Ep. 179 - The Smart SaaS Funding Path No One Talks About
In this episode, Ken Lempit talks with Melanie Nabar, Vice President of Volition Capital, about growth‑equity financing as a middle‑ground alternative to traditional venture or private‑equity routes for B2B SaaS companies. Nabar explains how growth equity can provide capital for scaling while allowing founders to retain control, highlights the most common post‑funding hiring error, and explores how AI is improving go‑to‑market efficiency. The conversation offers practical guidance for founders, CMOs, and CROs on when to pursue this funding model and how to avoid pitfalls that stall growth.
AI Will Become Our Proactive AR Sales Assistant
LIVE FROM DREAMFORCE: Silvio Savarese (@silviocinguetta), Chief Scientist at @Salesforce, on the future of human–AI interaction. “Imagine a sales rep preparing for a customer meeting — AI can provide all the right documentation and context beforehand, and real-time insights during the...
Leader in Conversational Automation Drives Minutes‑to‑Meetings
SO proud to be named a Leader in Forrester’s Wave for Conversational Automation Solutions for B2B. To me, it reflects how our customers are turning signals into meetings in minutes — and we’re just getting started. I’ll share a sneak...
Meta Unveils New Parental Controls For Its AI Companions
Meta announced new parental controls for its AI companions, adding PG‑13 moderation, parent-accessible chat summaries, the ability to restrict teens to specific avatars or block avatar interactions entirely (while retaining access to the AI assistant). The move follows an August...
AI Shifts Us Toward Complex, High‑Liability Work
Is AI actually freeing us up to actually do the highest value tasks available? Or... Just the ones with the highest amount of complexity, ambiguity, and liability? All too often, I hear people say that AI's core job is removing the drudgery...
AI Becomes Commodity; Strategy and Creativity Win
In a fight between robots, the strategist is king. AI is going to be commoditized. Which means you cannot ultimately win with AI, you can only keep pace with your competitors. Do you agree? As a marketer, I'm excited about...
Teachers Get an F on AI-Generated Lesson Plans
A study analyzing 311 AI-generated civics lesson plans (2,230 activities) from ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot found the tools largely produce rote, “recite-and-recall” instruction: 90% of activities targeted lower-order thinking and just 6% included multicultural content. The plans tended to omit...
These AI Glasses Promised to Make Me Smarter, and All I Got Was Clippy for My Face
A Verge review of Halo Glass — an always-listening AI companion running on Even Realities G1 prototype hardware — finds the product underwhelming in practice, plagued by firmware glitches, awkward interaction (you must tilt your head 15–40° to trigger the...
Founders Need Marketing Leadership, Not More Tactics
"We tried X strategy, but it didn’t work.” "X is dead and no longer works for growth." If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that from a founder… I’d have my own private island by now. 🏝️...
Chrome Adds --Focus Flag, Earns $5k Bounty
I just happily sent the $5k bounty to Hjanuschka for landing a new feature in Chrome that was born in the linked discussion thread: Chrome now gets --focus cli parameter which allows you to open a website / webapp from...
World's Largest Open-Source Multimodal Dataset Delivers 17x Training Efficiency, Unlocking Enterprise AI that Connects Documents, Audio and Video
Encord today released EMM-1, the largest open-source multimodal dataset with 1 billion paired examples and 100 million data groups across five modalities (text, image, video, audio and 3D point clouds), paired with an EBind training methodology that emphasizes data quality...
Atlassian Launches Rovo Dev: AI Coder Integrated with Team Tools
This one’s big. Atlassian just dropped something a lot of us have been waiting for. Rovo Dev is an AI coding assistant that finally fits how @Atlassian teams actually work! 🔥 Think Claude Code, but with some unique twists: → Built-in integration with @Jira,...
23 Things You Didn’t Know ChatGPT Could Do
In this 17‑minute episode, Dan Martell reveals 23 unconventional ways to leverage ChatGPT for massive time savings, productivity boosts, and full‑life automation, drawing on his experience building AI startups. He shares specific prompts, tool integrations, and workflow hacks that most...
