# SaaStr's agent ran a $100k deal around the close. People closed it

*Published 2026-10-18* | Author: brad-webb

Jason Lemkin's agent found, followed up, contracted, invoiced and collected on a $100k deal while people did the close, so sort your own deal steps into judgment and work.

## An agent ran every step of a $100k deal but the close

Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr, posted on Oct 16 that 10K, the agent SaaStr calls its AI VP Revenue, brought in a $100k deal. People closed it. The agent did everything around the close: it found the deal, followed up, sent the contract, got it signed, prepared the invoice and collected the payment. My read: the close was never the slow part. Everything around it was.

That split is the useful part. The people kept the one step that's a judgment call. The agent took the steps where someone only had to do the work. Most small teams have it the other way round, with the founder chasing signatures and copying last month's invoice while the next deal waits.

> But he found it, followed up, sent the contract, got it signed, prepared the invoice, and got the payment in today.
>
> Jason Lemkin, @jasonlk, [post on X](https://x.com/jasonlk/status/2111166535150547011)

## The catch-up hour is the real cost

Lemkin posted a second number the same morning, and it's the one I'd pin above my desk. Catching up with SaaStr's agents takes an hour a day, mostly with 10K. His point is that the people it replaced took longer. Fair. But that hour is what the setup really costs, so it's worth asking what it's spent on.

I've run the after-yes part of a deal by hand more times than I'd like. None of it was hard. What took the time was knowing where each deal stood, and that lived in my head and three open tabs.

An agent doesn't remove that problem. It moves it. The work gets done faster, and the knowing turns into the hour a day. Every step an agent runs has to land somewhere a person can read in minutes, or the hour grows with the pipeline. [The work that runs without you](https://www.civic.com/field-notes/the-work-that-runs-without-you) still has to report back to you.

> It takes an hour a day to 'catch up' with our agents, especially 10K, our AI VP of Revenue.
>
> Jason Lemkin, @jasonlk, [post on X](https://x.com/jasonlk/status/2111039195997208616)

## Mark the steps that need a judgment call

Take the last deal you closed. Write down every step from the first reply to the money landing: the follow-ups, the proposal, the contract, the signature chase, the invoice, the payment reminder. Next to each, write one word. Judgment, if a person had to weigh something. Work, if a person only had to do it.

The work steps are the ones to hand off first, each with a rule you set once: when this happens, do that. The judgment steps stay with you. Before anything runs, decide where you'll read what was done, so the catch-up takes minutes and not an hour.

*Who ran what on the $100k deal*

This week, map your last closed deal from first reply to payment, mark each step judgment or work, and pick the first work step you'd hand off.

## Where this came from

- [Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) on X](https://x.com/jasonlk/status/2111166535150547011), Oct 16, 2026
- [Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) on X, on the catch-up hour](https://x.com/jasonlk/status/2111039195997208616), Oct 16, 2026

Source: https://www.civic.com/noise-to-motion/saastr-agent-ran-everything-but-the-close