Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin, a Marketo customer since 2006, built a replacement for a broken unsubscribe feature using Claude and Replit in an afternoon after weeks of escalations produced no fix. The move highlights a broader retention risk: long-tenured customers get worse support than new logos, and AI tools now make workarounds trivial.
The AI company behind Claude just raised $65B at a near-trillion-dollar valuation without a traditional sales org. No CRO, no SDR team, no account executives cold-calling enterprise. Here is how they scaled to enterprise deals without carrying a bag.
New Energy Transport closed a $5 million equity round led by Jekara Group to deploy 20 electric prime movers across NSW by end of 2026. The company is bringing forward its launch timeline by 6 months and will base operations south-west of Sydney with mobile charging infrastructure along freight corridors.
Victoria's new work-from-home law covers regular casuals and part-time staff, creating Australia's first statutory remote work entitlement. Two days per week starts September 2026 for businesses with 15+ employees, July 2027 for smaller teams. Disputes go to state commission, not Fair Work.
Australians lost access to Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models after a US government order citing national security. The block hit locally distributed AI tools mid-deployment, raising questions about regulatory risk for any vendor selling frontier tech into ANZ.
Property buyer's agency Dashdot entered liquidation owing $16.5 million to 695 clients, the ATO, Meta, and startup lender Mighty Partners. Co-founder Goose McGrath cited rising Meta ad costs and halving ad-driven revenue as major factors in the collapse, alongside tax reforms and tighter lending.
SaaStr AI 2026 sponsor leaderboard shows where B2B budget is moving. Revenue tools captured 7 of the top 15 lead-gen spots, with AI-native CRM Lightfield outpacing Salesforce. Replit led overall with 1,423 leads. The split: building tools, selling tools, and operational stack.
SaaStr tested AI SDRs across sales, marketing, and customer success. The reality: even with vendor support, expect 2 weeks for domain warmup, deliverability setup, and copy testing. And despite all the voice AI hype, most buyers still prefer chat.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest's Minderoo Foundation is backing Startmate with $2 million per year over four years to support women founders. The accelerator already invests in women-led startups at nearly double the industry rate: 43% versus 24%.
Australian capital gains tax changes are pushing tech founders and sales talent to the US, where equity is taxed at 15% versus Australia's 30% minimum. The policy shift hits hardest for startups using equity to compete with enterprise employers for top AEs and sales leaders. For ANZ sales professionals, the math is stark: US offers now include currency premium plus better equity treatment.
Ben Lerer, managing partner at New York early-stage fund Lerer Hippeau, explains why his firm deliberately passes on sensible businesses to chase power-law outcomes. His thesis: every dollar in a safe company is a dollar not chasing a fund-returner. The firm runs on conviction, not consensus, and Lerer aims to be the worst investor at his own fund.
OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO, valued at $852 billion but burning $10 billion a year. If your sales tech stack runs on ChatGPT or OpenAI models, you are betting on a landlord who has not shown profit yet. Public market pressure will change how they price, prioritise enterprise customers, and manage margin.