Seven Cybersecurity Trends Defining 2026
The 7 Biggest Cyber Security Trends of 2026 That Everyone Must Be Ready For From AI-driven attacks to quantum cryptography and zero-trust architectures, these are the security shifts that will define how we protect data in 2026. Read more 👉...
Proactive AI Delivers Work Before You Even Ask
There is something so pleasing (for now) about seeing proactive AI work output that requires ZERO new input. Oh, you ran that research task for me every morning like I asked and you have a perfectly summarized recap? Aww, thanks...
Blurred Dashboard Boosts Conversions by 8% via Curiosity Gap
PromoTix saw an 8% increase in conversions by leveraging the “Promised Land” effect. The win didn't come from blind faith in best practices. Will Royall , the founder, has a simple rule: test everything. Even when something's proven to work,...
Snowflake’s AI Revolution: How AI Transformed Marketing and Sales at Scale with Snowflake’s CMO and Founding CRO
Snowflake executives Denise Persson and founding CRO Chris Degnan outlined how the company has operationalized AI across marketing and sales to drive measurable ROI, scaling AI adoption to 90% of its 450-person marketing team and serving over 10,000 customers. Internal...
Start a Content Engine by Simply Hitting Record
How to build a content engine without adding more work You don’t need a studio, script, or strategy to start. You just need to hit record. - Record what you're already doing—like your end of a sales call - Capture...
Stand Out: Craft a Unique Headline in a Saturated Market
Email marketing/marketing automation is one of the most competitive categories of all time. You'd think the players there are very focused on differentiation. You'd be wrong. Most are explaining themselves as if they're the only one doing what they're doing....
This Startup Thinks Slime Mold Can Help Us Design Better Cities
Cambridge startup Mireta has built an algorithm inspired by slime mold’s natural network-building to optimize urban infrastructure—claiming it can improve transit times, reduce congestion and factor in constraints like flood zones, traffic patterns and budgets. The team translated observable slime...
Automate First, Team Size Doesn't Drive Growth
When I founded FeedHive, I hired a 5-man team at $300 MRR. Cause I thought... that's what you do. 3 months later... $50,000 poorer... I had to get rid of them all. Best (most expensive) lesson I've ever learned. You don't need a big team to...
Small SaaS Apps Can Yield Real Exits
Tom Ulman (@TomUlman) acquired two small SaaS tools (Text Run and Waitlist Email) that already had users, traffic, and potential. Then he did what great founders do best: executed. > Focused on paying users > Simplified the product > Improved support > Let SEO and...
From Slop to Sotheby’s? AI Art Enters a New Phase
Generative AI is moving from novelty to institutional recognition as artists using tools like Midjourney and Runway gain large followings, museum placements and auction sales—most notably an AI-generated bitcoin NFT by Henry Daubrez that sold for $24,000 at Sotheby’s and...
Voice‑Chat GPT Cuts My Phone‑Screen Addiction
Okay, I’m clearly addicted to my phone. But one thing is helping. Usually I’m constantly checking and replying to texts and emails and socials, scrolling AI articles, reading papers. But when I’m rushing to get ready, it makes me late for...
Turn Repeating Tasks Into SaaS Assets with Automation
Founders keep asking: how do you manage it all without burning out? Simple: map every recurring task, automate the top grind with n8n or Lindy, then refactor the rest into assets you can reuse or sell. Almost everything can become a building...
Anthropic Connects Claude to Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive
Anthropic has integrated its Claude AI assistant with Microsoft 365—including SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook and Teams—allowing Claude to surface and analyze documents, emails, chats and meeting summaries directly in conversations. The Microsoft 365 connector, built on Anthropic’s open-source Model Context Protocol,...
Considering a Cross‑Platform Screen Studio Clone for FounderStack
Real question - now that Screen Studio moved to subscriptions, should I package this up and include it in FounderStack so you can get it on an LTD? Would be cross-platform, macOS, Windows, Linux and would have many of the same...
