AI is killing SaaS

In this episode, Drew sits down with Brett House, founder and CEO of High Signals, and Rio, leader of advertising and ad tech at Cradera (OmniCom), to explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping go-to-market strategy, customer experience, and the future of software. The discussion covers GTM compression, synthetic data for buyer simulation, the agentic commerce debate, and what happens when AI agents start making buying decisions on our behalf. Drew shares how he built a custom CRM with Claude Code and cancelled HubSpot, and the three unpack why "English is the next coding language." Brett and Rio also host Signal & Noise, a podcast covering ad tech and martech trends. Takeaways 1. GTM cycles are compressing from months to days thanks to AI-powered decisioning. 2. Synthetic data and simulated focus groups can now test at scale faster than traditional methods. 3. Best product doesn't always win. Best marketing and founder-market fit wins. 4. Agentic commerce is coming, but the timeline is debated. Brett is skeptical, Rio is bullish. 5. AI agents will eventually make buying decisions based on ROI per token usage. 6. You can build a functional CRM with Claude Code and cancel your SaaS subscriptions. 7. The concept of a "power user" is dying. AI-native software won't need 50 knobs and controls. 8. English is the next coding language. You don't need to write Python to build tools. 9. Leaders should delegate everything possible to AI first, then focus on decisions only they can make. 10. Think of go-to-market as an operating system, not just messaging. Align product, marketing, sales, and customer success around one playbook. Chapters 00:00 Teaser: I Cancelled HubSpot 00:01 Introduction to Brett House and Rio 01:22 Rio's Origin Story: Journalism to Ad Tech 05:04 Brett's Origin Story: Comp Lit Major to Founder 10:23 Trends in GTM, Ad Tech, and Martech 12:38 GTM Compression: From Months to Days 17:27 Synthetic Data is Actually Good Now 19:19 Best Product Doesn't Win, Best Marketing Wins 24:06 Agentic Commerce: Will AI Agents Buy for Us? 26:16 Brett Pushes Back on Agentic Commerce 29:21 Rio Disagrees: We'll Get Comfortable Over Time 30:18 I Cancelled HubSpot After Building a CRM with Claude Code 35:35 The Death of the Power User 40:33 My COO Agent Built a Dashboard Without Being Asked 42:53 English is the Next Coding Language 43:38 Brett's Advice: GTM as an Operating System 45:36 Rio's Advice: Delegate to AI First 49:11 Where to Find Brett and Rio Connect with Brett & High Signals   / bretthouse   https://www.highsignals.com Connect with Rio   / riolongacre   Signal & Noise Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/signaln... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Tweet Referenced in This Episode https://x.com/flynnjamm/status/202346... Connect with Drew & StealthX   / drewhburdick   https://stealthx.co/