Simply incorporating AI features is "performative." The true measure of being an AI company is whether the technology has tangibly re-accelerated revenue growth. Without that lift, the AI label is meaningless to investors and the market, as demonstrated by Meta's successful turnaround.
Established SaaS companies struggle to implement AI because their teams are burdened with supporting existing customers, fixing feature gaps, and fighting legacy competitors. AI-native startups have a massive advantage as they don't have this baggage and can focus entirely on the new paradigm.
The future of B2B marketing is not SEO; it's being the default recommendation when a user asks an AI agent for a solution. Software buyers will increasingly trust an agent's direct answer over traditional discovery channels, making it critical for vendors to win this new point of discovery.
AI will make in-person events more crucial for building genuine business relationships in a world flooded with bots. However, this is countered by a strong cultural shift post-2020 where professionals are increasingly resistant to travel and prefer working from home, creating a major challenge for the events industry.
The business model for major conferences involves massive upfront fixed costs just to operate. Profitability only begins after this high threshold is met, at which point each additional ticket sold is almost pure profit. This makes the business high-risk and unattractive for small-scale events.
The ease of building polished-looking applications with AI ("vibe coding") has become a problem for early-stage investors. It's now trivial to create a demo that looks impressive, making it difficult to discern which founding teams have built a real, defensible product versus a superficial facade.
Private equity firms are no longer acquiring legacy B2B SaaS companies, even those with strong revenue ($50M-$200M+). Without a compelling AI-driven growth story, this once-reliable exit path for founders and VCs has effectively closed, leaving many companies unaware of their limited options.
To be compelling, AI software in niche industries must offer transformative ROI. The key is whether the agent can replace significant back-office headcount, allowing the company to command a price 5-10x higher than legacy software. This is the only way the unit economics justify venture investment.
The bar for early-stage funding has shifted dramatically. While 3x year-over-year growth was once impressive, investors now seek unprecedented acceleration, often modeling companies that go from $1M to $100M ARR in a year. This leaves many solid, compounding businesses unable to secure traditional venture capital.