As a SaaS founder, you need to act like AI will obliterate your company to make sure it doesn’t.
It sounds extreme, but there are very few products that AI doesn’t have the potential to significantly improve, streamline, and in some cases, even replace altogether. If founders don’t fully open their eyes to the extent to which AI can rock their startup’s boat, there’s a very good chance it will sink.
Some (but very few) product categories might be left alone by AI — mainly products that rely on genuine human connection. If you think you’re in one of those categories, just make sure that viewpoint is anchored in the real market, and not in your ego or personal preferences. The latter will be fatal.
For the majority of SaaS founders, the real challenge is working out where, when, and how to leverage AI — Hexa included.
We unpack some of the big questions below.
And if you want to build an AI-first company at Hexa:
Files from Hexa
🔋 How to survive as a SaaS in an AI-first world
Des Traynor, Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, highlighted the crucial role of AI in the survival and future success of SaaS companies during a recent talk at Hexa. He pointed out that AI's capability to overhaul entire product categories means that companies slow to integrate AI might soon find themselves outpaced by more agile competitors. Particularly for startups, he advised focusing on areas ripe for innovation where AI can transform core functionalities, carving out leadership positions before larger incumbents can respond.
🔮 5 Hexa-born founders on the future of AI
Five SaaS founders shared their strategies for integrating AI into their products to drive improvement. These founders, in sectors like recruitment, fraud, and B2B sales, discussed how AI is crucial for enhancing business operations and improving customer interactions. Each founder emphasized the transformative potential of AI in their respective fields, outlining its role in optimizing workflows, personalizing customer experiences, and making data-driven decisions more effective.
Other files we recommend
Not all about AI, but they were too good not to share just because they don’t fit our theme
🛠️ YC on building AI models
The strategies to build a foundational AI model with examples of YC companies doing just that.
👩🎤 Hiten Shah on founders and AI
Nira co-founder Hiten Shah dives into what founders get wrong about AI in his latest episode on his new YouTube channel.
👀 VC Corner’s cheat sheet
… To creating a revenue-generating startup from scratch.
✏️ Aakash Gupta looks at Spotify’s first wireframes
The takeaway for all product builders: iterate, iterate, iterate, before writing code!
News
🎨 PromptX’s call for design partners
Our latest project is creating a product enabling teams to test, improve, and confidently ship great AI features 10x faster. On a mission to help businesses win with AI, they are looking for new pilots to use it first and help shape it. If your team ships AI products, we want to know.
🔀 Dialog (HX22) pivots to AI
Cofounders Antoine and Louis revealed what they’ve been working on these last 4 months at Dialog: an AI-enabled sales assistant for e-commerce stores, which provides real-time help to customers exactly where they need it. It’s a genius pivot with many exciting announcements to follow soon.
🤝 Spendesk (HX16) acquires Okko (HX23)
A spectacular joining of Hexa forces to become the first European solution that fully integrates procurement and spend management for mid-sized businesses! We couldn’t be prouder that Spendesk’s first acquisition is none other than Okko, cofounded by Julien Chriqui and Robin Brissaud, in our studio just a year ago.
🚀 ScaleX kicks off
Augustin Celier is looking for a late co-founder/CEO to lead our latest project back to the path of hypergrowth. We can't wait to get the project off the ground to follow in the footsteps of Yousign, whom we helped turn a page for in 2020.
Jobs
Product Manager at Hexa Health
Product Designer at eFounders (Hexa’s future of work vertical)
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or suggestions for this newsletter, don’t hesitate to hit reply. In the meantime, you can follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter.
Cheers,
The Hexa Team