cracking Enterprise Sales: GTM Tactics for FedEx, UPS,
🚛 How do you sell to giants like FedEx, UPS, or Amazon? Brett Carlson, CEO @ServiceUp, breaks down their GTM strategy — from enterprise sales to channel partnerships — in The SaaS CFO Podcast. 🎥 Watch here: https://t.co/Oal69L1wsJ #SaaS https://t.co/4XgJk0wQqb