SaaStr

APRIL 9, 2024

At SaaStr’s AI Day, George Kreitler, Global IBM Embeddable AI Sales Leader, talks about the paradox of AI, three equations that relate to the world productivity and AI, a little math to help guide the next decade, top use cases, and the importance of responsible AI. Why does this matter in the world of AI?

AI 302

AI Outsourcing Services Outsourced Development Government 302

SaaStr

MAY 7, 2024

At SaaStr AI Day, Siqi Chen, founder, and CEO of Runway , discussed his belief of why every role will become a prompt engineering role, along with some no-code AI tips showing how to build products without knowing how to code. Why Is Every Role a Prompt Engineering Role Runway is a next-generation finance platform.

AI 282

AI Engineering Sales Hiring ChatGPT 282

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 12, 2024

If you needed proof that every software company is an AI company , here’s the evidence. 46% of all US venture financings in dollar terms in 2024 were AI. Within a year, half of software companies are AI companies. What isn’t captured in this data is that the way companies are built is also changing.

AI 253

AI Finance Trends Startup 253

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 20, 2024

Will AI sofware companies operate with better or worse profitability than a classic SaaS company? Initially, I thought worse since the expense of serving AI as a product is signficantly higher. AI SaaS may be much more profitable than the -10% average net income margins of the current crop of public businesses.

AI Search 231

AI Search AI Scale SaaS 231

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

In his most recent earnings conference call, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella said “Every product of Microsoft will have some of the same AI capabilities to completely transform the product.” ” Today, Microsoft Teams launched AI features in Teams for a fee. Github Copilot at Microsoft.

AI 223

AI Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Innovation 223

SaaStr

JUNE 11, 2024

EMEA Oracle NetSuite SVP Nicky Tozer and COO Ham Patel took the stage at SaaStr Europa to talk about real-world examples of how traditional and Generative AI can help supercharge your growth. AI is part of that answer. AI can drive profitability, productivity, and ROI, but to supercharge growth, you need fuel.

AI 183

AI Artificial Intelligence Data Generative AI 183

SaaStr

OCTOBER 26, 2023

AI in the Real World AI has burst on the scene, and everyone’s rushing to add a ChatGPT-like thing to their product. Of course, when you have a paradigm shift of an old version and new version, before the internet and after the internet, before AI and after AI, things eventually get folded down into the main stack.

Sales Hiring 287

Sales Hiring AI SMB Scale 287

SaaStr

DECEMBER 6, 2023

SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin chats with Box CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Levie to talk about what’s new at Box, SaaS fatigue, hiring a new COO, operating margins and efficiency, the future of AI, and what to expect for 2024. Their co-founder, Dylan Smith, handles many functions of the business, like finance.

AI 293

AI Sales Hiring Scale Artificial Intelligence 293

Clouded Judgement

JULY 16, 2024

We can expect the company to start trading on the public markets next Wednesday Subscribe now OneStream Overview From the S1 - “OneStream delivers a unified, AI-enabled and extensible software platform—the Digital Finance Cloud—that modernizes and increases the strategic impact of the Office of the CFO.

Benchmarks 295

Benchmarks Data Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 295

SaaStr

AUGUST 14, 2024

Sage Finance Happy Hour! CFOs and VIP Finance, sign up here. SaaStr Finance Leaders Happy Hour with Carta and Friends. SaaStr AI Founders Party, 6pm-10pm. SaaS Founder Happy Hour with SVB and Deel at Pinstripes. This is a great upscale bowling alley with drinks near the venue. Sign up here. Sign up here. At Annual itself.

Finance 331

Finance Cloud AI SaaS 331

Payrix

JANUARY 28, 2025

With decades of experience in payments, Matt provided invaluable insights on emerging trends, regulatory changes, and the future of Embedded Finance. Technological evolution : The foundations laid in recent years are expected to yield transformative advancements in Embedded Finance and platform regulation.

Payments 130

Payments Payment Solutions Merchant Services Payment Methods 130

SaaStr

MARCH 24, 2025

Some fun facts: 10+ years of SaaStr conference attendance Partner at Point Nine Capital, a leading early-stage VC firm Geographic reach: Actively investing across Europe, US, and Australia Notable portfolio: Zendesk, Algolia, Contentful, Loom (and many more) Known for his “five ways to build a $100M business” framework The 5 Key Things (..)

