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Hello to Canada’s SaaS and AI Community,
Jason Smith, CEO & Co-Founder of Klue, has built and scaled five startups over the past 25 years. From the dot-com era to the SaaS boom and now the AI age, he’s seen how markets evolve and how quickly competitive dynamics shift.
At SAAS NORTH, Jason warned founders about a risk that cuts across every cycle: the competitive revenue gap (the share of pipeline lost directly to competitors). Too few SaaS companies track it, and the result is millions in lost revenue that could otherwise be won.
Key takeaways:
- 30% of your pipeline is being lost to competitors’ budget-approved deals that should have been yours.
- Market categories are saturated, and bundling is crushing standalone SaaS.
- Founders must track why they lose, know competitor claims, and enable their GTM teams with competitive differentiation.
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The Competitive Revenue Gap
Jason framed the issue with straightforward math. Imagine a $10 million pipeline:
- ~50% will stall in status quo.
- ~20% may close in your favour.
- ~30% will go to competitors.
That’s $3 million in lost opportunities every year. These are not weak leads, they’re qualified buyers, with budget in hand, who simply decided to go with someone else.
Jason calls this the competitive revenue gap.
Left unmeasured, it quietly undermines growth but when addressed it can become the fastest path to new revenue without hiring, raising, or chasing new markets.
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The Pitfalls That Keep Founders Blind
Why do so many companies underestimate the problem? Jason pointed to three common traps.
- Competitive Blindness
It’s tempting to believe your product is so unique it has no real competitors. Jason warned that this mindset ignores market realities and leaves teams unprepared for head-to-head battles. - Over-Reliance on AI
Public AI tools can summarize competitor websites, but they can’t replace the best intelligence: what prospects and customers say in conversations.
“The beauty in your world is you’ve got access to private information. You talk to prospects every day.”
- Over-Indexing on Customers
Jason cautioned against focusing so much on current customers that you miss competitive moves. He shared how, at Alida (formerly Vision Critical), the company concentrated on researchers while Qualtrics repositioned to sell directly to CEOs.
The result: Alida built a healthy business, but Qualtrics scaled into a category-defining giant.
“Markets evolve quickly. If you focus too much on your customer and ignore your competition, you might get leapfrogged.”
How To Close The Gap
Jason outlined a practical framework that any SaaS company can adopt:
1. Run Win-Loss Interviews
Speak directly with buyers after every deal, whether won or lost. Outsider or executive-led interviews uncover unfiltered insights about why decisions were made.
“Call them after every deal… get the real truth, the mainline truth, the unmitigated truth, not what your sales team says.”
2. Map Competitor Claims
Document competitor positioning in detail:
- What they say they’re best at.
- What they’ll say about you.
- How you’ll respond.
This equips your teams to anticipate objections and reposition with confidence.
3. Enable GTM Teams With Differentiation
Sales teams face competitive questions every day. Jason argued that equipping them with competitor insights is one of the most cost-effective growth levers available.
He shared a story of a rep who told a prospect in advance how a competitor would discount. When the competitor followed through, the rep earned credibility and won the deal. Predicting competitor behaviour builds trust in ways product demos alone never can.
Why It Matters More Than Ever
Competitive pressure isn’t new but it has intensified.
- Market saturation: Categories like MarTech have grown from hundreds to thousands of companies, overwhelming buyers.
- Bundling by incumbents:
“There’s a reason why Slack sold to Salesforce… When Teams gets bundled and it’s free, it’s going to get pretty hard to compete.”
Buyers often prefer bundled solutions from platforms they already use, even if standalone tools are stronger. - Budget scrutiny: Every deal now faces executive-level review. Value must be proven in hard ROI terms, not just aspirational outcomes.
In this environment, no SaaS company can afford to ignore the deals they’re losing to competitors.
Final Word: Compete To Win
Jason’s message to founders was simple: customer obsession is vital, but it isn’t enough. To build durable SaaS businesses, leaders must also compete intentionally.
- Measure your competitive revenue gap.
- Understand who you’re losing to and why.
- Equip your teams to anticipate competitor moves and respond with credibility.
“Narrow your competitive revenue gap, quantify it, level up your compete program, and measure that impact.”
Competitive intensity will rise and fall, just as markets do but the discipline of tracking, learning, and acting on competitive dynamics is timeless. The companies that embed it into their growth playbook will not only protect revenue but they’ll also define their categories.
SAAS NORTH is Canada’s hub for scaling SaaS and AI companies. Founders, teams, and investors come to learn, connect, and grow with the country’s largest in-person tech community.