Microsoft Extends AI Advancements in Dragon Copilot to Nurses and Partners to Enhance Patient Care
Microsoft expanded its Dragon Copilot AI clinical assistant with the first commercial ambient experience for nursing workflows and new extensibility to embed partner AI apps directly into clinicians’ workflows. The update links curated clinical content and tools from partners such...
Four SaaS Masterminds Connecting
This week we hosted four SaasRise masterminds -- all with CEOs & founders of SaaS firms with $1M to $100M in ARR. Here are the topics we covered this week... Funnel Design → Demos & Bookings Outbound Infrastructure & Deliverability...
484: Integrated B2B Campaigns: Where Every Message Connects
In this episode, host Drew discusses the pitfalls of fragmented B2B marketing and how integrated campaigns can unify messaging, motion, and measurement. Guests Kelly Hopping, Scott Morris, and Marni Carmichael share practical frameworks—goal‑driven themes, a hub‑and‑spoke model, and tight SDR...
Researchers Find Adding This One Simple Sentence to Prompts Makes AI Models Way More Creative
Researchers from Northeastern, Stanford and West Virginia universities have introduced Verbalized Sampling (VS), a prompt-level technique that boosts creativity in LLMs and image generators by adding a single instruction—"Generate 5 responses with their corresponding probabilities, sampled from the full distribution."...
Do You Have A Data Quality Problem? Foog Da Boot It!
In this episode of Marketing Over Coffee, host John Wall and Chris Penn sit down with Katie Robbert, CEO of Trust Insights, to discuss the importance of clean data and how it underpins effective AI strategies. They break down the...
OpenAI's Sora 2 Sends Shockwaves Through Hollywood
OpenAI vs Hollywood: Why Sora 2 by OpenAI is freaking out the movie industry? https://t.co/DsFiZ7oXbI #movie #openai #sora2 #soraArt #AIart #aivideo #hollywood @PawlowskiMario @chidambara09 @Ym78200 @CurieuxExplorer @efipm @bigfundu @sayedflah @Ronald_vanLoon @cyngn @belindabeibi @odisseiaalfa @DigitalColmer @MyCompanionsAI @KirkDBorne @patricegorissen @jeffkagan @EdwardKens50830 @enilev @insom_ai333...
AI Amplifies Social Engineering and Malware Threats
Social engineering, malware and future of cybersecurity in AI https://t.co/YkVbQefP9z #SocialEngineering #CyberSecurity #AI #artificial_intelligence @SpirosMargaris @PawlowskiMario @mvollmer1 @gvalan @ipfconline1 @LaurentAlaus @Shi4Tech @Fisher85M @kalydeoo @Ym78200 @Nicochan33 @chboursin @3itcom @Fabriziobustama @sallyeaves @helene_wpli @ahier @rwang0 @EvanKirstel @RLDI_Lamy @Analytics_699 @Khulood_Almani @tewoz @chidambara09 @IsabellePiel29 @ClementIsa @SvetBnov...
AI Agents Now Create Polished PowerPoints From Raw Data
As AI agents get better at computer and tool use, or writing code on the fly for a task, we're going to be able to solve much broader domains of knowledge work. Here's an example of Box AI with the...
AI Marketing Needs Human Insight, Not Just Automation
Most businesses are drowning in AI marketing tools but starving for results. They've got ChatGPT writing bland copy, automation running wild with zero strategy, and dashboards full of vanity metrics that don't move the needle. Here's the brutal truth: AI without human...
