20VC Newsletter - 30th November 2025
Here are the transcripts and top takeaways from 20VC episodes released this last week.
From the AI boom to capital rotation—Harry Stebbings breaks down what’s driving venture right now.
Monday’s episode with Maor Shlomo, Founder @ Base44:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
Why SaaS Companies Are Going to Die in a World of Vibe Coding
With the rate of progress with vibe coding, we will start building & customising our own tools in a few years.
It makes much more sense: You own your data, code. It is fully customized without any feature bloat.
Every SaaS company that needs implementers will not make it in a decade.
I Am Not Worried About Replit and Lovable, I Am Worried About Google
They are moving extremely fast.
They have the entire stack: Compute, Google Cloud, Google Suite.
I am worried about Google.
It Is Total BS That Vibe Coding Has Shit Margins, We Can Change Them Whenever We Want
The margins on vibe coding depends entirely on the service you want to give to your users.
We could switch models depending on the prompt: Not every request needs a frontier model.
As open source models get cheaper our margins will improve.
Do Vibe Coding Platforms Have No Defensibility?
It is relatively easy to build a vibe coding platform.
It is very hard to create a vibe coding platform that is functional & has real-world use cases.
The real moat is a mini cloud of vertical integrations, infrastructure and persistent workflows.
How Does Base44 Beat Cursor in the End?
I started Base44 for non-technical people: no API keys, no Supabase links…
As models improve, even developers care less about editing files or seeing code.
When you can build whole products inside Base44, most users prefer that over Cursor.
Why Base44 Is Helped & Not Hurt by Not Being in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is no longer mandatory for building important companies or accessing opportunity.
The war on talent is tough in Silicon Valley: If you don’t have deep pockets, you will lose.
The world is changing.
Thursday’s episode with Rory O’Driscoll, GP @ Scale, Jason Lemkin, Founder @ SaaStr:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
The Signal That a Company Is in War Mode
The real signal of war mode is wondering if the CEO pushes too hard.
At the best companies, CEOs sometimes snap because their drive to win is relentless.
Using simple metaphors like “war mode” is what motivates 5,000 people to move in one direction.
How to Justify the $10BN Price for Sierra
The math to make this work:
Sierra went from $10M last year to $100M this year.
Assume they grow 5x next year, then 3x, then 2x… they reach $5B in 5 years.
Service Cloud does about $8B in revenue today.
The only way this math works is if they capture part of the $200B/year services market.
The Rate Limiter for Sierra and Enterprise Companies
Sierra’s growth is not constrained by demand but by enterprise change management.
Each $10M rollout needs complex integrations, training and an internal process overhaul.
The real rate limiter is the physics of enterprise adoption.
Either Wix Is Dramatically Undervalued, or Lovable Is Dramatically Overvalued.
If Wix pulls off their strategy, they will be valued for it.
If they just check the AI box and don’t make it core to what they’re doing, Lovable will be king.
If an AI Product Needs Your Credit Card Before You Start, It Is a Scam.
The best AI companies let you try it for free before you need to pay.
Lovable, Suno, ChatGPT…
If you have to enter your credit card details immediately, it is a bad sign.
Why You Can Never Push Your Team Too Hard
My number one bit of advice: do not go easy on your team.
Love them, back them up where they’re good, but push them even harder.
The best ones will always step up.
Behind the scenes:
Friday’s episode with John McMahon, Author:
Download the full transcript:
Behind the Scenes:
Let us know what your big takeaways from this week’s shows were in the comments below!
Thank you for reading, and don’t miss the great guests we have next week:
Monday episode: Jonathan Siddharth, Founder & CEO @ Turing
Thursday episode: Jason Lemkin & Rory O’Driscoll
Friday episode: Federico Simionato, Product Lead @ Bending Spoons
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