What separates a SaaS business worth a real exit from one that buyers quietly walk away from in 2026?

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Daniel Kazani, co-founder of Softup, sits down with Dirk Sahlmer, partner at FE International, to talk about how AI is reshaping SaaS M&A. After six years on the buy side at saas.group, Dirk now advises founders through sell-side exit processes, and he's seen both ends of how exit value gets won or lost.

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The conversation goes long on retention as the new growth signal, why a lot of AI-hype revenue has rotting cohorts under it, and the valuation misconceptions most founders carry into their first exit conversation. Dirk also breaks down what real AI defensibility looks like, why a fifteen-year-old "boring" SaaS can still command a strong multiple, and the one question every founder needs to be ready to answer before a buyer asks it.

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👤 Guest Bioㅤ

Dirk Sahlmer is a partner at FE International, where he advises SaaS and tech founders on competitive auction exit processes.

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Based in Germany, Dirk trained as an engineer before co-founding his own SaaS company, then spent close to six years building the deal origination function at saas.group as their first full-time hire, evaluating thousands of SaaS businesses and leading multiple buy-side acquisitions. In late 2025, he moved to the sell-side at FE International. He also writes the saas.wtf newsletter on SaaS metrics, valuations, and exit readiness, followed by thousands of founders and investors.

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📌 What We Cover

• Why retention has become the metric buyers watch most closely in the current AI hype cycle
• The biggest mistakes first-time exit founders make: no sparring partner, no clean numbers, no realistic sense of what the business is worth
• How private equity and financial buyers really think about boring SaaS that survives the next ten to fifteen years
• What separates a real AI business from a chatbot bolted onto a website
• Where AI defensibility actually lives: unique data, deep workflow integration, vertical focus
• Why a fifteen-year-old SaaS can outperform a hype-stage AI-native startup in an exit
• Why simple products like Calendly probably don't get replaced by your afternoon hack
• The question every founder should answer before a buyer asks it: how is AI both an opportunity and a threat to your business?

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🔗 Resources Mentionedㅤ

• FE International
• Calendly
• Personio
• Slack
• Asana
• HubSpot
• Monday.com
• AWS
• Microsoft Azure
• n8n
• Claude Code
• ChatGPT
• Dirk's email: [email protected]