AI just changed the sauce rules: what every founder needs to know
Sass operators make a deep dive on the affairs of e -commerce B2B, and come to see if we will go to their podcast. We did and it ended as a great diver about how AI is changing the entire B2B software industry. Deep and what you need to do about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6aknyzcray
The brutal truth about how AI B2B software is renewing – and you will no longer get $ 100m to the playbox you used to M 10M.
Top 5 Techways
• The route from m 10m to 100m is no longer uncomfortable – high NRR + good team used to guarantee growth, but AI disruption means that every user returns to market shopping for shopkeepers
• The local benefits of AI are real but temporary -Startups can exploit the “installed base loan” of players set up, which are very busy serving current consumers who advance all on AI change.
• Deploy, don't buy AI tools just – Every founder should personally deploy a new AI tool monthly. AI requires daily repetition to manage and is just as much as humans manage
• The platform attached now exists -In this commerce, the entire game is in the $ 12 BRR. VCS will not fund pure environmental system dramas unless they disrupt strip level
• Immediately to the resistance. Fire Please, but immediately – Most management teams do not want to adopt new reality. You are better with half company that accepts more changes than keeping resistance people
The old principles are dead. Term
If you are still making your own mother -in -law as it is 2021, you are going to fail. Don't struggle – file. Right now the amount of barrier to B2B software is unprecedented, and it is much faster than the feeling of founders.
Here's a traumatic fact: Pre -products and lifestyle business models in 2021 worked beautifully? It is dead. “Set it up and forget it” Saasplaybook where can you advance and ask for a feature of a year or two every year? Gone If you have a good unit economy, the prediction of M 10M to 100m Arr was almost inevitable? Now it is “will” instead of “will”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz5_azm8kyy
Why everything changed (and why is it still getting faster)
AI is an ExcelonBut this is not happening in isolation. Three mass powers are changing:
1. The reality of platform stability
In e -commerce, has become a shopkeeper Whole The platform is everything else. Shapif has increased by 30 % in revenue of about $ 11 billion in the last quarter – it increased by 20 % a year ago. When the Billion arrives at 12 billion, they are simultaneously destroying everyone else's depth in the AI and the enterprise.
It's not just about e -commerce. We are seeing similar platform stability in the B2B software, where the winners are sharp and the rest are getting steamed.
2. AI ancestral advantage
Prior to 2023 companies are not automatically backward (Open and Entropic prove it), but they face a unique challenge. Serving current consumers creates AI loan.
When you have 10,000+ customers who regularly demand features and bug fixes, you can't go into the way you start on AI change. This makes the difference of widespread opportunities – but only for the founders who move forward enough to exploit it.
3. Defense contractor awareness
Look at the planner. The company increased by 13 % to 49 % to $ 49 billion. Today the rapidly growing public B2B company. How? They actually went to Ultra Deep on Ultra Deep. And they were founded in 2003 – so what is your excuse?
New Mathematics: Why $ 10m Arr no longer causes $ 100m Arr. At least, this is no longer inevitable.
For years, mathematics was very easy: If you hit M 10M Arr with strong unit economics and a good team, it was just a matter of time to go up to M 100m. High NRR + Permanent Implementation = inevitable growth.
Now this is not true.
Now we are watching the players. Something that we had never seen before 2023. The combination of AI's disruption and increasing competition means that every user returns to the market for the first time in decades.
Why consumers are reclaiming for apps again
Until recently, the B2B software was “set and forget”. The energy needed to seize and replace the shopkeepers was almost always more than ever. If you have won the customer, you often win it for a decade. Or at least 4-5 years.
But AI has changed the equation:
- Everyone wants a quick ROI From the AI solution
- Every contract is in the game When contract renewal and CIOS come for and find AI First Solutions with a lot of large productive benefits
- People are actively doing sourcing Applications to change their 70 % support teams, automate their marketing, or deploy AI SDRS
This gives great pressure on those responsible who do not own the platform (such as shopkeepers) because they are being attacked from all sides.
Brutal reality for VCS (and what it means for the founders)
Most VC has withdrawn from ditch and defense capabilities in B2B software. Because of this, they have also withdrawn from companies that are increasingly “merely”.
The new vc math: If you are going to abandon ditch and defense capabilities, you will be increasing from M1M to $ 100m in six months (such as dear and copy), as the traditional growth speed can no longer justify the investment of venture.
This has led to rational but brutal increase in the funding bar. If this is not defending, it is growing so fast that investors can reduce the defensive risk.
Originally what works now: New Playbook
1. Find AI ancestor
You need what I call the “10x feature”-but now this is probably a unique view that has a unique view. Some combinations of abilities that are not guided by Klavo, beautiful, or shopkeepers.
