Jason M. LemkinCEO, SaaStr · Co-Founder of SaaStr AI, SaaStr Fund, Adobe Sign

Startup Competitive Edge Shrinking FAST: Adapt or Die! #shorts

31 Dec 2025 · 1 min

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1:05

Jason M. Lemkin says competitive edges in SaaS now last weeks instead of years. One portfolio startup faced four clones in two weeks. Companies that can't move that fast risk stalling out.

Questions this video answers

December 31, 2025

"about 1812 to 18 months" (verbatim from transcript)

"like five years" (verbatim from transcript)

"within two weeks" and "like four clones" (verbatim from transcript)

"It'll be out this year." (verbatim from transcript)

Chapters

Just realize that, like, your competitive edge is shrinking in time. Shrinking in time. When I started in SaaS, you basically had you build something really slick, and then you'd have about 1812 to 18 months until you were copied by a startup. Then you'd have like five years until a big company copied you. Okay, like, that's the way it used to happen. Not too recently, I invested in a startup that I love. Incredible, incredibly powerful startup. Within two weeks, they had like four clones. Two weeks. And then I talked with a massive company that's building a clone themselves. It'll be out this year. So the rate at which. This is where I think. It's not that we're going to rebuild workday in Salesforce and Oracle, but our competitive edges are going to be measured in months and when they used to be years. And that compounds. That compounds. And if you can't run at that pace, I. I don't see how you're gonna. You're gonna. You're gonna fall to 0% growth.