Data 147

Data Acquisition AI Finance 147

SaaStr

JULY 2, 2024

Some have held off on raising subsequent financing and hope to grow through their valuations. Now, they’re approaching two years between financings. We should be nearing the bottom from a venture financing standpoint. AI Businesses are Demanding a Premium The haves and have-nots are really stark between AI and non-AI businesses.

Venture Capital 306

Venture Capital Management Scale AI 306

SaaStr

JUNE 19, 2024

So 40% of our content at SaaStr Europa was on AI this year, and probably 33% of SaaStr Annual last year. But it’s time for a full-fledged SaaStr AI Summit this year inside of SaaStr Annual. You can join us just for AI Summit or all of Annual. Just a few of the sessions coming: #1. ” #2. ” #2. ” #4.

AI Search 306

AI Search Scale AI Generative AI 306

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 28, 2024

With the rise of AI, web3 has become a quieter part of the venture ecosystem. The Series A financing market is volatile driven by larger transactions & at a steady pace of about $500m per quarter. I was curious about the current state of affairs. The launch of the Bitcoin ETF has amassed roughly $58b.

Marketing 286

Marketing Finance AI Trends 286

Payrix

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Leverage AI and Embedded Finance: With advancements in AI and Embedded Finance , staying focused on impactful innovations while avoiding distractions from shiny, less-relevant trends will be crucial. The episode concluded with a call to action for software platforms to engage openly with their payment providers.

Payments 130

Payments Embedded Payments Merchant Services Payment Services 130

Andreessen Horowitz

JULY 27, 2023

Seventy-seven percent of Americans report feeling financially stressed , making consumer personal finance an attractive market for new builders.

Finance 96

Finance AI Startup Generative AI 96

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Last week, Databricks announced their Series I financing at $43b. For now, Databricks’ growth, despite the environment, fueled by the demand for AI is a promising sign for startups. At the same time, they released quarterly figures similar to a public company’s reporting.

Business 316

Business Cloud Finance Innovation 316

Sales Hacker

JULY 2, 2024

Discussed in this Episode: The current state of the financing environment for startups. Highlights: 12:26 – The current financing environment for startups. Orum is an AI-powered live conversation platform designed to supercharge sales activity, connect sales teams, and drive more revenue over the phone. Brought to you by Orum.

Finance 124

Finance Venture Capital Entrepreneurship Advertising 124

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 20, 2024

Write a paragraph that today, with AI, writing has become easier because the outline is (i) essential to prompting AI to steer the narrative ; (ii) it’s easier to edit than it is to write ; (iii) incomplete thoughts can populate the outline & AI will interpolate to fit them in. Those are AI prompts.

AI 157

AI Finance Software Data 157

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 16, 2023

But it might be a bit less since the most competitive financings particularly in AI have been clearing at 2021 valuations, & the mountain of dry powder (more than $500b raised for early venture in the last 3 years) will buoy valuations through competition.

Venture Capital 306

Venture Capital Government Marketing Banking 306

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2024

With so much change in SaaS, Cloud, and AI the past few years, it’s albeit become much harder to predict so many things — including how events will go. The CFO Summit at SaaStr Annual Join us for the official Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Summit at SaaStr Annual. The 10th Annual!!

Benchmarks 300

Benchmarks Finance Business Model Forecasting 300

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2024

Coming from a more technical background, I do like technology driven service businesses and technical infrastructure, and have a keen eye on fintech/crypto, as well as AI driven SaaS platforms and productivity tools. M13 invests in infrastructure technology—such as AI and web3—that powers the future of work, health, commerce, and money.

Technical Review 300

Technical Review Management Investment AI 300

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

SVB collapsed, market multiples are down, yet the IPO window is re-opening, and we have a platform shift to AI that’s exciting everybody. As you think about leveraging AI and optimizing R&D efficiency, it’s worthwhile to know how the best companies are doing it. The final strategy is being AI native from the get-go.

