SaaStr Annual 2024: Bessemer State of the Cloud_ The AI Cloud Era

Sameer Dholakia, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, sits down with a panel of AI leaders from Anthropic, Jasper AI, Abridge, and EvenUp to discuss the most powerful trends shaping the future of the AI Cloud economy from the unfolding of the foundation model wars, to multimodal models and AI agents, and why there’s potential to dwarf legacy SaaS with new vertical AI business models. Learn the impacts and most pressing insights for founders building in the AI Cloud economy.

1. State of the Cloud 2024: The Cloud AI Era Timothy Young CEO Jasper Rami Karabibar CEO & Founder EvenUp Julia Chapin COO Abridge Kate Jensen Head of Revenue Anthropic Sameer Dholakia Partner Bessemer Venture Partners

2. Vertical AI dwarf legacy SaaS with new applications and business models AI brings Consumer Cloud back from the dead AI turns all of us into 10x developers Multimodal models and AI agents transform human relationships with software AI foundation models set the stage for Big Tech‘s battle-of-the-century 1. 2. 4. 3. 5. Five trends of the Cloud AI Era Get the report!

3. The many moats of defensibility for AI businesses AI talent Data and model advantage New capabilities Economic value First-mover dynamics Product depth Among others… Sign up for AI insights!

4. Key takeaways for AI leaders Focus on novel, high ROI problems Look for opportunities where AI can provide unprecedented value, particularly in data-intensive or language-heavy industries. Build for defensibility Find your many “moats” to build market leadership. Fight the ”leaky” bucket B2C AI apps struggle with high user acquisition but poor retention. While B2B traditionally has stronger retention, don't assume you're immune. Start building your retention strategy now, not when you’re losing customers. User-centricity is non-negotiable The winners in AI will be those who move beyond technical capabilities to create truly beloved products that users can't imagine living and working without.

5. $1 billion commitment to AI Learn about Bessemer’s investment strategy

6. THANK YOU!

7. UP NEXT: How to Successfully Bring AI Products to Market at Scale with GitHub’s CRO Elizabeth Pemmerl CRO GitHub