---
title: When Growth Slows, Is It Sales' Fault or the Product's Fault? The Answer Has Changed.
source: newsletter
source_url: https://www.saastr.com/when-growth-slows-is-it-sales-fault-or-the-products-fault-the-answer-has-changed/
ingested: 2026-05-19
sha256: 5531bf6489b3f869ba8fc795f89a90ab183889ec6edf0172370d0038582d9114
review_value: 7
review_confidence: 7
review_recommendation: worth-reading
review_stars: 3
tags: [product-management, sales, B2B, AI, growth, SaaS]
---
# When Growth Slows, Is It Sales' Fault or the Product's Fault? The Answer Has Changed.
When Growth Slows, Is It Sales' Fault or the Product's Fault? The Answer Has Changed.
Jason Lemkin / SaaStr
For most of B2B history, products were essentially static. Sales and marketing were the primary lever. A great VP of Sales could double revenue in 90 days without changing the product.
That world is gone.
In 2026, products are incredibly fluid. The pace of improvement, competition, and capability change is unlike anything we have seen in B2B. Products go from cutting-edge to outdated in a single quarter.
Claude is literally 100x more capable than 12 months ago. If you are building on top of AI infrastructure, your product can go from cutting-edge to outdated in a single quarter.
The product itself has become the most volatile variable in the growth equation. It used to be the constant. Now it is the thing most likely to be the root cause when growth slows.
Diagnostic framework:
1. Has your product competitive position changed in the last 6-12 months?
2. Are win rates declining against specific competitors?
3. Is your product release velocity keeping pace with the market?
4. Is the problem truly sales execution?
5. Is your AI Agent the best one in the market?
The uncomfortable truth: if your product fell behind while the market sprinted ahead, a new VP of Sales is just going to run into the same wall. Faster, maybe. More professionally, certainly. But the same wall.
Product velocity is the new growth lever. Get that right, and a great VPS can work their magic. Get it wrong, and no amount of sales optimization will save you.