Daniel Saks is CEO and co-founder of Landbase. Landbase is on a mission to help businesses transform their go-to-market by harnessing machine intelligence & human performance. Before that, he co-founded and served as co-CEO of AppDirect, the leading subscription commerce platform for selling technology services. During his time there, they grew into a unicorn company, a journey he’s incredibly proud of.

He’s had the honor of being named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs. He also enjoys sharing his experiences and insights at industry conferences like Web Summit, CogX, CeBIT, and MWC, and he regularly advises Fortune 500 executives on software distribution and cloud strategies.

He’s a proud McGill University graduate, and serves on the Principal’s International Advisory Board. He’s an avid skier, and loves to get out in nature for hikes, rides, and runs with his wife and two little kids.

What inspired you to launch Landbase, and how did your past experiences (like AppDirect) shape your vision for the company?

I grew up in a family business — Saks Furniture in Niagara Falls, Canada — founded by my great-great-grandparents in 1908. After the Great Recession hit, our store shut down, as did many others on Main Street. That moment changed me. I made it my mission to help businesses access the tools they need to survive and grow.

In 2009, I co-founded AppDirect to help businesses find, buy and use software. With Landbase, I’m helping them find their next great customer. It’s about empowering every business to grow smarter, using machine intelligence to eliminate the friction in go-to-market (GTM) execution.

Landbase’s agentic AI model aims to fully automate go-to-market workflows. Can you walk us through the moment you realized this wasn’t just a tool—but a foundational platform for revenue teams?

I saw firsthand that generating leads takes an entire GTM team: product marketing, revenue ops, SDRs, AEs and more — all juggling different tools, processes and handoffs. That fragmentation creates inefficiencies and silos.

I realized there was an opportunity to unify it all under one platform, combining human and machine intelligence to automate the entire workflow. It wasn’t just a better tool; it was a new foundation for how revenue teams operate.

Tell us about Landbase’s $30 million Series A. What key signals convinced Sound Ventures and Ashton Kutcher to lead this round — and how did the deal come together behind the scenes?

After our seed announcement, we had over 130 inbound inquiries. Sound Ventures stood out because of its confidence in AI-native platforms like OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face and World Labs.

We had 15 meetings with Sound Ventures across SF, NYC and LA in two weeks — our last meeting was with Ashton, Guy Oseary and Effie Epstein. They didn’t just invest; they sold us. Their conviction, experience and value-add made them the right partners to lead our Series A.

You’ve seen both boom and bust, yet continue investing heavily in AI. In the current economic climate, what criteria or red flags do you zero in on when evaluating AI startups?

There’s a wave of “me too” companies wrapping GPT with a UI, but no real moat. That’s a red flag.

What I look for: Are they building a new interface? Do they have proprietary data, unique models or workflow ownership? Can this team lead a new category in a big market? AI will produce massive winners, but only if they’re building something foundational — not just another tool.

How does Landbase differentiate itself from traditional SDR teams and other tech-enabled outreach tools in terms of performance, cost, and ROI?

Landbase’s campaigns go live in minutes, not months. We have up to 80% lower total cost of ownership. And we have 4–7x higher conversion rates than traditional SDR teams or off-the-shelf tools. In short, Landbase is faster, cheaper and better.

Rather than stitching together point solutions, Landbase automates the full GTM workflow — end to end.

What metrics or real-world outcomes are most meaningful to your customers?

It always comes down to faster time to value, cheaper execution cost and better results. These three metrics drive customer satisfaction and retention across all of our cohorts.

Do you have any standout case studies that show pipeline lift or success rates?

We’ve seen consistent conversion uplift in the 4–7x range. We’re actively compiling deeper case studies with our customers, but the early signals are clear: Landbase delivers measurable pipeline impact.

How does the Landbase platform handle personalization and compliance across verticals, especially in industries with strict regulations like finance or healthcare?

Landbase is designed for compliance and adaptability. Our VibeGTM interface allows users to guide AI in natural language, while setting guardrails for regulatory requirements.

The platform is GDPR-compliant and can accommodate vertical-specific rulesets — whether for financial services, healthcare or other regulated industries — while still delivering highly personalized campaigns.

Can you describe the architecture of your domain-specific AI model—what data sources, techniques, and integrations power it—and what’s next on the product roadmap?

Our model, GTM-1 Omni, has three core layers:

• Planning and Decisioning Models – Determine optimal strategies based on CRM, intent and performance data
• Generator Models – Create hyper-personalized content across channels
• Prediction and Reward Models – Score campaigns pre-launch to optimize engagement and reduce spam

We integrate with CRM systems, email platforms, phone and messaging tools and web analytics. The roadmap includes inbound marketing, paid media and post-sale workflows — all run by intelligent agents.

What broader trends or opportunities are you seeing in 2025 around AI for sales and marketing? Are there specific niches Landbase is uniquely positioned to tackle next?

The trend is clear: We’re moving from tools to agents. The future isn’t just smarter insights; it’s autonomous execution.

Landbase is uniquely suited for non-technical B2B users — like realtors, consultants, MSPs — who need growth but don’t have in-house marketing teams. Our agents don’t just recommend; they act.

We started with outbound (email, phone and LinkedIn), and now we’re expanding into inbound, paid and post-sale engagement.

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