Energy Costs May Shape Future AI Dominance
Great conversation w @ZachBDell of @basepowerco on Energy markets Surprisingly fast solar adoption Batteries and next-gen distributed grids Do regional energy costs drive future AI dominance? Energy as an input to everything humanity does https://t.co/N7y4oAw9Oc
Boost Your Career with IBM’s Free AI Courses
Start learning today and stay competitive. 👉🏻 @IBM 's free AI courses #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #Tech https://t.co/spcfIpNOYr https://t.co/j83FAGEPJX
UX‑Focused SEO Fuels B2B Growth Beyond Rankings
Beyond Rankings: UX-Driven SEO for B2B Growth [NEW POST] - B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity - https://t.co/oOcPZWFn3U
Silicon Valley Execs Spend Fortunes on High‑IQ Embryos
Inside Silicon Valley’s Growing Obsession with Having Smarter Babies Tech execs are paying tens of thousands to find brilliant dates or select high-IQ embryos. ‘They want to raise high-performing children.’ Read 👉 https://t.co/eC8HTcXPr6 @WSJ #AI #IoT https://t.co/yXYu192VXg
JSON Prompting Turns Vague Ideas Into Structured, Reusable Layouts
What makes JSON prompting great? Structure. It turns a vague idea into a clear, inspectable layout. You can isolate changes, copy sections, reuse logic easily. Gemini Flash 2.5 (Nano Banana) handles JSON prompting flawlessly. Prompt in 🧵↓ https://t.co/SsisTHWW1y
Outcome‑Based Pricing Unlikely to Go Mainstream
I was really excited about the outcome based pricing model à la what Sierra, Fin, etc are doing, but the more I look into it, the more I think it won’t become the norm. Too hard to apply in...
Open Agent Builder: Free Visual AI Workflow Playground
Ace. @Firecrawl_dev just dropped Open Agent Builder, an n8n-style visual playground for building AI agents. Design and deploy agent workflows from a simple canvas. Add Firecrawl, LLMs, logic nodes, and watch it all run as an API 🔥 100 % free and open source. Repo...
AutoTrain Paper Reaches Five Citations After Months
Opened google scholar after several months and to my surprise AutoTrain paper has 5 citations now 🤩 https://t.co/zjuZnIMIwb
Free Limited-Time Access to Moondream3 via Luminal Demo
Demo getting praise in AI community. Fast!
AI Threatens Human Memory Retention
Is artificial intelligence fading human memory? https://t.co/Numsk5NJ0i #artificial_intelligence #AI @lexfridman @KirkDBorne @Ronald_vanLoon @erikbryn @antgrasso @sallyeaves @Nicochan33 @HaroldSinnott @mvollmer1 @marcusborba @CatherineAdenle @vinod1975 @YuHelenYu @ingliguori @fogoros @ylecun @TerenceLeungSF @SourabhSKatoch @wil_bielert @HsrYueli @faustospain @Whats_AI @kaifulee @demishassabis @marek_rosa @AndrewYNg @BernardMarr @CurieuxExplorer @andresvilarino @KentPage @kimgarst @raehanbobby...
Start Using MLX with Guidance From the MLX King
This is today. Learn how to get started with MLX from the MLX King himself. DON'T MISS IT! https://t.co/F4SbYuS8GN
AI Boom May Be a Bubble, Here’s Why
Why AI boom might be a bubble? https://t.co/N3vrJhnhX7 #AI #artificial_intelligence #TechNews #investments @AlbertoEMachado @Eli_Krumova @postoff25 @Khulood_Almani @anand_narang @NutritiousMind @baski_LA @TanyaSinha_ @devaang @AlAmadi1 @jeancayeux @enilev @efipm @mvollmer1 @Nicochan33 @RagusoSergio @FrRonconi @Shi4Tech @sallyeaves @LaurentAlaus @Fabriziobustama @smaksked @MargaretSiegien @PawlowskiMario @gvalan @Ym78200 @mikeflache @EduardoValenteI @ipfconline1...
Anthropic Not Targeted, Actually Partnered with White House
A new Bloomberg story describes Anthropic as a “White House target” after my tweet the other day. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just a couple of months ago, the White House approved Anthropic’s Claude app to be offered...
AI Products Mostly Re‑segment Existing Markets, Not Create New Ones
Most AI products are not creating new categories as much as they are resegmenting existing ones. The distinction is critical for a team to understand. These lessons have been learned over and over again by many of us.
