The Full Ratchet (TFR): Venture Capital and Startup Investing Demystified 506. Mirage PMF, What LLMs Will Take On and What They Will Avoid, Why Outcomes Will Shift Models from Software to Services, and How Pricing Playbooks Are Being Rewritten (Jake Saper)
Apr 13, 2026
Jake Saper, General Partner at Emergence Capital known for early bets like Zoom and Gusto, discusses Mirage PMF and why some fast AI offerings may hide human work. He explores which services can be truly AI-native and how outcomes-based pricing is rewriting playbooks. He also covers when software should become services and what core LLM providers will likely avoid.
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AI Forces SaaS To Shift From Tools To Outcomes
- AI will shift SaaS from tooling to outcome delivery, forcing products to 'do the job' rather than just enable it.
- Jake argues moats like workflow and integrations erode while brand, systems-of-action, and data/trust networks grow in importance.
Mirage Product Market Fit In AI Services
- Mirage PMF is rapid growth that looks real but rests on human-heavy services disguised as AI.
- Jake warns many 'AI' firms are low-margin service plays unless they truly deliver outcomes primarily via AI.
Choose Do-It-For-You And High Repeatability
- Prefer AI-native services that 'do it for you' and are highly repeatable to maximize productizability and scale.
- Jake uses accounting and fund administration as examples where repeatable rules make outcome delivery automatable.
