{"id":311328,"date":"2025-04-13T02:16:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T09:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/?p=311328"},"modified":"2025-04-13T07:54:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T14:54:20","slug":"6-practical-reasons-ai-is-a-threat-to-traditional-b2b-startups-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/6-practical-reasons-ai-is-a-threat-to-traditional-b2b-startups-today\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Practical Reasons AI is a Threat to Traditional B2B Startups Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h3>Dear SaaStr: How Much of a Threat is AI to Traditional B2B Startups Today?<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">AI isn&#8217;t yet slowing down the big leaders in SaaS, from Salesforce to HubSpot to Workday.\u00a0 \u00a0In fact, they are embracing it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">Workday is seeing a 30% attach rate for its new AI products in new deals already:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jmdgIAaM3R\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/5-interesting-learnings-from-workday-at-9-billion-in-arr\/\">5 Interesting Learnings From Workday at $9 Billion in ARR<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;5 Interesting Learnings From Workday at $9 Billion in ARR&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/5-interesting-learnings-from-workday-at-9-billion-in-arr\/embed\/#?secret=IGr45Zktjx#?secret=jmdgIAaM3R\" data-secret=\"jmdgIAaM3R\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And AI is the core focus of Salesforce today:<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WSJ says Agentforce filling jobs faster.  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdeccoGroup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AdeccoGroup<\/a> boosted job placements from 70% to 100%\u2014partnering with humans means better outcomes for everyone. More positions filled, smoother hiring processes. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u91izuy0PM\">https:\/\/t.co\/u91izuy0PM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Marc Benioff (@Benioff) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Benioff\/status\/1906084770121138213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">And HubSpot has just launched a suite of AI features that look pretty darn impressive. \u00a0And are \u2026 bundled in.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 NEW PRODUCT UPDATES \ud83d\udea8 <\/p>\n<p>HubSpot Head of Product Andy Pitre brings you our latest product updates and they\u2019re giving serious results seriously fast \u2013 including:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd16 Breeze Agents: an AI-powered team that works 24\/7.<br \/>\ud83d\udcc8 Marketing Hub Enterprise: scale your marketing across\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/B6LNx1enH7\">pic.twitter.com\/B6LNx1enH7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; HubSpot (@HubSpot) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HubSpot\/status\/1910722149179928901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">In most cases, AI won\u2019t outright \u201ckill\u201d SaaS B2B startups now or even soon. \u00a0There\u2019s zero evidence of that \u2026 at the moment at least \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">But &#8230; it\u2019s already making life a lot harder for those that don\u2019t adapt.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-311329 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/halluc-scaled.webp?resize=488%2C367&#038;quality=65&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"367\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 488px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 488\/367;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-311329\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/halluc-scaled.webp?resize=488%2C367&#038;quality=65&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"488\" height=\"367\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">Here\u2019s why AI is at least a partial threat to many B2B start-ups today, even if you aren&#8217;t 100% feeling it yet:<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"mb-4 list-decimal space-y-4 pl-6 last:mb-0\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">AI is Table Stakes Now in Many Categories, And Soon Maybe In Every Category<\/strong><\/span>: AI is no longer a differentiator, it\u2019s the baseline. If your product doesn\u2019t have AI capabilities baked in\u2014whether it\u2019s automating workflows, improving onboarding, or delivering predictive insights\u2014it\u2019s going to feel outdated fast. Customers expect AI to be part of the package, and mediocre AI won\u2019t cut it anymore. If you\u2019re not at least keeping pace with competitors on AI, you\u2019ll lose deals. It\u2019s that simple.\u00a0 Everyone from Marc Benioff to your direct competitors are making big claims for AI.\u00a0 And have an AI offering they are pushing \u2014 hard.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">Explosion of Competition<\/strong><\/span>: AI has lowered the barriers to entry for new startups. With OpenAI, Anthropic, Loveable, Replit, Cursor, Windsurf and many others, it\u2019s easier than ever to build AI-driven products. This has led to an explosion of new competitors in almost every B2B category. If you\u2019re not innovating fast enough or delivering a truly differentiated product, you\u2019ll get drowned out by the sheer volume of new entrants.