Keith Peiris says he no longer sees $10M–$15M Series A rounds getting done: investors either pass or put around $50M behind a $100B-outcome thesis.
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Keith Peiris said on ToplineSeries A is bimodal: $10M–$15M rounds aren't getting done, and investors either pass or put around $50M behind a $100B-outcome thesis; Lightfield raised $47M led by Andreessen Horowitz.ListenFundraising & investors
2 sources
Keith Peiris describes Series A funding as bimodal: he doesn't see $10M–$15M rounds getting done, and investors either pass or back a $100B-outcome thesis with around $50M. Listen
Keith said this holds for any Series A right now. Funded companies all have a system-of-record thesis and extreme growth, which he described as 0.1% or 99.9th percentile. Investors accept inefficiency in a land-grab moment and bet on whether the team has the resolve to win, so in his view fewer companies get much more funding. Lightfield raised $47M led by Andreessen Horowitz.
“I don't see $10 million series A as getting done anymore, or even $15 million series A. I think that the default is you don't get funded, or... You know, someone believes that there's like a $100 billion outcome here.”
Listen to the episode Episode Fundraising & investors Link to this
Keith Peiris's pitch to Andreessen Horowitz was that agentic work and consolidation make Lightfield's deals at 200–400 person companies look like Salesforce deals at 5,000-person companies. Listen
Keith said investors writing a $50M check had to believe Lightfield could reach a $100B outcome without moving enterprises like Costco off Salesforce. Switching systems of record is easier than before but still hard and annoying. The economic thesis was much larger deal sizes in SMB and mid-market, driven by agentic work and consolidation, and he says that only works if customers are happy enough with the agentic work to pay consumption pricing.
“look at our deal size for a company that's 200 people or 300 people or 400 people. This actually looks like a deal size for Salesforce with like, you know, 5,000 people because of all of the work that we're doing.”
Listen to the episode Episode Fundraising & investors Link to this
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Keith Peiris said on ToplinePure seat pricing ignored usage that ranged from 10% to 100,000%, and pure consumption made customers 'not touch anything', so Lightfield pairs seats for the core CRM with consumption for visible-ROI work.ListenPricing & packaging
3 sources
Lightfield tried pure seat pricing and pure consumption pricing before landing on a hybrid, because pure consumption made customers stop using the product. Listen
Seats plus a platform fee was easiest to get through procurement, but usage at the edges ranged from 10% to 100,000%. Pure consumption backfired, with customers feeling there was a meter on every button. The seat and platform fee now covers the predictable core: AI CRM, call recorder, transcription, filling out fields, tasks and the data model. Consumption covers work with visible ROI, such as pipeline generation (list building, LinkedIn messages) and AI workflow automations like complex lead scoring.
“It's like going to a store where everything's really expensive, that our customers didn't touch anything.”
Listen to the episode Episode Pricing & packaging Link to this
CEOs and revenue leaders have an uncapped budget for business intelligence and want the best models for scenario planning, so Lightfield meters it as consumption. Listen
Keith said that running top models on the business world model to plan what to build next quarter, how to change the sales process, or which deals are at risk is something leaders will pay for without a meter. He said he hasn't met a single CEO willing to do this on cheaper models, because they want 'token maxing' to squeeze out a little extra alpha.
“most revenue leaders, CEOs, have an uncapped budget for business intelligence”
Listen to the episode Episode Pricing & packaging Link to this
Ann suggests bundling enterprise data access with a usage component, such as roughly 40 cents per query, because companies rarely buy enterprise licences priced on headcount. Listen
Ann says companies will not buy enterprise licences for software by reference to headcount, such as 500,000 or 200,000 employees. Her proposed alternative is a bundled price with a usage fee layered on top, for example paying 40 cents a query through an MCP.
“Companies will never buy enterprise licenses to anything normally because I've got 500 ,000 employees or I've got 200 ,000 employees.”
Listen to the episode Episode Pricing & packaging Link to this
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Ann Davis said on Revenue BuildersWhen Crunchbase moved from product-led to enterprise, it gave sellers a window to prove enterprise skills, and about 90% opted out, saying enterprise selling wasn't 'in my DNA'. Separately, she says an SMB deal takes about three months and an enterprise deal 12–18.ListenSales team, hiring & comp
2 sources
When Crunchbase moved from product-led to enterprise, it gave sellers a window to prove enterprise skills, and about 90% of them opted out. Listen
Ann says she restructured the sales team early and quickly because she had numbers to hit. Most people who were given the chance to show enterprise skills chose to leave the enterprise motion, saying enterprise selling was not in their DNA.
