SaaSletter - New B2B AI Interest Index + AI Data from G2

Plus our usual curated content

B2B AI Interest Index - April 2024

We’ve updated our B2B AI Interest Index through April 2024 - full slides below:

We’ve organized the slide highlights below from most favorable to least favorable.

Once again, encouraging trends at the thematic Category Interest (i.e. “manufacturing AI” or “security AI”) level:

Again, flat month-over-month interest levels for bellwether Microsoft Copilot, with other “Blue Chips” staying within a capped range:

Very slight growth for AI Natives (n=50):

A slight decline for SaaS Incumbents (n=340, same 340 vendors tracked in our SaaS Demand Index):

For this month, I will offer *my* takeaways alongside a recent report from G2.

AI Takeaways + G2’s “State of Software”

Shaun Bishop and G2’s recent “State of Software” included great data comparing customer satisfaction for AI vs non-AI products → basically equal:

In my opinion, the G2 AI satisfaction data helps explain our B2B AI Interest Index trends:

• At A Product Level: with AI delivering equivalent satisfaction, no/limited word-of-mouth user buzz is being generated, consistent with underwhelming trends for product-level searches (see Incumbents, Natives, Blue Chips)

• At A Thematic Level: buzz for AI solutions generally remains strong, as evident in our thematic Category-Level data. That said, both our and the G2 data suggest we are still in a top-down rather than bottoms-up (driven by specific AI products) demand cycle.

AI-Centric Curated Content

“Has Generative AI Already Peaked?” via Computerphile

Comparing AI to the Dot-Com Bubble - a great Twitter take from Eric Jhonsa

Padraic McConville + Rallyday Partners’ thesis on the Accounting Services market (20 slides), including this great slide on automation / AI opportunities in professional services:

…and re-highlighting our recent “building in AI” themed podcast with Matt Slotnick, Co-Founder and CEO of Poggio Labs (backed by Accel and Spark Capital), an AI Sales Workspace purpose-built for Account Executives:

VIDEO | AUDIO: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | All Platforms

Non-AI Curated Content

“Software Recession Continues” - via David Cummings

Dave Kellogg has been on a Naz Reid-like burst:

• “These People Aren’t Gods: How European Founders Can Stop Making The #1 Mistake in US Recruiting”

• “Strategy as a Series of Beliefs”

• “You’re an Operator and Maybe Don’t Even Know It”

• “Does Your Marketing Pass the Duck Test?”