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">Customer Expectations Are Skyrocketing<\/strong><\/span>: AI has raised the bar for what customers expect from software. They want everything to be faster, smarter, and more automated. Onboarding should feel seamless, insights should be delivered without lifting a finger, and workflows should practically run themselves. If your product isn\u2019t materially better through AI than it was even 12 months ago, you\u2019re going to struggle to retain customers, let alone win new ones. \u00a0Customers are expected AI magic now. \u00a0You have to deliver.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">Pricing Pressure<\/strong><\/span>: AI is driving down the cost of certain types of software, especially those that rely heavily on manual processes or human intervention. If your product doesn\u2019t leverage AI to deliver more value at a lower cost, you\u2019ll find it hard to justify your pricing. Customers will gravitate toward AI-driven alternatives that are faster, cheaper, and more efficient.\u00a0 They are seeking them out, in fact.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">Feature Parity Matters More Than Ever<\/strong><\/span>: If your competitors are integrating AI into their products and you\u2019re not, you\u2019ll lose deals\u2014even if their AI isn\u2019t perfect. Customers don\u2019t want to feel like they\u2019re missing out on the latest. You don\u2019t have to build the best AI solution overnight, but you need to at least match the competition to stay in the game.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong class=\"font-semibold\">AI is Fueling Creativity and Innovation<\/strong><\/span>: The best engineers and product teams are obsessed with AI right now. They\u2019re experimenting with everything new in AI, building new features rapidly, and finding ways to make their products smarter and more valuable. If your team isn\u2019t doing the same, you\u2019re going to fall behind. AI is forcing every B2B company to level up, and those that don\u2019t will get left behind.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"m1qZ1EssUT\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/your-team-should-be-ai-obsessed-right-now-if-they-arent-its-a-flag\/\">Your Team Should Be AI Obsessed Right Now.  If They Aren\u2019t, It\u2019s a Flag<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Your Team Should Be AI Obsessed Right Now.  If They Aren\u2019t, It\u2019s a Flag&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/your-team-should-be-ai-obsessed-right-now-if-they-arent-its-a-flag\/embed\/#?secret=TvmWOZtdCI#?secret=m1qZ1EssUT\" data-secret=\"m1qZ1EssUT\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">AI isn\u2019t going to kill existing B2B startups outright, but it\u2019s going to separate the winners from the losers much faster than before.<\/p>\n<p>Have you stepped up?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Wrt1MEZ0pI\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/ai-is-already-remaking-saas-trends-to-watch-right-now\/\">AI is Already Remaking SaaS.  10 Trends To Watch Right Now.  And Not Fall Behind On.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;AI is Already Remaking SaaS.  10 Trends To Watch Right Now.  And Not Fall Behind On.&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/ai-is-already-remaking-saas-trends-to-watch-right-now\/embed\/#?secret=VxkQ9rhzgQ#?secret=Wrt1MEZ0pI\" data-secret=\"Wrt1MEZ0pI\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 last:mb-0\">The startups that embrace AI, innovate aggressively, and deliver real value to customers will thrive. Those that don\u2019t will struggle to compete in an increasingly crowded and fast-moving market.<\/p>\n<p>The pace of change, and the pace of software development, has never been faster in SaaS and B2B.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Join SaaStr Annual 2025: The Secrets To Scaling, And Where AI Meets B2B l May 13-15, SF Bay\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SFrql-8V_P0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear SaaStr: How Much of a Threat is AI to Traditional B2B Startups Today? AI isn&#8217;t yet slowing down the big leaders in SaaS, from Salesforce to HubSpot to Workday.\u00a0 \u00a0In fact, they are embracing it. Workday is seeing a 30% attach rate for its new AI products in new deals already: 5 Interesting Learnings&#8230; <br \/><a class=\"more-link fade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/6-practical-reasons-ai-is-a-threat-to-traditional-b2b-startups-today\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":311329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[24898,31,22,24987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-blog-posts","category-quora","category-saastr-ai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/halluc-scaled.webp?fit=1000%2C753&quality=65&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5oib2-1iZq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/halluc-scaled.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311328"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311568,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311328\/revisions\/311568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}