“to be honest with you, 90 % of the people tagged themselves out and said, I don't have enterprise selling in my DNA.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this
An SMB deal takes about three months to close, while an enterprise deal takes 12 to 18 months. Listen
Ann says she insisted that the executive team and board understand this difference, raising it even with board members during her interviews, because her pipeline was empty and she needed runway. She says that although many agreed up front, they still had a hard time buying into it along the way and were asking when results would come nine to twelve months in.
“an SMB deal is going to take about three months. An enterprise deal is going to take 12 to 18.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales process & deals Link to this
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Ann Davis said on Revenue BuildersAny SaaS company not seeing an AI hit to revenue would surprise her; Crunchbase took one and is answering by selling its proprietary data through an MCP server, 'the new SaaS'.ListenStrategy & market
4 sources
Her company's own SaaS revenue took an AI-related hit, and that she would be surprised if other SaaS companies were not seeing one. Listen
Ann says the hit to Crunchbase's revenue was anticipated, and the question for SaaS companies is how quickly they can define a go-forward strategy. She says those that think they are too important to lose users will face problems.
“Anyone in the SaaS software business that's not seeing a hit to their revenue from AI, I would be surprised.”
Listen to the episode Episode Strategy & market Link to this
Software vendors that assume AI will not take their revenue are mistaken, and that an MCP interface is becoming the new SaaS interface. Listen
Ann says Crunchbase took a hit to its own revenue from AI, which it had anticipated, and that she would be surprised if any SaaS business was not seeing one. She says the SaaS companies that are fine will be those attached to AI companies in some way.
“We've already got our MCP on the front end and that's the new SaaS.”
Listen to the episode Episode Strategy & market Link to this
Software vendors can license their data within the application to create a second revenue stream as their user counts decline. Listen
Ann says a software company with valuable data can license that data to enterprises for their AI front ends, so revenue from data may rise even as seat-based software revenue falls. She says this is the strategy vendors should be working out now.
“You can have a way to license the data within that software application and have another revenue stream.”
Listen to the episode Episode Strategy & market Link to this
To avoid being reduced to a system of record, a data provider should build proprietary datasets competitors cannot replicate and expand its data distribution partnerships. Listen
Ann says Crunchbase recognised before she joined that AI would likely take a large part of its business, so it prioritised datasets that competitors could not copy. She says the second part is supporting the new solutions being built on top of its data through a data distribution partnership strategy.
“the best way to do that is to develop proprietary data sets that they can't replicate.”
Listen to the episode Episode Strategy & market Link to this
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Rebecca Nerad said on [Un]ChurnedAdvantive built an objection-handling agent from 18 months of renewal desk conversations that shows CSMs how the CFO, CRO and VP of CS handled similar requests, but it still isn't used for approvals.ListenAI
2 sources
Nerad built an objection-handling agent from 18 months of renewal desk recordings that shows CSMs how executives handled similar requests before. Listen
The agent combines Nerad's documented objection-handling and negotiation training with a year and a half of renewal desk conversations. When a CSM faces a request, it shows the guidance the CFO, CRO and VP of CS gave in similar cases, suggests a proposal, drafts customer email framing and supplies an internal justification. It is not used for approvals.
“when a. Customer has asked for something in the past this is the guidance that the CFO CRO and VP of CS have given in this type of example. We still don't use it for approvals”
Advantive's renewal agent is used only for deals that break CSM guardrails, and runs inside the company's corporate ChatGPT so CSMs can upload contract documents. Listen
CSMs and their managers can approve concessions within set guardrails, and anything beyond those goes to the renewal desk. The agent was trained on exported renewal desk conversations about those exceptions, and the standard renewal motion does not go through it. Because it runs on Advantive's corporate ChatGPT, CSMs can attach real documents, such as the difference between a requested SLA and the one in an older agreement.
“We have guardrails that the CSMs or their managers are able to approve. And if it goes beyond that is when it goes to our renewal desk.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales process & deals Link to this
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