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SaaStr

also referred to as: saastr inc.

includes SaaStr Annual, SaaStr Fund, SaaStr Europa, SaaStr.ai, SaaStr Connect, SaaStr Podcast, SaaStr Community

42 statements across 25 episodes · 12 bullish · 10 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Jul 1, 2015 by Jason Lemkin · said 323 times in 130 episodes since 2016 · across every show →

Mentions by year, the whole family

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (133), Jason Lemkin (124), Sam Blond (6), Jason Calacanis (6), Beezer Clarkson (6), Nicolas Dessaigne (4), Ara Mahdessian (3), Scott Dorsey (2)

tap a year for its mentions
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0204020162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
0032064020162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 54 mentions in 30 episodes 2 per episode
2025 75 mentions in 36 episodes 2 per episode
2024 40 mentions in 7 episodes 6 per episode
2023 15 mentions in 8 episodes 2 per episode
2022 27 mentions in 5 episodes 5 per episode
2021 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode
2019 7 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode
2018 1 mention in 1 episode
2017 38 mentions in 12 episodes 3 per episode
2016 63 mentions in 24 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about SaaStr, oldest first

Jul 1, 2015 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lemkin prepared 100 SaaStr blog posts before leaving Adobe
“And then the day I left Adobe was the day of the first blog post on SaaS. I already had a hundred in the queue, so.”
Jason Lemkin Jul 1, 2015 ▶ 3:48 20 VC 050: Starting, Building and Selling in SaaS with the King of SaaS, Jason Lemkin, Managing Director @ Storm Ventures
Jan 8, 2016 positive
Opinion
Mazour: Jason Lemkin's SaaStr is the definitive SaaS guidebook
“It's basically a guidebook for how to run a SaaS company. There's very little that I do that I didn't learn from his blog.”
Ivan Mazour Jan 8, 2016 ▶ 22:39 20 VC FF 029: VC vs Angel Funding & The Future of E-Commerce with Ivan Mazour, Founder @ Ometria
Mar 20, 2017 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr manages a $70M fund targeting 10-15% ownership
“So we have a seventy million dollar fund. We try to buy ownership stakes in the 10 to 15% range, sometimes a little higher.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 20, 2017 ▶ 5:10 20VC: SaaStr's Jason Lemkin on The 3 Things You Want From Your LPs, Why Most VCs Do Not Add Value & Why The Best VCs Know How To Package Startups For The Next Round
Mar 20, 2017 positive
Disclosure
Jason Lemkin gets 100% of his deal flow from SaaStr
“I've learned that the blog and the Saster community is all of my deal flow. It's a hundred percent of it, but it's 10 times bigger than it was two and a half years ago.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 20, 2017 ▶ 27:37 20VC: SaaStr's Jason Lemkin on The 3 Things You Want From Your LPs, Why Most VCs Do Not Add Value & Why The Best VCs Know How To Package Startups For The Next Round
Mar 20, 2017 neutral
Insight
Lemkin: Solo GPs are more conservative than partners at multi-partner VC firms
“The learning is when you're on your own in a solo GP fund, you're actually, you're more conservative. I say no to deals that I would have done in another firm, and I'm not remotely convinced that's the right decision.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 20, 2017 ▶ 6:13 20VC: SaaStr's Jason Lemkin on The 3 Things You Want From Your LPs, Why Most VCs Do Not Add Value & Why The Best VCs Know How To Package Startups For The Next Round
Mar 20, 2017 neutral
Insight
Lemkin: Every SaaStr investment must have $700M valuation potential
“So if you kind of back into that math with a little dilution, that means every single time that we invest, I have to believe the company will be worth at least seven hundred million dollars.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 20, 2017 ▶ 5:18 20VC: SaaStr's Jason Lemkin on The 3 Things You Want From Your LPs, Why Most VCs Do Not Add Value & Why The Best VCs Know How To Package Startups For The Next Round
May 6, 2022 positive
Disclosure
Lemkin: All core portfolio positions maintain double-digit ownership
“When I look over my eight year history of investing, it's the ones with the double digit ownership that moved the needle. And for better or worse, when I've had my own fund, when I look at what the companies I'm sitting on today, obviously you regret ones you …”
Jason Lemkin May 6, 2022 ▶ 6:15 20VC: Why the Traditional Seed Fund Model No Longer Works, Why Multi-Stage Funds Investing at Seed Bring Signaling Risk but also Less Pressure, The One Criteria All Potential Sales Hires Need to Have and The Clear Signs of 10x Sales Hires with Jason Lemki
Nov 30, 2022 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr Will Generate $40 Million in Revenue in 2022
“So Sastro Inc. Will do forty million this year.”