Often, it means to exploit it Installed the base loan They take big players. How much is Andrew and his team engaged in a $ 2 billion income that they can't get in the Clavyu? This is your opportunity.
2. Monthly AI Tolls deploy (yes, you personally)
Each CEO, founder, and administrative team member should deploy a new AI tool every month. Don't buy it – hide it. You don't learn anything from buying. You learn everything from deployment.
Why does it make a difference: Almost any AI tool that transmits the needle requires training and daily repetition. Our AISDR tools have been trained for three weeks, and we repeat it every day. The management of AI is just as much as managing humans – this is a completely different task.
3. Go beyond each one that will not compose
It looks hard, but it's a reality. Most of your management team does not want this change. They want to run the same playbox three years ago, hire 20 people for your team, work at home, and work at 2 pm.
You are better with half company that would like to be adapted Hundreds of people complain that everything is difficult.
4. Go to the enterprise or go to the ultra -nich
The SMB market is flooding with AI -powered rivals. Especially in e -commerce, the speed of the shop is now all the enterprises and major brands. If you are going to SMB, you have some incredible AI discrimination, as you have 100 rivals.
Money is moving forward (where you don't think)
Software costs are increasing, but 80 % additional costs are going into AI solution. However, this is not just about performance – it's about solving issues where no human is literally available to work.
Example: Salon, spas, in the doctor's offices, they cannot find anyone for the front desk, lift the phone, or transfer appointments. AI is not changing humans for performance – it is replacing humans because humans are not present.
Meanwhile, enterprise companies are still under the mandate to reduce the annual vendor count by 10 %. If you are at the bottom of their vendor list, deducting you, regardless of performance.
E -commerce reality check
If you are building e -commerce sauces, the news becomes difficult. VCS hates it more than ever before:
- It depends on very niche and platform
- No one invested real money in Amazon Eco System Dramas
- Even at $ 12B, the shop is 70 % tech rate and GMV. This is not a huge business of sauce
- There are probably 4-6 companies doing the shops in the north of M-100m in the environmental system
To increase e -commerceTo you either:
- Make something interrupted in the overall trade (think that the strip surface disrupts)
- Raise a small round and make it last -bootstrap
The bottom line
The mother-in-law of 2019-2021 is dying. It is not dead, but it is on a swing chair. Meanwhile, B2B software is on fire. Anthropic fell to $ 1B to $ 5B in six months – all enterprise costs.
For the founders, it means:
- The bar is high, but opportunities are large
- You must move at a speedy speed and work harder than ever
- The brand is still important, but each purchase is again
- Platform connecting (such as shops) is more important than before
- AI is not optional – it exists
Companies that understand these new rules and rapidly adapt to the B2B software will build the next generation of giants. What happens when you do not become a precautionary story when you sleep through some extent.
The world has changed. AI is an Excelon. The question is not whether you will adapt – that is, if you will be able to avoid steamler so fast.
The founders are now producing the top 4 errors
1. Building like it's still 2021
Fault: Thinking that you can launch the same product with a feature difference and compete at the price. Each or two years to advance a feature and expect to take you to take.
Why is it fatal: The AI has made 50+ rivals in each category. The bar for the quality of the product has been scirlette while the switching cost has decreased. Consumers are actively re -purchasing for the first time in decades.
2. Trying to build everything at home instead of taking advantage of the platform
Fault: Avoid dependence on the platform and try to become a “platform agnostic” when there is really only one platform that matters in your place.
Why is it fatal: Shapaf increased by 30 % because they are a platform. Fighting the platform stability instead of riding on the wave means lacking the tail wind. If you are not connected to the winning platform, VCS will not fund you.
3. To assign AI's implementation rather than learn personally
Fault: To ask someone in your team to “implement AI” or hire an agency when you hire an agency to adopt AI while staying away from yourself.
Why is it fatal: AI tools require daily repetition and training. If you don't think how they work, you can't manage them effectively. Every AI tool that transmits the needle takes time to train for weeks of training and daily correction – just as managing humans.
4. Keeping team members who face new reality
Fault: Hopefully members of the resistant team finally work hard, learn new tools, and adapt to the AI First World. Will come
Why is it fatal: Most people will not jump this. They want to run the same playbox three years ago, work at home on their schedule, and avoid the stress of constant change. These team members will actively slow down your change when the speed is everything.
This analysis is based on the insights of Jason Limin, the founder of Saster and Investor in B2BE Kamam, and its related companies such as Algolia, Gorjius, and Ruvenicat. See more founder insight, saastr.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6aknyzcray
