SaaStr: Three-Year Contracts Fell From 28% to 23% of New Logos While Sub-One-Year Deals Tripled to 13% — Jason Lemkin Says Stop Fighting It

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Lemkin's July 24 post tells founders to abandon the multi-year contract push entirely, citing three-year deals dropping from 28% of new logos in 2023 to 23% in 2026 while sub-12-month contracts jumped from 4% to 13%. His reasoning is that AI replacement cycles now compress roughly every 18 months, so a buyer signing a three-year deal risks being locked into a category that is obsolete by year two — that is rational procurement, not sales resistance. The prescription is 120%+ NRR, ROI inside 60–90 days, and post-sales investment; he names Datadog and Figma as the exceptions that still win long commitments, and only because customers already chose to expand.