What is your SaaS worth in 2026? — Dirk Sahlmer @ FE International
Notas del episodio
Is SaaS dead?
Dirk Sahlmer spends his days looking at SaaS businesses through the eyes of buyers — and his answer is no. But the things that make a SaaS company valuable are changing fast.
In this episode, we get into what the SaaS M&A market actually looks like in 2026: which businesses buyers still want, what kind of multiples founders can realistically expect, why vertical SaaS is getting more attention, and why a business growing hundreds of percent a year can still be difficult for an acquirer to underwrite.
We talk about AI-native companies with incredible top-line growth but brutal churn, whether buyers actually care how much AI you're using internally, and why the dream of running a multi-million-dollar SaaS with three people and a small army of agents is still much more common on LinkedIn than behind the scenes.
Then there's vibe coding. If you can build a product in a weekend, can you sell it? Dirk explains why a little revenue isn't necessarily enough to make a vibe-coded product attractive to an acquirer — and why distribution, brand, customers and market access are becoming increasingly valuable as the underlying technology gets easier to replicate.
We also talk about the increasingly weird world of LinkedIn, why Dirk gets fewer impressions but more actual leads, and why reach might be one of the least interesting metrics for a niche expert.
Finally, we get into something founders often think about far too late: preparing for an exit. Increasing growth and profitability isn't the whole story. Customer concentration, geography, pricing, platform dependencies, hiring and product decisions can all influence what a buyer sees — which is why Dirk would rather start talking to a founder one or two years before they want to sell.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Is SaaS actually dead?
03:19 — What makes a SaaS business durable now?
06:41 — What happened to the “prompt engineer”?
08:08 — What are SaaS companies actually worth?
11:16 — SaaS multiples in 2026
13:24 — Can you really run a SaaS with three people and AI agents?
16:40 — AI growth vs sustainable growth
18:51 — Why great growth can't hide terrible churn
20:05 — Can you sell a vibe-coded SaaS?
21:39 — Is distribution becoming more valuable than product?
23:02 — Why strategic buyers increasingly care about distribution
24:54 — What happened to LinkedIn?
31:16 — Why reach is a vanity metric
32:49 — When personal posts outperform useful content
34:33 — What founders should ask an M&A advisor
35:08 — Why you should prepare for an exit years in advance
38:00 — What actually makes your company more attractive to buyers
40:42 — Don't let the AI bubble drive you insane
Dirk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirksahlmer/
sounds good. — a podcast with Anna Nadeina
sounds good. is sponsored by saas.group — serial acquirer of profitable SaaS businesses.
If you're thinking about an exit, they're worth a conversation.