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We replaced our sales team with 20 AI agents—here’s what happened | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr)

Overview

Shownote

Highlights

Transcript

Chapters

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We replaced our sales team with 20 AI agents—here’s what happened | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Jan 01
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Jan 01
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Jason Lemkin is the founder of SaaStr, the world’s largest community for software founders, and a veteran SaaS investor who has deployed over $200 million into B2B startups. After his last salesperson quit, Jason made a radical decision: replace his entire...

Highlights

In this forward-looking conversation, Jason Lemkin shares his firsthand experience transforming a traditional sales organization into an AI-driven operation, offering rare insights from the front lines of a rapidly evolving go-to-market landscape.
07:13
A non-sales-trained AI agent closed a $70K sponsorship, proving AI's sales potential.
12:29
AI is replacing mediocre sales employees while giving superpowers to the best humans.
16:45
Over 50% of prospects are now in the market for AI products, compared to 3-5% in traditional markets
19:20
Email-based SDRs and BDRs will be mostly extinct next year due to AI efficiency.
22:04
Only about 20% of current sales professionals may be suitable for startup roles in 2026–2027 due to AI-driven changes.
28:03
Mastery comes from doing it 20 times, not outsourcing.
28:41
Avoid building GTM tools internally unless you're Vercel or have dedicated engineering resources
34:37
AI agents can sell sponsorships and qualify inbound leads autonomously
36:40
Agent Force with Salesforce achieved a 70% response rate on neglected leads
44:39
An AI trained on the best salesperson can beat most human reps in outbound email performance
52:05
In-person sales close at a higher rate, but tech aims for full GTM automation.
52:39
AI agents now handle outbound lead finding, inbound engagement, and support tasks formerly done by humans
53:51
Without proper oversight, AI agent operations deliver zero ROI.
1:01:08
An employee quit after AI RevOps exposed his inactivity in CRM tasks
1:05:40
FDEs focus on customer success, not sales, ensuring the product works on day one
1:15:36
Salesforce customers should go live before paying, not after.
1:18:56
Gartner predicts next year will see the fastest acceleration of money into AI and software in a decade
1:23:47
After 150 days, AI agents can debate code-building, enabling non-coders to build.
1:25:27
Use an incognito browser and a new Gmail to test your product from a user's perspective.
1:27:19
Media over-dramatizes AI-related layoffs, which are often just an excuse for downsizing.
1:30:18
When AI agents form a hive mind sharing data, human GTM roles will be at risk

Chapters

Introduction to Jason Lemkin
00:00
What SaaStr does
04:36
AI’s impact on sales teams
07:13
How SaaStr's AI agents work and their performance
10:11
How go-to-market is changing in the AI era
14:18
The future of SDRs, BDRs, and AEs in sales
19:19
Why leadership roles are safe
22:03
How to be in the 20% who thrive in the AI sales future
23:43
Why you shouldn't build your own AI tools
28:40
Specific AI agents and their applications
30:10
Challenges and learnings in AI deployment
36:40
Making AI-generated emails good (not just acceptable)
42:11
When humans still beat AI in sales
47:31
An overview of SaaStr's org
52:39
The role of human oversight in AI operations
53:50
Advice for salespeople and founders in the AI era
58:37
Forward-deployed engineers
1:05:40
What's changing and what's staying the same in sales
1:08:08
Why AI is creating more work, not less
1:16:21
Why Jason says these are magical times
1:19:32
The "incognito mode test" for finding AI opportunities
1:25:25
The impact of AI on jobs
1:27:19
Lightning round and final thoughts
1:30:18

Transcript

Lenny Rachitsky: Used to have about 10 people full time. Now you have 1.2 humans, 20 agents. Jason Lemkin: We have 10 desks that used to be go-to-market people. They're all just labeled with our agents. Repli for Replit, Quali for Qualified, Arti for Arti...