Can SaaS companies survive the rise of AI Agents?

In episode 771, Rob Walling is joined by Craig Hewitt to answer listener questions. They discuss the changes that happen while transitioning from a small startup to a multi-million dollar SaaS, competing against larger competitors, and maintaining startup culture as teams grow. They also share thoughts on AI agents in the SaaS space and the relevance of patents for bootstrapped businesses.

Episode Sponsor:

This podcast is brought to you by Mercury. I've been banking with Mercury for years and whenever I set up a new account, I'm reminded why traditional banking feels stuck in the past.

When our previous bank faced solvency issues, we needed to spin up new accounts quickly that could handle millions in funds across multiple businesses. Mercury had us up and running almost immediately.

I manage half a dozen different Mercury accounts across a wide range of companies – from my personal, single-member LLC to MicroConf, our 7-figure global events and education platform, to TinySeed, our venture fund and accelerator. Mercury easily handles them all.

The interface is elegantly simple for daily banking, paying invoices, and sending and receiving international wires, yet powerful enough to handle the multi-step approval processes we needed to put in place when funding founders with large transfers.

Anytime founders ask me who they should set up their accounts with, I send them to mercury.com.

Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC.

Topics we cover:

(2:41) – Marketing and sales strategies while scaling
(9:31) – Keeping the startup culture through growth
(14:50) – Can SaaS survive autonomous agents?
(21:03) – AI wrapper tools
(25:15) – Patent strategy for startups
(29:30) – Competing against VC-backed companies

Links from the Show:

MicroConf Remote: Early-Stage SaaS Sales
Invest in TinySeed
Craig Hewitt (@TheCraigHewitt) | X
Craig Hewitt (@craighewitt.com) | Bluesky
Rouge Startups
Castos
Omar Zenhom
Omar Zenhom’s MicroConf Talk
AI Agents vs SaaS - Who Wins the Future of Software?
Episode 542 | 10x in Two Years, Past $3M ARR with SquadCast

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please

Episode 771 | What Changes As You Grow, AI Agents, Patents, and More Listener Questions (with Craig Hewitt)

Startups For the Rest of Us