We replaced our sales team with 20 AI agents—here’s what happened | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr)
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 go-to-market team with AI agents. What started as an experiment has transformed into a new operating model, where 20 AI agents managed by just 1.2 humans now do the work previously handled by a team of 10 SDRs and AEs. In this conversation, Jason shares his hands-on experience implementing AI to run his sales org, including what works, what doesn’t, and how the GTM landscape is quickly being transformed.
We discuss:
- How AI is fundamentally changing the sales function
- Why most SDRs and BDRs will be “extinct” within a year
- What Jason is observing across his portfolio about AI adoption in GTM
- How to become “hyper-employable” in the age of AI
- The specific AI tools and tactics he’s using that have been working best
- Practical frameworks for integrating AI into your sales motion without losing what works
- Jason’s 2026 predictions on where SaaS and GTM are heading next
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Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/we-replaced-our-sales-team-with-20-ai-agents
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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/182902716/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
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Where to find Jason Lemkin:
- X: https://x.com/jasonlk
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmlemkin
- Website: https://www.saastr.com
- Substack: https://substack.com/@cloud
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Where to find Lenny:
- Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
- X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Jason Lemkin
(04:36) What SaaStr does
(07:13) AI’s impact on sales teams
(10:11) How SaaStr's AI agents work and their performance
(14:18) How go-to-market is changing in the AI era
(19:19) The future of SDRs, BDRs, and AEs in sales
(22:03) Why leadership roles are safe
(23:43) How to be in the 20% who thrive in the AI sales future
(28:40) Why you shouldn't build your own AI tools
(30:10) Specific AI agents and their applications
(36:40) Challenges and learnings in AI deployment
(42:11) Making AI-generated emails good (not just acceptable)
(47:31) When humans still beat AI in sales
(52:39) An overview of SaaStr's org
(53:50) The role of human oversight in AI operations
(58:37) Advice for salespeople and founders in the AI era
(01:05:40) Forward-deployed engineers
(01:08:08) What's changing and what's staying the same in sales
(01:16:21) Why AI is creating more work, not less
(01:19:32) Why Jason says these are magical times
(01:25:25) The "incognito mode test" for finding AI opportunities
(01:27:19) The impact of AI on jobs
(01:30:18) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
- Building a world-class sales org | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-world-class-sales-org
- SaaStr Annual: https://www.saastrannual.com
- Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai/saastr/talk
- Amelia Lerutte on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelialerutte/
- Vercel: https://vercel.com
- What world-class GTM looks like in 2026 | Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (Vercel, Stripe, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-the-best-gtm-teams-do-differently
- Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch
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