This episode is a big one. There’s a lot of noise right now around AI, venture, and whether SaaS is fundamentally broken. Public markets are re-rating software companies. Seed rounds are shifting. Pricing models are changing. And founders are asking the same question:

“Are we toast?”

Joe Mancini from Front Porch is in a unique position to answer that. His firm sits inside dozens of funds and startups across the Southeast and beyond. He sees what’s working, and what’s not, in real time. So we dug into the thesis behind their “SaaS is Dead” piece, what it actually means, and what founders should be doing right now.

Highlights covered

• Why SaaS is being re-rated in public markets
• Whether this is permanent or cyclical
• AI-native vs. AI-immigrant companies
• The collapse (and split) of the traditional “seed” round
• Why vertical SaaS may explode in this era
• How founders should think about churn in the AI era
• Internal resistance to AI adoption (and why it’s dangerous)
• What venture firms are actually looking for right now

The next decade belongs to founders who deeply understand their vertical, obsess over customer value, and move fast enough to build moats before the standards settle.

Timestamps:
07:00 – From sports radio to venture capital

10:30 – The hybrid fund model explained

16:50 – Why they wrote “Yes, SaaS Is Dead”

18:00 – The SaaS public market re-rating

21:00 – The split in seed investing

23:30 – AI-native vs AI-immigrant companies

27:00 – The 3-layer cycle of every tech revolution

30:00 – The 2x2: where opportunity lives now

33:00 – Why vertical beats horizontal right now

38:00 – Internal AI adoption is non-optional

39:30 – The shift from seat pricing to performance pricing

51:00 – What actually counts as a moat in AI

Where to Find Joe Mancini:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpmancini/
Front Porch Venture Partners: https://www.frontporchvp.com/

Where to Find Scot Wingo:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotwingo/
Tweener Times: https://www.tweenertimes.com/
X: https://x.com/scotwingo

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This episode of Triangle Tweener Talks is hosted by Scot Wingo, presented and produced by Triangle Tweener Fund, with creative assets and design support from Walk West.

We couldn’t share posts like this without our amazing sponsors:

Platinum:
NC IDEA: https://ncidea.org

Gold Sponsors:
- Balentine: https://www.balentine.com/triangle-entrepreneurs
- EisnerAmpner: https://www.eisneramper.com
- Robinson Bradshaw: https://www.robinsonbradshaw.com

Silver Sponsors:
- Automated Consulting Group: https://automated.co
- Bank of America: https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/technology-industry-group.html

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