71% of You Are Bullish On 2024 Being Better Than 2023

Somewhere in the great American tradition of polls, group chats, and “vibes-based forecasting,” a number
popped up that feels both comforting and mildly suspicious (like a free trial that doesn’t ask for a credit card):
71%.

In a SaaS community survey of roughly 1,700 respondents, 71% said they felt
more bullish about 2024 than 2023, while only 9% thought
things would be tougher next year. That’s not just optimism. That’s optimism with a spinelike your pipeline
finally stopped ghosting you and started texting back.

But what does “bullish” actually mean here? It doesn’t mean “back to 2021.” It means: budgets feel less frozen,
sales cycles feel less cursed, macro headlines feel less like jump-scare horror, and leaders feel they can plan
something other than “survive.”

The 71% number: what it actually signals (and what it doesn’t)

A bullish sentiment reading is useful because it captures what spreadsheets can miss: executive confidence,
risk appetite, and the willingness to invest. When most operators feel the next year will be better, they’re
more likely to hire thoughtfully, sign longer deals, greenlight product bets, and re-open projects paused under
“please don’t make me explain this to finance.”

What it doesn’t signal: a guarantee. Surveys measure expectations, not outcomes. The point isn’t that the 71%
were “right” in a cosmic sense; it’s that a broad swath of the market shifted from defensive crouch to cautious
motion. That shift mattersespecially in SaaS, where momentum is half economics and half psychology.

Why 2023 felt like a year-long treadmill

1) The discount-rate reality check

2023 was the year many teams learned the hard way that “growth at any cost” becomes “math at any cost” when
interest rates rise. Higher rates don’t just change borrowing costs; they change how future cash flows get valued.
That’s why the era rewarded efficiency, profitability paths, and prooflots of proof.

2) Buyers got pickier (and procurement got louder)

In 2023, plenty of SaaS buyers didn’t stop buyingthey started interrogating. They wanted ROI timelines,
consolidation plans, security reviews, and “do we already have three tools that do 60% of this?” conversations.
The product didn’t just need to be good. It needed to be defensible in a budget meeting.

3) “Efficiency” became the most overused word… for a reason

Many companies cleaned house: tighter headcount planning, better unit economics, fewer experimental projects,
and a renewed obsession with retention. It wasn’t fun, but it did create a healthier baseline. And lapping a
tough year makes the next year feel more achievablebecause the bar you’re stepping over is no longer set at
“peak exuberance.”

Why 2024 looked brighter (and why so many people felt it)

1) Inflation cooled enough to let everyone breathe again

One reason 2024 “felt” easier: inflation looked more controlled than the chaos of 2022 and the hangover of 2023.
In fact, U.S. consumer inflation (CPI) rose 2.9% from December 2023 to December 2024. That’s
not a victory parade, but it’s a big difference from the world where price tags changed faster than your
quarterly OKRs.

When inflation cools, the conversation shifts from “how bad will this get?” to “how soon can policy loosen?”
That alone improves sentiment. Even the possibility of rate cuts can change how CFOs think about investment,
how boards think about runway, and how customers think about multi-year commitments.

2) Economic growth stayed positive (a “soft landing” vibe)

Another key ingredient: the economy didn’t fall apart on schedule. Real GDP growth in the U.S. came in at
2.8% for 2024, after 2.9% in 2023. That’s not a boom, but it’s steadyand
“steady” is a beautiful word when everyone spent the prior year doomscrolling recession probabilities.

Going into 2024, many forecasters expected slower growth, moderating inflation, and a labor market that cooled
without collapsing. That combinationslower but positiveis exactly the kind of macro backdrop that lets SaaS
teams plan again instead of constantly bracing for impact.

3) Markets rewarded “boring good” again

Investor psychology matters to operating psychology. In 2024, major U.S. equity indices posted strong returns:
the S&P 500 finished the year up about 25%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up roughly
29.6%. When public markets rally, it tends to thaw private markets, unlock budgets, and reduce
the ambient fear that every decision must be made as if winter will last forever.

