Assessing SaaS / services search - has AI changed anything for you?

searcher profile

May 15, 2024

by a searcher from University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Hey all, long time lurker first time poster. After a few years working at a SaaS company, I'm warming up my networking muscles to reevaluate if now is the right time for ETA for me (and now the family also).

Given my experience, I'd love to work on SaaS but I also know the limitations if you get it wrong (low barriers to entry / high competition, expensive multiples, etc).

My question is, especially in the age of gen AI, has SaaS search gotten (drastically) tougher? What about searches for tech-enabled services in general? How are SaaS searchers / acquirers thinking about navigating the landscape with a new innovation dropping daily? Thanks in advance for any insight.

2
7
59
Replies
7
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Villanova University in San Diego, CA, USA
I'd say that most SaaS businesses would benefit from implementing AI tools. It is unclear to me why most SaaS would be getting squeezed on compute costs. The big issues around AI compute costs focus on GPUs, and unless your SaaS uses a lot of GPUs (which it probably doesn't), you shouldn't be getting squeezed on AI compute-related costs. Non-GPU compute is very cheap to come by. To your other point, yes, it may be easier to build a SaaS solution now than it has ever been. Businesses that smartly leverage AI to build and scale will have a competitive advantage. Hope this helps.
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Rochester Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, USA
I'm a SaaS self-funded solo searcher and this is certainly top of mind for me. Any business I look at, I consider the AI angle from at least two major perspectives: (1) what is the threat to the business from AI and to my customers and their businesses? For example, could AI realistically replace this tool or service or my customers or their businesses? (2) How could AI improve the business from automating tasks to enhancing the user experience?
commentor profile
+5 more replies.
Join the discussion