SaaSpocalypse 2026. Build, Sell, or Die. Pick a side.
SaaSpocalypse 2026. Build, Sell, or Die. Pick a side.
SaaS built the last decade of Australian startups. Pipelines, payroll, every B2B stack you can name. Then the agents arrived.
Seats are getting cut. Customers are renegotiating contracts. AI-native competitors are shipping in weeks what took your team two years. The model that minted the unicorns is suddenly the model nobody wants to fund.
So three founders + investors walk into a room. One's doubling down. One's looking for the exit. One thinks the whole category is already a corpse and we just haven't smelled it yet.
Build. Sell. Or die. Pick a side.
The debate
Four founders. Two sides. One question: is SaaS finished, or just shedding skin?
This isn't a polite panel. Audience votes at the start. Audience votes at the end. Winner is whoever moves the room.
Some of what we're putting on the table:
Is per-seat pricing already dead, or just on life support?
Name a SaaS company built in the last 18 months you'd put real money on
You're a SaaS founder with $2M ARR and flat growth. What do you do tomorrow morning?
Is "AI-powered" a feature, a moat, or a tombstone?
Australian VCs still fund pure SaaS. Should they?
If a strategic offered you 4x revenue right now, are you taking it?
Bring an opinion. You'll need it.
Speakers
Jessica Christiansen-Franks - Exited SaaS founder. Built it, sold it, has receipts.
Darius Monsef - Serial founder who's already ripped SaaS out of his stack and replaced it with AI.
Kate Pollard - Exited SaaS founder. Now the call other founders make when they're stuck on this exact question.
Alan Jones - Investor. The view from the cap table.
When and where
📅 Wednesday 10 June 2026 🕠 5:30pm doors. 6:15pm debate. Drinks after. 📍 Cremorne Digital Hub, Melbourne
The night before LaunchVic's Gala, so if you're already in town, treat this as your warm-up.
The partners bringing this to life
🛠 Venue & Cohost: Cremorne Digital Hub Cremorne Digital Hub is Victoria's networked innovation ecosystem, connecting startups, corporates, universities, investors, and government. If SaaS is ending, this is exactly the kind of room you want to be in when the bodies start dropping. CDH is where founders, capital, and the next thing collide.
🤝 Community & Cohost: Aussie Founders Club AFC is the peer-driven community for Australian founders and operators. We bring the real conversations the LinkedIn posts won't touch. No frameworks. No fluff. Just founders talking about what's actually working and what's broken.
🚀 Proudly Supported by LaunchVic Established by the Victorian Government in 2016, LaunchVic backs the growth of Victoria's startup ecosystem by building the confidence and capability of Victorians to create, scale, and invest in startups. We're grateful for their continued support of events like this one.
RSVP
Secure your spot. Capacity is tight, the room is sharper.