I got a LinkedIn DM the other day from the CRO of a well-known B2B company. Nice guy. Some mutual friends. He’d seen me posting about vibe-coding some internal tools and wanted to show me what they’re building.
Fair enough. I said thanks, but honestly, zero time right now.
He pushed back — good sales instinct — and asked if I’d at least watch a video they put together.
Here’s what I told him:
Almost zero chance I’d watch his Loom or “get on a call.”
This is the Age of AI. Build something that works automatically and is better than what we have and I don’t have to do any work. It’s just built.
I’m done with headache SaaS apps that are more work than the best of AI.
If I have to get on a call, watch a Loom, do a demo, and talk to sales before I even know if it’s 10x better than what I have… no interest in 2026.
Here’s What’s Changed
Let me be clear about what was actually being pitched: He wanted me to replace a product we already use — one that works fine — with their platform. Their product costs significantly more. And it would require more work from me to migrate, configure, and manage.
So the pitch was: Pay more. Do more work. And maybe it’s better?
In 2021, I might have taken that call. I’d sit through the demo, evaluate the features, run a pilot, loop in the team. That was the game.
In 2026? I can spin up AI tools that just… work. No demo. No sales call. No “let me loop in my SE.” I describe what I want, and it starts building.
Is it perfect? No. But the friction is near zero. And it’s not asking me to pay more while doing more work.
That’s the new bar.
The 2026 B2B Buying Reality
Here’s what I think every B2B founder and CRO needs to internalize:
1. “10x better” now has to include 10x less friction — and probably less cost.
It’s not enough to have more features. If your product requires more work from me to evaluate, onboard, and use than what I’ve already got — and you want me to pay more for the privilege — you’ve already lost. The total cost isn’t just price. It’s my time, my cognitive load, and my team’s migration headaches.
2. Your demo is competing with “I’ll just build it.”
I’m not a developer. But I can vibe-code functional tools in a weekend now. Is it as robust as a mature platform? Of course not. But it does exactly what I need, and I didn’t have to sit through a single discovery call or sign a bigger contract.
When “build vs. buy” gets this easy, your sales motion better be adding serious value — not friction.
3. “Rip and replace” is almost dead unless you’re 10x better AND 10x easier.
The old playbook assumed switching costs were just about price. They’re not. They’re about all the work that falls on me. The migration. The training. The new workflows. The things that break.
If you’re asking me to switch, you better be removing work from my plate — not adding to it.
So What Should That CRO Have Done?
I’ll tell you exactly what would have gotten my attention:
“Hey Jason, I saw you’re building some tools yourself. We just shipped something that auto-migrates from your current setup — zero work on your end. Here’s a link. It’ll pull in your existing data and have a working instance ready in 10 minutes. No call needed. If it’s not obviously better, no hard feelings.”
That’s it.
Let me experience the product. Let AI do the onboarding. Remove yourself from the critical path. And for the love of god, don’t ask me to pay more AND do more work.
If your product is actually 10x better, show me — don’t tell me you want to show me.
The Wrong Motion For 2026
That B2B company? They probably have a great product. Their CRO is clearly a solid operator — persistent, good at building relationships.
But the motion is wrong for 2026.
I don’t want to be sold to anymore. I want to be enabled.
I want to click a link, connect my data, and see value in minutes — not days or weeks. And if you’re asking me to leave something that already works, you better be making my life easier, not harder.
If your product can’t do that? You’re not losing to a competitor. You’re losing to a founder with Claude and a free afternoon.
