Mind the Tech NY
"It’s a difficult time to invest in software and cloud, but SaaS is not dead"
Josh Potter, partner at KPMG, was speaking at Calcalist and Bank Leumi's Mind the Tech conference in New York. Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective, added: "When we talk about Israeli founders, we see important traits like resilience, flexibility, the ability to fail fast, recover, learn, and keep going."
Sophie Shulman, alongside Seth Rosenberg, Erez Shachar, Amanda Herson, Josh Potter and Paul Fogel.
(Alex Kolomoisky, Tomerico)
"AI will not kill all software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, but over time a distinction will emerge between companies with real technology and data, which will succeed, and companies built around a single feature, which will not," said Josh Potter, partner at KPMG, at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi New York 2026 Mind the Tech conference. Potter spoke on a panel moderated by Calcalist reporter Sophie Shulman.
He referred to a series of events in which capabilities launched by chatbot developer Anthropic, creator of Claude, led to a collapse in the stock prices of SaaS companies because of investor panic that these capabilities would undermine the companies’ business models. This panic, and the crash in company stock prices, led to assessments that many of them were nearing the end of their path.
Potter does not share these assessments. "It’s a difficult time to invest in software and cloud companies, but I don’t think SaaS is dead," he explained. "This is a great opportunity for companies in the sector that have access to a real technological moat. It’s one of the most exciting times to be an operator of software platforms that can change faster than ever because of AI. To code faster, launch features faster, and deliver greater value.
“What challenges investors examining traditional SaaS businesses is understanding the inflection point, and what will allow these companies to succeed. Clearly, AI will become part of the operations of all these companies, but over time the market will stabilize and there will be separation between real companies with deep technology and companies that are essentially one-feature companies."
Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective, which invests in early-stage startups, addressed the question of how investors know what will become a one-feature startup and what will become a real company that Anthropic will not wipe out tomorrow: "We don’t know. Everything is moving so fast. We can only focus on the founders. And when we talk about Israeli founders, we see important traits like resilience, flexibility, the ability to fail fast, recover, learn, and keep going.
“In this environment, there is an ability to absorb a lot and keep moving forward. To know exactly what you need, and to know how to navigate everything happening around you. The ability to move fast and react to competitors and to Claude, to understand what is critical and what is not. We are looking for founders who are obsessed with their customers, who know how to think one step ahead and understand where things are going, founders with a very distinctive perspective. That’s what we look for at the early stage."
Seth Rosenberg, partner at Greylock Partners, which recently opened a local office, explained the importance of Israel to the prominent fund: "We hired a partner who will be based in Israel. The entire team travels to Israel once or twice a year. This is a region we are excited to commit to. I’m one of the biggest Zionists on the team, and I say I would want to invest in Israel regardless. But we are doing this for business reasons. You cannot ignore Israel if you are a leading venture capital fund investing in AI and cyber. That is what drives the investment, not just love of the country.
“Historically, cybersecurity has been one of the largest categories in high tech. Today it is more important than ever, and I’m very excited about Israel’s role there. We were early investors in Palo Alto Networks. But I focus on AI and fintech, and I’m optimistic there will be more companies to invest in within this sector."
Erez Shachar, Managing Partner at Qumra Capital, explained why 2025 was one of the best years for Israeli high tech despite the difficult security situation. "It’s hard to explain," he said. "There is no doubt that this is the case. Some people say there is a disconnect between Israeli high tech and the Israeli economy. I’m not sure that is the correct description of the situation. It’s not that there is a disconnect between high tech and the Israeli economy, they are very connected to each other. But high tech is not very Israeli. It sells outside Israel, it is global. We are not affected by what happens in Israel in terms of reaching the market.
“We are affected in terms of employees, R&D efforts, and so on. After October 7, a very large portion of Israeli high tech was in reserve duty. High-tech employees make up 10% of the Israeli workforce, but 20% of reservists are high-tech workers. We felt that in the first months of the war. It was challenging, but the impact on customers was not very noticeable. The workforce at companies worked harder to offset the reservists."
Paul Fogel, Chief Engineer of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, explained the company’s view of the Israeli ecosystem and referred to possible investments in local defense-tech companies.
"We have a presence in Israel," he said. "We have a venture capital arm within the company that examines how technology fits existing combat situations, primarily in the battle arenas of Israel and Ukraine. We invest in many Israeli companies, and in Israeli defense-tech companies. You will also see major investments by Lockheed Martin in the field, as we adopt AI technologies and innovative developments coming from the Israeli battlefield."
Watch the full panel in the video above.