Cloud 312

Cloud Payments Software Review Payment Solutions 312

Buffer Resources

JULY 23, 2024

Previously, I had worked in corporate finance, so I knew exactly how much the companies I worked for spent on engagements with PR firms. I love leveraging AI tools for the headline: You can drop in a written press release and have ChatGPT or similar apps suggest catchy titles, giving you ideas to start with.

Marketing 107

Marketing Branding ChatGPT AI 107

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2022

6sense Revenue AI captures anonymous buying signals, targets the right accounts at the ideal time, and recommends the channels and messages to boost revenue performance. Pleo offers smart company cards that enable employees to buy the things they need for work, all while keeping a company’s finance team in control of spending.

Forecasting 279

Forecasting compliance Finance Cloud 279

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2024

Different Pathways to CRO For Jane Kim, former CRO of CircleCl,, she used to work in finance before transitioning to SaaS. During her time in finance, she did multi-million dollar deals with 12 to 18-month deal cycles. Automation and AI could solve for that.

Scale 306

Scale Underperforming Technical Team SMB Finance 306

SaaStr

MAY 8, 2024

The only way to get a decent deal on AI is to make a commit. Q: Will AI change any of the above? Nothing is going to change with AI,” Jason says. But there’s no evidence today that AI will get rid of 90% of our sales and marketing teams. In traditional SaaS, AI is disruptive. They had commitments at scale.

Metrics 277

Metrics Scale Sales Hiring SaaS 277

SaaStr

APRIL 7, 2022

I can give you marketing examples about how robots are sitting on my laptop and then in the cloud doing work for us that we hate doing, the work that is done in a contact center or in an airline or work that’s done in your finance business. The market now called RPA, which is the fastest path to using AI in a company now.

Sales Hiring 280

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services 280

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 31, 2023

In the last two years, M&A has totaled about $49b & it surges to above $60b driven by AI acquisitions. AI & data continue to dominate the funding landscape as founders & investors seek novel applications of the technology. The BTC ETF drives a resurgence in interest in web3 financing. Score : 0.5.

AI Search 240

AI Search Headcount Scale AI 240

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

For instance, Founders Fund doesn’t really invest in AI, health tech, or edtech, even if you’re growing 5x. For smaller companies, go after the founders because they likely won’t have finance people yet. For Mid-Market companies, you might connect with people in finance or accounting. Each VC has a different “flavor.”

Sales Hiring 307

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 307

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 30, 2024

In a world without venture capital (or other sources of external financing for startups), each company would have to grow solely based on the merits of their product and sales. Just this week, multiple AI coding copilots announced rounds exceeding $100 million. Over the long term, the best products and teams will win.

Cloud 274

Cloud Venture Capital AI Startup 274

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

Our most recent disclosed investment is in Pika.art, a company redesigning the entire video-making and editing experience utilizing AI. Satya’s education is memorialized by a BS in Finance and a BS in Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania. What’s your most recent disclosed investment? Why did you do the deal?

Marketplace as a Service 279

Marketplace as a Service Venture Capital Entertainment Construction 279

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Big things also happening in the AI space. The buzz and the pressure to implement AI solutions can be overwhelming. In partnership with Jorge Peñalva , the CEO of Lang.ai , and the team at G2 we’ve built the first framework to implement AI for GTM teams. Max Altschuler from the GTMfund answers this: “AI is not a silver bullet.

Artificial Intelligence 124

Artificial Intelligence AI Generative AI Blockchain 124

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Discussed in this Episode: The challenges of personalization in marketing and the role of AI in addressing these challenges. Insights on the future of AI in marketing and the importance of storytelling in building impactful brands. 08:01) The role of AI in personalization. (10:44) 16:04) The future of AI in marketing. (19:32)

AI 123

AI Marketing Advertising Finance 123

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 18, 2024

AI is everywhere but still uncharted As anticipated, AI was at the heart of nearly every conversation at the conference. Caroline Kinlin (CMO at SPHERE) highlights that AI is use case agnostic – regardless of industry or function, the core question is how AI can be integrated effectively. Link to GPT.

Sales Recruiting 108

Sales Recruiting Software Review Scale AI 108

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

With Databricks now one of the largest pre-IPO technology companies, with $10 billion of expected non-dilutive financing and a valuation of $62 billion, Ron’s insights are gold for any revenue leader looking to scale.

Scale 183

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 183