SaaS Trends - Edition 93

Highlights of the Week

Fireflies hits $1 bn valuation, adds real-time search with Perplexity

Fireflies.ai reached a $1 billion valuation through its first tender offer, demonstrating rapid growth. With new features like "Talk to Fireflies" and a Perplexity partnership, it's transforming into a proactive AI assistant for teams (source).

Swedish legal AI startup Legora has secured $80 million in Series B

Founded in 2023 by Max Junestrand, Sigge Labor, and August Erséus, Legora (formerly known as Leya) offers an AI-powered platform designed to streamline legal workflows. Its tools assist lawyers in tasks such as contract review, legal research, and document drafting. (source)

Abacum , an AI-Driven Business Planning Platform, Secures $60 Million in Series B 

Founded in Barcelona, Abacum aims to enhance its AI-powered platform to automate financial tasks, unify data, and provide strategic insights. The company plans to use the funds to expand its presence in the U.S., where it already generates over 50% of its revenue, and to further develop its AI capabilities to support proactive decision-making and scenario planning for finance teams. (source).

Marketer to follow

Bryony Pearce is the Chief Marketing Officer at The Alliance, leading marketing, content, and community initiatives. Co-author of Product Marketing Misunderstood, she champions the strategic value of product marketing.

Why should you follow her?

1. Strategic Leadership: As CMO of The Alliance, Bryony has been pivotal since its inception, shaping marketing strategies across multiple communities, including the Product Marketing Alliance.

1. Educational Contributions: She has developed comprehensive courses and content that have become foundational resources for product marketers worldwide.

1. Thought Leadership: Co-authoring Product Marketing Misunderstood, Bryony provides insights into establishing the role and authority of product marketing within organizations.

1. Community Engagement: Bryony actively engages with the marketing community, sharing experiences and fostering discussions on platforms like LinkedIn.

1. Content Creation: She hosts the Product Marketing Insider podcast, offering interviews and insights that delve into the nuances of product marketing.

You can follow her here.

Case Study

How SurveySensum Boosted Their AI Search Visbility by 150% in Just 6 Months

About SurveySensum

SurveySensum is a leading customer feedback platform that helps you gather and analyze customer feedback and take strategic actions that drive revenue. With its ease of use and exceptional support, it is becoming a preferred choice for both beginners and seasoned professionals.

Challenge

SurveySensum had established solid visibility in traditional search engines, they were missing out on a growing source of potential leads: AI-powered search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity. With only about 50 sporadic visits per month coming from these channels, they recognized an untapped opportunity to reach decision-makers who were increasingly turning to AI assistants for software recommendations.

Solution

A strategic 6-month engagement focused on optimizing the company's digital presence specifically for large language model (LLM) search behaviors.

Phase 1: Content Structure Enhancement

Improved content readability and AI compatibility by restructuring long-form pages into question-led sections, adding direct answers, and organizing data into clean, structured formats for easy referencing.

Phase 2: Authority Building for AI Citation

Increased LLM citation potential by engaging in niche communities, publishing AI-readable data visualizations, and securing mentions through partnerships with analysts and research-driven media outlets.

Phase 3: Technical Implementation

Optimized backend for LLM crawlability using schema markup, consistent source attribution, and alternate formats like markdown and tables to boost discoverability and citation across AI platforms.

Results

Within six months, this methodical approach transformed the company's presence in AI search results, increasing monthly sessions from LLM platforms from approximately 50 to nearly 600 – a 150% growth rate.

Post of the Week

AI Overviews favor certain content types over others. According to NP Digital, facts/stats (31%), unique research (21.6%), and comparisons (19.6%) are most likely to be summarized. To boost your chances of visibility in AI summaries, focus on these formats. Link to the original post.

PPC Creative of the Week

Why is this creative effective?

1. Clear Value Proposition Above the Fold: The phrase “More than just global employment” reframes the brand as a comprehensive HR platform and challenges the assumption that Deel is only for EOR (Employer of Record).

2.  Messaging Breaks the Category Mold: The copy "Your forever people platform" positions Deel as a long-term partner, not just a transactional vendor.

3. Visually Segmented Benefits: The UI-style box listing "Worker classification," "HR support," "Payroll & taxes," and "Compliance" mirrors what a dashboard might look like—intuitive and familiar.

4. Global Credibility: Mentioning “150+ countries” directly tackles concerns about scalability.

Tip of the Week

Copy that converts doesn’t try to be fancy — it mirrors how your audience actually speaks. Mining reviews, comments, and forums is the most underrated copy hack out there. Link to the original post.

Webinar Alert!

Topic: New Google AI Mode: Everything You Need To Know & What To Do Next

Speaker: Nick Gallagher, Sr. SEO Strategy Director at Conductor

Why should you attend this webinar?

1. Learn how Google's AI Mode could impact your click-through rates and organic visibility before it hurts your bottom line.

2. Discover specific tactics to optimize for AI Overviews, audit brand mentions in AI answers, and update your SEO approach.

3. Understand which search types trigger AI responses and how to position your content to remain visible as AI-generated answers grow.

When: Wednesday, June 25 at 2PM ET

Register here.