A short interview with Jason M. Lemkin discussing how large AI budgets are driving unprecedented growth in B2B software. Lemkin argues that traditional SaaS sales playbooks (outbound, events, 2021-era approaches) are less effective unless products tap AI-driven value; founders with existing customers should identify AI use-cases that are qualitatively (10x) better and automate business workflows to capture the new opportunity.
Chapters
But there's so much AI budget, and when you add it together, business software is growing faster than it has ever before. But if you don't tap into that AI budget, it's tough. There just isn't budget. It's just not there. So if you're selling the way you sold in 2021, this is one of 50 reasons it's dead. There's not. The budget's harder. It's all going to exist. Investors, inflation and price increases are doing all. And all the energy is in AI for solutions. So if that's you, it feels dead. It feels like these are all the people on LinkedIn. The playbook doesn't work. Outbound's dead. Nothing works. Events don't work. You know, tell it to anyone that's on fire. It all works. Meeting with your customers works. Outbound works. If anyone wants to buy your product. Right.
You said something like classic SaaS is in fact dead or it's geriatric or something like that. But B2B software right now is exploding. Yeah. And that, like, that's something that is. I think maybe it's kind of obvious if you live here in Silicon Valley, but when you look at the software industry from the outside in, it's like a tale to cities, talented cities.
Yeah. But the simple question I ask founders who are struggling, right, Is what if you haven't figured it out yet, what can you do in. You already have a thousand customers, five thousand, ten thousand. What can you do in AI that couldn't be done before? That's magical. That's ten times better. Take a pause, but figure this out.
In your space 10 times better.
Like, yeah, but usually there is an idea. Usually there's an idea, right? I mean, even agent. We're here at Dreamforce when if Agent Forest were fully deployed at Mark's vision, like if everyone was live with Agent Force, everyone had all this automated across a million million workflows. It would be magical, wouldn't it?
It would be, yeah.
It would be magical. So you maybe Mark can't do. I mean, it's so much business process change. Right. I mean, you work there. Right. But at least that's the answer. I think. I think it's the right answer.
