SaaStr 860: Tired vs. Wired: $4 Trillion in IPOs Coming, $100B in M&A, and Why the SaaSpocalypse is Over

SaaStr 860: Tired vs. Wired: $4 Trillion in IPOs Coming, $100B in M&A, and Why the SaaSpocalypse is Over

Author: SaaStr June 12, 2026 Duration: 50:57

Tired vs. Wired: $4 Trillion in IPOs Coming, $100B in M&A, and Why the SaaSpocalypse is Over

The public markets spent the last twelve months telling you B2B software was finished. Stocks down 60 to 70 percent. PE firms buying nobody. For the first time in history, software trading at a discount to the S&P 500. And at the exact same moment, Anthropic is projecting $50 billion in revenue, Cursor is getting acquired for $60 billion, and SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Databricks are about to generate more market value than every other IPO since 2000 combined.

Both things are true - and which one defines your next 18 months depends entirely on one question: are you tired or are you wired? In this episode, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin calls the market as he sees it, names who is winning and who is pretending, and makes the case that the Cambrian explosion in B2B is just getting started.

You'll learn:

  • Why the SaaSpocalypse was never about B2B dying - it was about pre-AI software dying - and what the Palantir, Twilio, and Atlassian re-acceleration stories actually tell you
  • The four categories every B2B company falls into right now, and why category four founders need to stop pretending the recovery is coming on its own
  • Why vibe coding your CRM is dead as a concept, and what "putting deals on your calendar" actually means as a product strategy
  • Why your biggest near-term competitive edge might be two days of engineering work - making your API agent-friendly before your competitors do
  • What SaaStr's own journey from 20 humans to 3 humans and 21 agents teaches you about consistency as the only real cheat code in agents

This is for you if:

  • Your growth has slowed and you are not sure whether it is a market problem or a you problem - this session will help you figure out which
  • You are a founder or exec who has been in the "AI is coming" conversation for a year but has not yet seen it show up in your revenue
  • You want the unfiltered version of where B2B is headed in the next 18 months, including the parts most people are too polite to say out loud

Tune into The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors for direct conversations with the people building and funding the software-as-a-service industry. This isn't about abstract theory; it's the practical, often hard-won wisdom from prominent founders and seasoned investors who have navigated the path themselves. Each episode digs into the specific mechanics of scaling a SaaS business, focusing on the critical journey from zero to one hundred million dollars in annual recurring revenue. You'll hear founders break down what actually worked when it came to hiring key talent, entering new markets, and managing the immense pressure of hyper-growth. From the investor side, the discussions reveal how top venture capitalists evaluate potential, what metrics truly matter beyond the pitch deck, and their perspectives on sustainable company culture. Hosted by SaaStr, this podcast serves as an ongoing masterclass for operators and entrepreneurs who prefer learning through candid stories and detailed strategies rather than generic advice. The dialogue is always grounded in the fierce realities of the competitive tech landscape, making every interview a source of actionable insights you can apply to your own challenges.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors
Podcast Episodes
SaaStr 850: The Agents, Episode 1: Who Maintains All This? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:06
SaaStr 850: The Agents, Episode 1: Who Maintains All This? Welcome to The Agents, a new weekly series where Amelia Lerutte, Chief AI Officer at SaaStr, and Jason Lemkin, Founder and CEO of SaaStr, pull back the curtain o…