Mark Perera

Blackthread
Buyers x Builders

[Mark Perera @markperera]

Took this year’s RECODE theme a little literally. 🕹️

Heading to DPW Amsterdam to talk about the next big procurement tech category.

Message me for a coffee. Real-world version of me available. ☕

#DPWAmsterdam #RECODE

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@boardyai Nice intro me

[Mark Perera @markperera]

Heading to DPW Amsterdam, 30 Sept to 1 Oct.

Really excited to see the next gen of agentic solutions. 2026 is software as service in procurement.

Something to announce on the day.

Who else is going? Which new companies should I check out?

#DPWAmsterdam #procurement

[Mark Perera @markperera]

Sunday morning routine: coffee, padel, a new model drop.

Qwen3.8-Flash-Next on a MacBook. It's good. The 27B is still the daily driver. Flash-Next has to earn it.

What's your local daily driver?

[Mark Perera @markperera]

What’s the next big procuretech category after @procurement orchestration and intake?

I have my views but would be keen to hear yours.

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@calcsam 🕺🔥💯

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@calcsam Awesome 👍

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@calcsam 🚀🎉

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@calcsam 🚀🚀🎉

[Sam Bhagwat @calcsam]

we are shipping features 3x faster than last time

we are also spending 3x more time on security and provider induced incident response

[Mark Perera @markperera]

The most consequential question in procurement right now isn’t whether to use AI.

It’s what to do next week.

11 June. London.

A procurement leader inside a frontier-model org. The procurement lead for AI at a hyperscaler. The operator who’s already shipped it across 18 markets.

Three thinkers, three builders, one room

#procurement #ai #operatingmodels

[Mark Perera @markperera]

AI spend is about to expose a K-shaped talent model. Some roles 10x with heavy usage. Others barely move.

Procurement’s job — with functional leaders — is to spot the divergence and put the investment where the multiplier is. Not equal access. Strategic access.

[Mark Perera @markperera]

Anthropic just showed every software company where pricing is heading. Consumption, not seats. For procurement teams, this breaks every benchmarking model you have. But it also forces the conversation CFOs actually want — what’s the ROI per user, not the cost per seat.

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@calcsam @mastra Congrats. Its been great working you and the team.

[Sam Bhagwat @calcsam]

Here's the full blog post:

https://t.co/f5o3E8H2Na

[Sam Bhagwat @calcsam]

We’re excited to announce today that @mastra has raised a $22M Series A led by Spark Capital.

This brings our total capital raised to $35M:

[Mark Perera @markperera]

Most procurement operating models were built to stay the same.

The next generation will be built to get better.

For 15 years we ran procurement on the SaaS model. Static workflows. Forms and clicks. Configured once. Maybe an annual update. The operating model matched the tech — optimised for consistency, not improvement.

But frontier AI models improve every 2-3 months. Each generation meaningfully better than the last. New reasoning. New capabilities. Growing intelligence.

Your operating model should compound at the same pace.

As frontier models get better, a frontier operating model automatically absorbs those gains. You don’t need to rip and replace. You don’t need another implementation cycle. When a better model ships next quarter, your function gets better next quarter too.

The SaaS operating model delivered consistent value.

The frontier operating model delivers growing value.

Exactly what we’re exploring today in Munich with senior CPOs at The Shift — our invite-only roundtable series on the operating model of 2030.

What it requires:
→ Agentic systems with real feedback loops. The system improves through use, not through vendor updates.

→ Humans as judgment providers. They train the agents. Handle the exceptions. Set the boundaries. Their role gets more valuable, not less.

→ Workflow-led, not just category-led. Category strategies become living models that adapt as markets shift.

→ Built-in guardrails. Human oversight. Auditability. A frontier operating model isn’t a black box — it’s a system where humans and agents improve together.

Not just using AI in procurement. Building procurement so it compounds.

[Mark Perera @markperera]

@claudeai @hnshah 🚀

[Claude @claudeai]

A small thank you to everyone using Claude: We’re doubling usage outside our peak hours for the next two weeks.