A few years ago, the SaaS sales process could feel relatively straightforward.

Find the person with the problem. Show them how your software solves it. Build the business case. Close the deal.

That process hasn’t disappeared, but the person who wants your product may no onger be the person who determines whether your company gets the sale.

As founders begin building their 2027 growth plans, that’s worth paying attention to.

Software buyers can discover and compare solutions faster than ever. But getting those solutions through finance, security, IT, implementation, and executive approval can be a much different challenge.

Your sales team isn’t just selling to a buyer anymore. In many cases, they’re helping that buyer sell your product to the rest of their organization.

Discovery Is Getting Faster. Approval Isn’t.

AI has changed how buyers research software. This shift begins even earlier in the journey as AI changes how SaaS buyers discover and evaluate companies before ever speaking with sales.

G2’s 2026 Buyer Behavior Report found that more than 80% of surveyed B2B software buyers and decision-makers sourced software recommendations from an AI chatbot in the past two years.

But faster discovery hasn’t necessarily made the rest of the buying process easier.

G2 also found that evaluation was the longest stage of the buying journey for 40% of respondents, compared with 36% for research and 22% for the final decision stage.

For SaaS founders, that creates an interesting shift.

A potential customer may find your company, understand your product, and decide they’re interested relatively quickly.

Then the internal questions begin.

Will security approve it? Can finance justify the expense? How difficult will implementation be? Does another platform already provide something similar? Can the buyer demonstrate a measurable return?

Those aren’t always objections to your product.

Sometimes they’re simply hurdles your internal champion has to clear before they can buy it.

1. Finance Is Becoming a Bigger Part of the Sale

One of the biggest changes founders should watch is finance’s growing influence.

G2’s 2026 research found that finance involvement in software purchasing decisions increased from 31% to 46% in one year.

That should influence how SaaS companies communicate value.

A department leader may care about solving a specific problem. An end user may care about usability. IT may care about integration.

Finance is likely to ask something different:

What measurable business result are we buying?

Your sales team should be prepared to help answer that question.

What does the product replace?

What does it save?

What does it improve?

How quickly can the customer see value?

What is the financial impact of leaving the problem unsolved?

Features may get someone interested. A strong business case can help them get approval for the purchase.

2. Security Can’t Be an End-of-Sale Surprise

Security reviews can also become a major source of friction.

G2 found that security review was cited as a source of purchasing delays by 39% of buyers overall and 50% of enterprise buyers. Budget approval was cited by 32%, while implementation planning was cited by 25%.

If your sales team doesn’t discover security requirements until the end of a deal, weeks of additional work may suddenly appear.

Founders should consider whether security readiness is part of their sales infrastructure.

Can prospects easily access the information they need?

Does sales know which questions could trigger additional review?

Are commonly requested documents prepared?

Can your team clearly explain how customer data is handled?

You can’t eliminate every security review.

But you can prepare for something you know is likely to happen.

3. Help Your Champion Sell Without You

Your salesperson won’t be part of every conversation that determines whether a deal closes.

Your customer champion will.

When finance asks about ROI, they need an answer.

When IT asks about implementation, they need an answer.

When leadership asks why this deserves budget, they need an answer.

That means some of your most valuable sales materials shouldn’t simply sell your product.

They should help your champion explain why the company should buy it.

Consider giving serious prospects a simple internal business case covering the problem being solved, expected business impact, implementation requirements, time to value, security information, customer results, and cost.

Make your company easier to defend in the meetings you’re not invited to.

4. Understand Who Is Actually Involved

More stakeholders can also create more opportunities for a deal to stall.

Gartner’s 2026 Tech Buying Behavior Study found that 68% of technology buying teams experience what Gartner describes as unhealthy conflict.

That’s another reason founders shouldn’t assume everyone involved in a deal defines value the same way.

Ask earlier:

Who owns the problem?

Who owns the budget?

Who approves security?

Who handles implementation?

Who will use the product?

Who can stop the purchase?

And what does success look like to each of them?

Understanding the buying committee earlier can help sales teams identify friction before it becomes a lost deal.

5. Look at Your Lost Deals Before Building Your 2027 Target

Before increasing next year’s sales target, take a closer look at the qualified opportunities that didn’t close in 2026.

Don’t stop at the reason selected in your CRM.

Look for patterns.

How many deals were lost because the product genuinely wasn’t the right fit?

How many stalled during security review?

How many disappeared during budget approval?

How many had an enthusiastic user but never gained executive support?

How many couldn’t demonstrate enough financial value?

How many simply ended with no decision?

Those are different problems, and they require different solutions.

If qualified opportunities repeatedly reach the same stage and stall, adding more leads to the top of the funnel may not solve the problem.

The constraint could be somewhere else.

The Founder Takeaway

As you build your 2027 growth strategy, don’t only ask:

How do we generate more pipeline?

Ask:

What has to happen inside our customer’s organization for that pipeline to become revenue?

Your buyers have more ways than ever to discover your company. But they may also have more people to convince before they can purchase from you.

Understand the buying committee. Prepare for security earlier. Give finance a measurable business case. Equip your champions with the information they need internally.

And before investing more money in generating new opportunities, figure out where your existing opportunities are getting stuck.

The next stage of growth may not require a bigger funnel. It may require removing the friction that’s already inside it.