SaaStr 828: The AI Revolution in B2B: Insights from SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and SaaStr Chief AI Officer Amelia Lerutte, and Qualified's CEO and Founder Kraig Swensrud

What It Covers

SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and Chief AI Officer Amelia Lerutte discuss deploying 20 AI agents in 2025, sharing practical lessons on training, implementation strategy, and why hands-on deployment matters more than theoretical learning.

Key Questions Answered

• •Training Over Vendor Selection: Training AI agents matters more than choosing between competing platforms. SaaStr invested 30 days of upfront training then weekly maintenance, enabling their Qualified agent to autonomously book seven appointments and close 100 event tickets within eight weeks of deployment.
• •Stair-Step Implementation Strategy: Start with horizontal general-purpose agents before deploying vertical specialized ones. SaaStr began with Delphi clone agent, gained confidence through early wins, then expanded to 12 specialized agents for SDR, BDR, and support functions over ten months.
• •Deploy Don't Learn Approach: Executives must personally deploy, train, and QA one agent themselves rather than delegating or taking courses. Hands-on deployment of a single agentic product puts users ahead of 90 percent of the market and builds essential operational knowledge for scaling.
• •Fix Broken Processes First: Deploy agents where work isn't getting done rather than optimizing functioning processes. SaaStr prioritized outbound sales where SDRs sent zero emails and inbound qualification with week-long response times before tackling higher-performing areas with established human workflows.