Jason Lemkin Nov 30, 2022 ▶ 18:01 Jason Lemkin: Cold Email Tips; Why Only 15% of Founders Listen to their VCs | 20VC #954 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 30, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: Every successful venture investment came from inbound emails
“I only invest from inbound Saster super fans. Every deal I've tried to go out and get, I've failed. I do nothing outbound. Every warm referral doesn't work out. Nothing works out except the high velocity inbound email.”
Jason Lemkin Nov 30, 2022 ▶ 0:58 Jason Lemkin: Cold Email Tips; Why Only 15% of Founders Listen to their VCs | 20VC #954 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 13, 2023
Assertion Supported
Lemkin: SaaStr lost $10M canceling its 2020 annual conference the night before
“Going back in time in March, 2020, when we had to cancel Saster Annual the night before, we lost ten million dollars, ok?”
Jason Lemkin Jan 13, 2023 ▶ 37:03 Jason Lemkin: WTF is Going On in VC? Are LPs Investing in New Funds? | 20VC #965 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 9, 2023
Disclosure
Lemkin: Valuation does not matter if target ownership percentage is secured
“Within a range, I simply don't care about valuation. I want to have a fair valuation where I can hit the ownership target, and I don't care.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 9, 2023 ▶ 9:04 Jason Lemkin: Every VC has a FRAUD in their portfolio; The IPO market is about to EXPLODE | E1046 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 9, 2023 negative
What-if
Lemkin: Not building a large team at SaaStr was my biggest mistake
“I think my biggest mistake, and you're not making it, Harry I think the biggest mistake I've made, and this is just me, because, again, everyone's different. This is the complicated thing about ventures. Everyone has different strengths and sweetnesses. I thin…”
Jason Lemkin Aug 9, 2023 ▶ 45:06 Jason Lemkin: Every VC has a FRAUD in their portfolio; The IPO market is about to EXPLODE | E1046 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 9, 2023
Disclosure
Lemkin rejected a 10-figure secondary offer for his SaaStr fund holdings
“I recently had a conversation with one of my LPs last week about a secondary offer. You know, that was 10 figures, a 10 figure secondary offer, ok? And we both agreed no was the answer.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 9, 2023 ▶ 59:54 Jason Lemkin: Every VC has a FRAUD in their portfolio; The IPO market is about to EXPLODE | E1046 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 23, 2023
Disclosure
Jason Lemkin limits founder pitch meetings to one per week
“And I have, I only actually, I'll read a 50 emails a week, but I only want to do one pitch a week. I only, if I can, that's my dream. And I find when I do two, three or four, the other three aren't worth it.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 46:52 Jason Lemkin & Rick Zullo: How "Mark to Market" Corrupted Venture Capital | E1052 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 23, 2023 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr took two portfolio markdowns after valuation review
“And I took two markdowns, right? From this process, but not 20.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 30:29 Jason Lemkin & Rick Zullo: How "Mark to Market" Corrupted Venture Capital | E1052 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 23, 2023 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr Will Return to 'Stair-Stepping' Investments Needing 3x Markups
“And that's what I'm going to get back to, right? A stair stepping deals, just stair stepping them, right? Twenty million post fine, but I got to know it's going to be 60.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 56:52 Jason Lemkin & Rick Zullo: How "Mark to Market" Corrupted Venture Capital | E1052 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 20, 2023
Disclosure
Lemkin: VP Candidates Frequently Do Not Know Their Startup's Operational Metrics
“I can't tell you how many VPs I interview all the time from my own portfolio companies, like ethical founders. And I asked them, well, what do you think of the metrics? They don't know them.”
Jason Lemkin Sep 20, 2023 ▶ 47:49 Is the VC Model Broken? Jason Lemkin, Mike Maples, Eric Paley & Harry Stebbings Debate | E1062 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024 negative
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr will never again invest in 'pretty good' founders
“I have changed my mind that there is any chance on planet Earth, any chance That a pretty good founder can produce good venture returns. I will never again invest. I only invest in founders that are much better than me. I will never invest in pretty good found…”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 1:11:45 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024
Insight
Lemkin: Usually only one investor will step up to catalyze a round
“What I have seen in my, especially the last 24 months, but across my whole career of investing for 11 years, is there's usually only one investor that will stand up for you.”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 37:32 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024