Does this help every company? No. But it changes the backdrop. When the market mood shifts from “punish risk”
to “price risk,” you get more oxygen: more deal activity, more willingness to experiment, and more appetite to
fund initiatives that don’t produce immediate quarter-end fireworks.

4) IT budgets didn’t freezethey moved (hello, GenAI line items)

The more interesting story in 2024 wasn’t just “spend more” but “spend differently.” One major research firm
projected worldwide IT spending would total about $5.06 trillion in 2024, up roughly
8% from 2023, with planning for generative AI helping drive that growth.

Translation: companies weren’t simply slashing IT. They were reallocating. If your product aligned with priority
areasautomation, security, compliance, cost optimization, AI enablementyour conversations improved. If you
were “nice to have,” you had to work harder (and bring receipts).

5) Venture funding stabilizedAI was the star of the show

Private markets also found some footing. One well-cited funding tracker estimated global startup funding in 2024
reached about $314 billion, compared with about $304 billion in 2023modest
improvement, but a meaningful change in direction. AI captured a disproportionately large share of attention and
capital, creating a real “gravity shift” in how founders positioned products and how buyers evaluated roadmaps.

Even if you weren’t building AI-first, you were probably building “AI-compatible”: integrations, copilots,
workflow automation, or analytics layers that made AI usable and governable. In practical terms, “bullish” in
2024 often meant: “We have a narrative that finance won’t laugh at.”

Confidence isn’t the same as comfort

Here’s the part the 71% doesn’t magically fix: a better year can still be hard. You can be more optimistic and
still face slower growth, tougher renewals, and customers who want champagne outcomes on sparkling-water budgets.

Consumers were still price-sensitive

Even as parts of the economy improved, consumer behavior remained cautious in places. For example, one consumer
confidence report noted that planned spending on services appeared weaker in July 2024 than in July 2023, with
consumers leaning toward cheaper alternatives in discretionary categories. That vibe trickles into B2B,
especially for tools tied to discretionary projects.

Rates, policy, and expectations can whip-saw quickly

Central bank projections can shift, and markets can overreact to every decimal point in inflation. That means
“better than 2023” doesn’t guarantee “smooth.” It guarantees “less obviously terrible,” which, honestly, is still
progress.

AI: tailwind, tax, and expectation machine

AI enthusiasm helped drive spending, but it also raised the bar. Buyers started expecting automation,
summarization, copilots, and “insights” everywhere. If your roadmap didn’t include credible AI enhancements, you
risked sounding outdated. If it did include AI, you had to prove it wasn’t just a feature with a fancy name and a
higher SKU price.

How to operate in a “better” year without cosplaying 2021

If 2024 was better than 2023, the winning play wasn’t “go wild.” It was “go deliberate.” Here are practical ways
teams translated optimism into results:

1) Sell outcomes, not features

Your buyer’s internal pitch matters as much as your demo. Make your proposal easy to defend: clear ROI,
measurable impact, and a time-to-value story that fits inside a quarter (because that’s how many leaders think).

2) Treat renewals like new sales

Net retention is a mood ring for SaaS. In tougher years, renewal friction rises and downgrades appear. In better
years, expansion becomes possible againbut only if you’re proactive. Start renewal conversations early. Map
value delivered. Make the upgrade path feel like “obvious next step,” not “surprise invoice.”

3) Price like an adult

“We’ll discount it and figure it out later” is how you create future pain. Better years are when you fix the
mess: simplify packaging, align pricing with value, and stop letting every procurement call turn into a
hostage negotiation.

4) Invest in pipeline quality, not just pipeline quantity

When sentiment improves, it’s tempting to flood the top of funnel. Don’t. Focus on ICP clarity, intent signals,
and better discovery. High-volume low-fit pipeline is just cardio for your CRM.

5) Build efficiency into the product, not just the org chart

The “efficiency era” didn’t endteams simply got better at it. Reduce implementation time, improve onboarding,
and make admin work lighter. When your product saves time and proves it, you win both budget and trust.

