{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"SaaStr 838: The Present and Future of AI in Sales and GTM with SaaStr's CEO and Owner's CRO","description":"SaaStr 838: The Present and Future of AI in Sales and GTM with SaaStr's CEO and Owner's CRO  Jason Lemkin on Going All-In on AI Agents: 20 Agents, Zero SDRs, and the Death of Mid-Pack Sales  Jason Lemkin, Founder and CEO of SaaStr, sits down with Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner, to share the raw story of how frustration with sales team turnover pushed him to deploy 20 AI agents in under a year, and why we'll never go back.  In this episode, we cover:  \u2192 Why Jason stopped hiring SDRs after two senior reps ghosted him right before SaaStr Annual \u2192 The real reason most AI agent deployments fail (hint: it's not the technology)  \u2192 How to pick your first AI vendor: &quot;Talk to your forward deployed engineer before you sign&quot;  \u2192 Why Salesforce is having a Renaissance as the hub for AI agents  \u2192 The brutal truth about mid-pack sales jobs being in &quot;terminal decline&quot;  \u2192 How to get started with AI agents when your CFO won't give you budget  \u2192 AgentForce vs. the hot startups: what actually works in production  \u2192 Why the $250K SDR is coming, but only for the truly elite  Jason's advice for revenue leaders: &quot;Roll up your sleeves. If you haven't trained an agent yourself, you'll be utterly ignorant in the age of AI.&quot;  \ud83d\udd17 See the AI agents SaaStr uses: saastr.ai\/agents &amp;nbsp;--------------------- This episode is Sponsored in part by HappyFox: Imagine having AI agents for every support task \u2014 one that triages tickets, another that catches duplicates, one that spots churn risks. That\u2019d be pretty amazing, right? HappyFox just made it real with Autopilot. These pre-built AI agents deploy in about 60 seconds and run for as low as 2 cents per successful action. All of it sits inside the HappyFox omnichannel, AI-first support stack \u2014 Chatbot, Copilot, and Autopilot working as one. Check them out at&amp;nbsp;happyfox.com\/saastr --------------------- Hey everybody, the biggest B2B&amp;nbsp;+ AI event of the year will be back - SaaStr AI in the SF Bay Area, aka the SaaStr Annual, will be back in May 2026.&amp;nbsp; With 68% VP-level and above, 36% CEOs and founders and a growing 25% AI-first professional, this is the very best of the best S-tier attendees and decision makers that come to SaaStr each year. &amp;nbsp; But here's the reality, folks: the longer you wait, the higher ticket prices can get. Early bird tickets are available now, but once they're gone, you'll pay hundreds more so don't wait.&amp;nbsp; Lock in your spot today by going to&amp;nbsp;podcast.saastrannual.com to get my exclusive discount SaaStr AI SF 2026. We'll see you there. ","author_name":"The Official AI SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors","author_url":"http:\/\/www.saastr.com","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/39802255\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/197bc0\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/197696110"}