Assertion Partly supported
Lemkin: Money20/20 and Shoptalk each generate over $100M revenue
“The two things that are closest to Saster are money, 20, 20 and shop talk and e-commerce and they're both over a hundred million.”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 1:30:38 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024
Disclosure
SaaStr generated approximately $27 million in revenue in 2023
“Like twenty seven million the year before.”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 1:29:09 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024 negative
Disclosure
Lemkin wrote off all non-performing investments in latest LP report
“So I took every write off in my last LP report. There was, I just wrote it off to the max. Anything that wasn't good for my first time, I just wrote it. I just, I aggressively put the red pen or whatever to it.”
Jason Lemkin Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 1:12:20 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 12, 2024
Assertion Supported
Blond: Brex Hired TaskRabbits to Hand Out $4 SaaStr Breakfast Burritos
“We show up, we had task rabbits outside of the event in Brex t-shirts handing out Brexfist burritos to every single person that walked in the venue. So the first experience that they have at Sastra is they get a Brex burrito on when they walk in. Four bucks a …”
Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 58:15 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 3, 2024 negative
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr will generate around $25 million in revenue in 2024
“This will be our first crappy year, but like twenty five million.”
Jason Lemkin Jun 3, 2024 ▶ 1:03:25 Jason Lemkin: PluralSight S*** the Bed & The Next IPO Candidates | E1160 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 3, 2024 negative
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr lost $10 million when COVID cancelled 2020 event
“We did lose ten million dollars in March, 20 20. We were the first major event shut down by COVID. RSA got done and then San Jose shut us down. When there was one case off the coast. So we lost in those ten million.”
Jason Lemkin Jun 3, 2024 ▶ 1:12:15 Jason Lemkin: PluralSight S*** the Bed & The Next IPO Candidates | E1160 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 3, 2024 negative
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr lost 60 to 80 unicorn sponsor companies
“So we probably lost 60 sponsors, 70, 80.”
Jason Lemkin Jun 3, 2024 ▶ 1:03:35 Jason Lemkin: PluralSight S*** the Bed & The Next IPO Candidates | E1160 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 17, 2025 negative
Assertion Contradicted
Lemkin: 93% of B2B sales professionals admit lying to win deals
“I asked 2000 folks in SASTR how many folks lie in deals to win deals? 97, 93% said they lied over 2000 to win deals. If you're lying, if 93% of 2000 B to B folks are lying to win deals, lying about features, lying about feature gaps, okay.”
Jason Lemkin Apr 17, 2025 ▶ 1:26:09 a16z's $20BN Fund & Founders Fund's $4.6BN & Why Josh Kushner Has Mastered the Game · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 8, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr eliminated five jobs in 90 days due to AI
“Literally, we, even at Sastra, we've gotten rid of five people in our team in the last 90 days due to AI.”
Jason Lemkin May 8, 2025 ▶ 33:05 Benchmark vs a16z: Why Stage Specific Firms Win · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 14, 2025 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr's AI SDR Booked Three Six-Figure Meetings in Two Days
“As I said, our AI BDR, we deployed this week, it set up three meetings in the last two days for six figure sponsorships.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 14, 2025 ▶ 1:25:04 Sam Altman's Masterplan or a Gift to Anthropic? Palantir & Shopify Crush Earnings · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 14, 2025 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr Will Generate $20 Million in Revenue With Two Employees
“If we're lucky, Saster Inc. Will do twenty million this calendar year with two people. Two people, and depending on how you count them, like two, two, two employees.”
Jason Lemkin Aug 14, 2025 ▶ 1:24:09 Sam Altman's Masterplan or a Gift to Anthropic? Palantir & Shopify Crush Earnings · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 16, 2025 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Lemkin: AI Agents Replaced Almost All SaaStr Sales and Content Teams
“I Vibe Coded eight apps in a hundred days, and we have 12 AI agents working at Sastra now. Replaced all, almost all of our sales team and our whole content team.”
Jason Lemkin Oct 16, 2025 ▶ 36:56 Thinking Machines Co-Founder Joins Meta for $3.5BN, Industry Venture's $665M Acquisition · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 13, 2025
