SaaStr.ai
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No. 6: OpenRouter, 915 leads at SaaStr AI Annual 2026. Sponsor SaaStr AI Annual 2027:
Founders keep making the same VP of Sales mistake.
"The number one mistake that CEOs and founders make when they hire a VP of sales is they exit sales," says Jason Lemkin.
They disappear for 6 months. Sales goes in the toilet.
Do not exit sales.
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Ask one question before you hire a VP of Sales.
"If they don't say 'Go meet frigging customers the first 2 weeks,' do not make the hire," says Jason Lemkin.
Anyone who wants to sell wants to be in deals on day one.
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Cover the logo on the resume first.
"We've all been blinded by logos our whole careers," says Jason Lemkin.
If they had not worked at Gong or SalesLoft, would you still hire them?
If not, do not make the hire.
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Most AI tools answer a question and stop.
Muse does not, says Jason Lemkin.
"Just ask Muse how to do it."
It runs the task for hours, with its own browser and its own LLM.
API calls used to be like free water.
"We've been using it like free water," says Jason Lemkin. "We got one estimate it might be as much as $240,000 a year."
So what do the agents do? Work around it.
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The agent deleted our entire Salesforce. It was a Friday.
"This agent just wiped our data," says Amelia.
Every deal gone in seconds. The vendor goes nameless.
49.7% of execs changed jobs in the last 16 months.
63% of CMOs turned over, says Jason Lemkin.
"We have to constantly enrich our data because our buyers... turn over so fast that they're usually not there by the next."
Your champion is already gone.
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63% of CMOs changed jobs in the last 16 months.
"Half of people changed jobs in 16 months. But CMOs changed at a much higher rate: 63%," says Amelia.
Your champion is gone by next SaaStr Annual.
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The 2020 SaaS expansion playbook is dead.
AI companies now reach 42 countries in year one, 120 by year three. Nearly half of top AI company revenue comes from outside the home market.
"That's not the exception anymore. That's the rule," says Stripe's Maia Josebachvili.
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Your AI agent can write the follow-up email for you.
"It wrote me literally the best follow-up email," says Amelia Lerutte. "I'm literally just gonna copy this word for word."
10K knew the call, the inbound history, the pricing. Nothing dropped, nothing forgotten.
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The perfect time to hire your VP of sales?
"When you have 2 scaled reps. You have the beginning of an engine."
Says Jason Lemkin. Hire too early and there's nothing for them to build on.
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An AI agent set 682 meetings. Not a human.
Jason Lemkin: "682 strong meetings. That is better than any human BDR I've ever worked with."
If you do nothing else, automate inbound.
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