8 predictions that will completely reshape SaaS

Hi and Hello, 

Jared and Karthi here from Audience Haus.

We hope you are enjoying or are about to enjoy your holidays like we are!

We are closing out 2024 with something different from our usual stuff and donning our Nostradamus hats to predict something for you. 

Let’s see… What does 2025 hold for us?

We have been speaking with the fastest growing founders in SaaS and the most seasoned leaders in the space. We connected the dots and saw clear commonalities in thinking, product building and GTM strategies. Drum roll please… here are the predictions…

1. Hybrid teams are going to become the norm - it’s too early for humanoids, sadly. In 2025, humans and AI will coexist on teams. AI is going to be a part of almost every team in the business and that’s something to be ready for.

2. SaaS will transition into RaaS - RaaS is Results as a Service, something Dharmesh at Hubspot came up with. SaaS is a race to the bottom, price wise. 2025 will be the year where the customer will pay only for what they are going to use and get value from. ROI is what you will stake your product on.

3. Audience-Led Growth will become the most important motion - People are still going to be really important. And all of us will need the people who are aligned with our movement. The stakes are getting higher, so it won’t just be the number of followers that matters but the number of engaged followers that matter. You will need at least 10K engaged followers who are aligned with you.

4. Sales will become more human - Yes, we did start off by saying that teams are going to be hybrid. But the sales function itself will become more human. Sales will become all about forming a connection with your audience at every step of the process instead of automating every step of the process. People align with people, not automated processes.

5. AI will make GTM teams smaller - Hybrid teams will also lead to leaner and efficient teams. This will help us achieve cost efficiency as well. In fact, we would confidently say that 2025 will be the first year companies will actually be able to achieve growth at the lowest cost with efficiencies all across the board, be it people or process or technology.

6. Agencies will become a part of your Tech Stack - In 2024, agencies supported other tools and used them to service their customers. In 2025, agencies will support you with their own tools which are built for you. The choice of whether to pick an agency or move ahead with what you have in-house will align with result based incentives. You deliver, you make money.

7. AI will disrupt most GTM categories in a meaningful way - AI is here to stay, whether we like it or not. And it is going to get better. There will be more AI tools coming into the market. And that is going to impact not just teams and companies but GTM categories. It will be a disruption but it won’t be chaos.

8. The fastest growing company of 2025 doesn’t exist yet! - You heard that right! We saved the best and most explosive prediction for the end. Like the dessert at the end of the meal. 2025 is going to be a year of hyper growth. 

We are already seeing a lot of companies and founders who are seeing value in listening to the market and building what it wants. And giving the people what they want is the best way to get them to align with you. And if the audience is aligned with you, you are going to grow fast and we do mean fast!

And because every meal is incomplete without a few dessert toppings or snacks (pick your choice), we have a few extra items. Call it the syrup or sprinkles on the dessert.

There are 3 things we really hope to see in 2025, fingers crossed!

1. More Women in Leadership - We are looking forward to seeing more women starting their own companies and making their way to leadership positions. It’s already beginning to happen but we hope 2025 is the year that you can’t do an Executive or Founder GTM Panel without at least 50% of the panel being women. 

2. Lesser Look-alike companies - What we mean by that is we hope to see a situation where companies build products that have a unique value or feature that isn’t out there yet. The GTM Marketplace isn’t like a marketplace where everyone has the same product and the competition is about who can give you a better price or bundle in more product features to give you what you want. 

3. A Unicorn with less than 10 employees - That’s right, you heard us! And we are not going to repeat it. 

It sounds like a dream but we think that highly efficient teams working in collaboration with AI tools can make it happen. It’s all about how you build your company. Build it with people who are willing to scale and adapt to new tools and work hard but in a smart way. We think it could happen.

And now, it’s time to hunker down and recharge a little before we set out to face 2025!

We have a great Holiday gift idea! Join the Audience Haus community, (why you haven’t already, we don’t know) and “gift” the joining link to your friends! We believe knowledge is the best gift. And it’s great fun to grow together!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from J and K here at Audience Haus! 

See you in 2025!