For actual buying intent (not just firmographics), the main players are Bombora, 6sense, and Demandbase. They track which companies are researching specific topics based on web behavior across publisher networks. Bombora is usually the most accessible for mid-market. 6sense is more enterprise/ABM focused. If you're looking for G2-style intent (who's actively comparing your category), G2's Buyer Intent product is actually decent if you're already listed there. Otherwise ZoomInfo has intent data bundled but it's pricey. What's your use case/budget?
I think the line is: AI should handle repeatable execution where the pattern is clear, humans should steer where judgment and context matter. For example, I built TrailerCast to auto-generate call recaps and highlight reels from demos. The AI can edit 45 minutes down to a 7-minute recap professionally narrated because the pattern is clear (find key moments, remove filler). But the rep still decides when to send it, who to send it to, and what to say in the follow-up. AI accelerates the work, human steers the relationship. Email writing is hard because every prospect context is different. AI can draft, but the human has to edit for tone, timing, and relationship history.
I've seen the full-stack commercial builder role work at Series B when the person has strong SQL/Python fundamentals, product intuition, and enough sales ops experience to know what reps actually need. The model breaks around 100-person commercial team or when you hit complex data modeling like customer 360, multi-touch attribution, or revenue recognition edge cases. At that point you need dedicated data eng. The "unicorn" does exist but they're rare. Usually ex-consultants or former startup ops generalists who've done the full stack out of necessity. Worth posting the role and seeing what comes back before deciding to split it.
The SaaSapocalypse framing is lazy and I'll tell you why. Every few years someone declares a category dead and it turns out they were just describing a transition. Mobile killed desktop apps. Cloud killed on-prem. AI is going to kill SaaS. Except mobile didn't kill desktop, cloud didn't kill on-prem for plenty of use cases, and AI isn't killing SaaS either. What's actually happening is the contract between software and buyer is getting renegotiated and that's a very different thing. The per seat model isn't dying because SaaS is dying. It's dying because buyers got smarter. Five years of over-purchasing licenses during the growth at all costs era meant finance teams are now auditing utilization for the first time and realizing they're paying for 200 seats and using 60. That's not an AI problem or a market problem. That's a hangover and the correction was always coming. What I'm actually seeing on the ground in B2B is that deals are still there. Budget is still there. But the bar for "why this, why now, why you" got raised significantly and a lot of GTM teams built for the easier era just haven't caught up yet. Reps who can connect their product to a real business outcome in the first conversation are still closing. Reps leading with features and referencing 2021 case studies are struggling. SaaS isn't dying. The sloppy version of selling it is. And honestly that's probably good for everyone long term.
Hey Dylan M. - I've been an SE for 10 years now. Typically, there's a pre-demo call or technical discovery call that the SE has with the prospect to properly scope out the demo. That allows them to ask the questions they need to avoid the multi-demo situation to different stakeholders... your problem is very common though and many Sales team experience that deal silence. I actually built a tool that helps that post-demo follow up for individuals that haven't seen the demo and are only interested in the "Highlights". Check out Trailercast.io
