SaaStr: 'Follow the Agents' — CRM Selection in 2026 Is Now About Agent Lock-In, Not Features
SaaStr·high signal
SaaStr's new CRM thesis argues the defining question is which platform hosts your AI agents, not traditional CRM features. The agent lock-in ladder is quantified: at 2-3 agents switching is annoying, at 10 it's expensive, at 20 it's functionally impossible. SaaStr themselves run 20+ agents on Salesforce. The article identifies four tiers: Salesforce for established teams with deepest agent ecosystem, HubSpot for mid-market with marketing integration, and AI-native alternatives (Lightfield, Attio, Monaco, Aurasell) for founder-led sales where 'none were built on the assumption that humans enter data.'