SaaStr 838: The Present and Future of AI in Sales and GTM with SaaStr's CEO and Owner's CRO
Jason Lemkin on Going All-In on AI Agents: 20 Agents, Zero SDRs, and the Death of Mid-Pack Sales
Jason Lemkin, Founder and CEO of SaaStr, sits down with Kyle Norton, CRO at Owner, to share the raw story of how frustration with sales team turnover pushed him to deploy 20 AI agents in under a year, and why we'll never go back.
In this episode, we cover:
→ Why Jason stopped hiring SDRs after two senior reps ghosted him right before SaaStr Annual → The real reason most AI agent deployments fail (hint: it's not the technology)
→ How to pick your first AI vendor: "Talk to your forward deployed engineer before you sign"
→ Why Salesforce is having a Renaissance as the hub for AI agents
→ The brutal truth about mid-pack sales jobs being in "terminal decline"
→ How to get started with AI agents when your CFO won't give you budget
→ AgentForce vs. the hot startups: what actually works in production
→ Why the $250K SDR is coming, but only for the truly elite
Jason's advice for revenue leaders: "Roll up your sleeves. If you haven't trained an agent yourself, you'll be utterly ignorant in the age of AI."
🔗 See the AI agents SaaStr uses: saastr.ai/agents
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Hey everybody, the biggest B2B + AI event of the year will be back - SaaStr AI in the SF Bay Area, aka the SaaStr Annual, will be back in May 2026.
With 68% VP-level and above, 36% CEOs and founders and a growing 25% AI-first professional, this is the very best of the best S-tier attendees and decision makers that come to SaaStr each year.
But here's the reality, folks: the longer you wait, the higher ticket prices can get. Early bird tickets are available now, but once they're gone, you'll pay hundreds more so don't wait.
Lock in your spot today by going to podcast.saastrannual.com to get my exclusive discount SaaStr AI SF 2026. We'll see you there.