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr Requires $8M Annually in Sponsorships to Keep Lights On
“We have, you know, we have to close eight million of sponsors at Saster a year to keep the lights on.”
Jason Lemkin Nov 13, 2025 ▶ 16:35 Michael Burry Shorts NVIDIA and Palantir & Has Defensibility Died in a World of AI? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 20, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr now runs 12 AI agents, outnumbering its human staff
“We essentially have 12 AI agents running now at Sastra more than humans. Okay. And we have five sort of SDR BDRs running.”
Jason Lemkin Nov 20, 2025 ▶ 28:14 Peter Thiel and Softbank Sell NVIDIA - Why? & Why VC Will Hit $1TRN and The Opening of Retail · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 27, 2025
Disclosure
Jason Lemkin: SaaStr overall traffic grew 50% while SEO traffic dropped 8%
“I get about five million to our blog, ok? About five million views a year from SEO, ok? Our traffic is up 50% this year, and our SEO is down eight percent.”
Jason Lemkin Nov 27, 2025 ▶ 1:09:39 Anthropic Raises $30B from Microsoft & NVIDIA & NVIDIA’s Core Business Faces TPU Threat · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 26, 2026 bullish
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr's 10 AI agents generate millions in revenue
“Our 10 agents at Saster generate millions of revenue, but they buy nothing.”
Jason Lemkin Feb 26, 2026 ▶ 40:29 Citrini Research Breakdown: Agents, "Ghost GDP", Consumer Spend | Figma Earnings Beat · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 26, 2026 positive
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr team shrank to two while generating eight-figure revenue
“We have gone from 12 people to two people on my little team. Okay. That not only does investment, it generates eight figures a year in revenue, okay?”
Jason Lemkin Feb 26, 2026 ▶ 35:38 Citrini Research Breakdown: Agents, "Ghost GDP", Consumer Spend | Figma Earnings Beat · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 19, 2026 negative
Disclosure
Lemkin: Under 30% of startup executives are genuinely AI fluent
“Even of the best startups I've invested in, maybe 30% of the management team meets the standard at best. 30%, maybe less. And of the interviews I do in general, it's single digit percents.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 19, 2026 ▶ 18:51 NVIDIA Predicts $1TRN in Revenue: Everything You Need to Know From GTC & Anduril Lands $20B Contract · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 26, 2026 bearish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr will not switch internal AI apps from Claude to OpenAI
“It runs on Sonnet three. I mean sorry, four, seven, and maybe a little bit of Opus. There is no way we're going to switch the model. This is dialed in. It works. Now we're going to have to deal with QA when it goes to four, eight and five. There's a little bit…”
Jason Lemkin Mar 26, 2026 ▶ 12:06 Why You Need a $1B Fund To Do Series A | SpaceX at $2TRN & Data Centers in Space | Groq's $20BN Deal · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 7, 2026
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr spends $254 monthly on two full-time autonomous AI agents
“Two of them full-time, two full-time human equivalents, 254 dollars a month.”
Jason Lemkin May 7, 2026 ▶ 58:50 Anthropic's Raise & What It Means for Potential IPO? Mag7: Google & Amazon Up, Meta & Microsoft Down · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 14, 2026 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: SaaStr will switch from Brex to Ramp if Ramp's AI agents win
“Certainly we're going to rebuild our financial stack after Sastra annual and we will move from Brex to ramp if it is the most agent friendly and automating procurement is a huge bonus.”
Jason Lemkin May 14, 2026 ▶ 59:38 Anthropic Buys Compute From Elon & Commits $200BN to Google | Cerebras IPO | Ramp Raises at $40BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 14, 2026 negative
Insight
Lemkin: Fireside chats and speakers are dead at tech conferences
“So I'll have to see, but we won't do, we'll never do Unless I'm forced to, I mean, if, you know, I do it for Sam Altman, but otherwise I'm not gonna do, there's, the firesides are dead and speakers are dead. There's just no point when podcasts are better.”
Jason Lemkin May 14, 2026 ▶ 1:06:02 Anthropic Buys Compute From Elon & Commits $200BN to Google | Cerebras IPO | Ramp Raises at $40BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 21, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: SaaStr spends $2k monthly on tokens across 21 AI agents
“At SAS for itself, Amelia and I have, now we have 21 agents of which three are autonomous, okay? And The direct token costs that we spend, the direct AI altogether for both of us is about two grand a month.”
Jason Lemkin May 21, 2026 ▶ 14:39 Anthropic Raises $30BN at $900BN Price | SpaceX Files S1: How Does it Trade | Cerebras Smashes Day 1 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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