Quick gut-check: are you part of the 71%?

If you want to translate bullishness into something more tangible, ask yourself:

• Are our late-stage deals moving faster than last quarter?
• Are churn drivers becoming clearer and more fixable?
• Do we have at least one “priority” use case that ties to cost, revenue, or risk reduction?
• Is our product roadmap aligned with where budgets are moving (automation, security, AI enablement)?
• Could we explain our value in one sentence without using the word “platform”?

If you answered “yes” to at least three, congratulations: you may be bullish for reasons other than vibes.
If you answered “no” to most, you might still be bullishjust in the same way people are bullish about starting
a gym routine on January 1st. Hope is free; execution is not.

Conclusion: Better doesn’t mean easybut it can mean possible

The most useful interpretation of “71% bullish” is simple: a lot of operators sensed the bottom was in, the
macro noise was less deafening, and the market was willing to reward solid fundamentals again. Inflation cooled,
growth stayed positive, markets rose, IT budgets shifted rather than vanished, and investment (especially around
AI) regained momentum.

If 2023 was survival mode, 2024 was the year many teams re-learned a forgotten skill: planning. Not planning
with irrational exuberanceplanning with realism, focus, and a little swagger. The good kind. The kind that
doesn’t require a hoodie and a “disrupt” slide.

Experiences related to “71% bullish”: what it looked like in real workdays (about )

One of the clearest “bullish” experiences in 2024 was the return of permission. Not unlimited
permissionmore like a cautious green light that let teams move again. You could see it in how meetings changed:
fewer panic check-ins, more real prioritization. Leaders still asked hard questions, but the questions shifted from
“how do we cut?” to “what’s the smartest thing to build next?”

In sales and revenue teams, the lived experience was often about fewer sudden stops. In 2023,
deals died late for reasons that felt random: budget freezes, leadership changes, “pause until next fiscal year.”
In 2024, there were still delays, but more deals moved forward with additional scrutiny instead of being
vaporized. Reps found that pushing ROI proof earlierbefore procurement got involvedreduced the number of
end-stage surprises. The bullish feeling wasn’t “everything closes,” it was “at least they’re still talking.”

Customer success teams felt bullish in a different way: not because customers were magically easier, but because
expansion conversations returned. In 2023, many check-ins were defensive: prevent churn, justify
renewal, reduce scope. In 2024, some customers started asking, “What else can we automate?” or “Can we roll this
out to a second department?” The better teams treated those moments like product discovery, not upsell pressure:
they mapped workflows, identified bottlenecks, and proposed expansions tied to measurable outcomes.

Product and engineering teams often experienced bullishness as focus with purpose. The “do less”
lesson from 2023 stuck, but it got paired with forward motion. Instead of shipping five half-features, teams
shipped two improvements that made onboarding faster or reporting more self-serve. That created a quiet flywheel:
happier customers, smoother renewals, fewer support tickets, and a sales story that didn’t require interpretive
dance to explain value.

Then there was the daily reality of AI: a mix of excitement and eye-roll. In 2024, many teams had the experience
of being askedby customers, boards, or internal stakeholders“What’s our AI strategy?” even when they were a
scheduling tool, a billing platform, or a compliance dashboard. The bullish teams didn’t pretend to be something
they weren’t. They found concrete, defensible AI-adjacent wins: automating repetitive tasks, summarizing
workflows, flagging anomalies, improving search, and tightening governance. The experience wasn’t “we became an
AI company overnight.” It was “we reduced the boring work and proved it.”

Finally, hiring. For many operators, bullishness felt like being able to hire again selectively. Not
“we’re doubling headcount,” but “we can add that senior engineer,” or “we can backfill the RevOps role we never
should’ve cut.” The experience was less about growth-at-any-cost and more about rebuilding capabilitycarefully,
intentionally, and with an eye on efficiency that doesn’t vanish the moment conditions improve.