Clouded Judgement

MAY 10, 2024

And no one raised full year guide >2% The median “beat” (Q1 revenue over Q1 consensus estimates) was 1.5%, which is the lowest it’s been in the last 4 years Overall, it’s been a TOUGH quarter for software companies. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 5.7x

Cloud 161

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure 161

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Subscribe now Cloud Giants Report Q3 ‘23 Not a great signal for software this week from the Cloud Giants (AWS, Azure and Google Cloud)…After Q2 (3 months ago), the tone from the Cloud Giants around optimizations was largely: optimizations have started to ease, and net new workloads have picked up. That is not new.”

Cost optimization & reporting 152

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 152

SaaStr

MAY 16, 2022

So follow AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. And it is stressful, especially if you invested at those peaks or as founders raised money at relatively high valuations and multiples. Stock prices go up and down, inflation will come down, and interest rates won’t rise forever. If they stumble, we’re in for a rough patch.

Cloud 247

Cloud Azure AWS Engineering 247

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Hyperscaler Preview Next week Amazon, Microsoft and Google report earnings and we’ll see Q3 data for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Office 365 Copilot, for example, doesn’t go live until November and we most likely won’t see meaningful revenue from it until next year. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 5.7x

Cloud 161

Cloud Azure AWS Software Review 161

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Hyperscalers Report Quarterly Earnings This week we saw AWS (Amazon), GCP (Google) and Azure (Microsoft) report earnings. Overall, it wasn’t pretty… AWS grew 28% when expectations were 30-31%. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting 130

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 4, 2023

” These are two quotes about AWS on the Amazon earnings call. AWS grew 16% in Q1, but called out growth in April (first month of Q2) was 11%. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure Cost optimization & reporting AWS 130

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 28, 2023

AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud (Google) all reported this week. Then AWS appeared to add fuel to that hope before giving us a huge rug pull. After all, they had a lot of AI tailwinds, and benefited tremendously from consolidation (without a headwind of a larger base of smaller startups, like AWS).

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search 130

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

” From AWS (paraphrased): They said they expect the reaccleration they saw in Q4 to continue into 2024 2024 Estimate Updates One important metric I’m tracking this quarter is the change in 2024 estimates pre / post earnings. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 6.4x

Cloud 161

Cloud AWS Metrics Subscription 161

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 6, 2023

Cloud Downgrades This week UBS came out with a couple research reports citing concerns in AWS / Azure growth. This brings me back to AWS / Azure downgrades. This was the worst tone that we’ve heard in years from large AWS/Azure partners, a group that usually expresses different shades of optimism about AWS/Azure growth.”

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Underperforming Technical Team 130

OpenView Labs

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

This is why we’re seeing more and more SaaS companies—Datadog, Twilio, AWS, Snowflake, and Stripe, to name a few—find success with product led growth paired with usage-based pricing. Usage-based pricing will be the key to successful monetization in the future.”. Usage-based pricing is in all layers of the tech stack.

Scale 98

Scale Pricing Scaling AWS 98

SaaStr

APRIL 30, 2022

Average Revenue per Customer. And basically SaaS revenue models is just magical for investors and for businesses. And you can basically predict revenue ahead of time and therefore raise money early on to grow even faster. First one and the most important one is obviously the MRR, monthly recurring revenue. MRR, obviously.

SaaS Payments 230

SaaS Payments Metrics Payment Methods Scale 230

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 21, 2023

Next week we get all 3 hyperscalers reporting (AWS from Amazon, Azure from Microsoft, and GCP from Google). On AWS, in their Q4 earnings call they said AWS was growing “mid teens” in January (down from 20% in Q4). Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 16, 2023

We’re also happy to share a more sustainable way of providing this information — our new transparent pricing dashboard. Another important detail to note is how Average Sales Price (ASP) and Expenses have changed over time. Our Average Sale Price (ASP) in 2014 was $13, while our total Operating Costs were $3,575,897.

Merchant Services 80

Merchant Services Payment Services Payment Features Payments 80

Clouded Judgement

JULY 28, 2023

AI = Data + Compute I’ll continue beating this drum, but we got two great quotes from Azure and AWS this week. ” Then at AWS Summit they called out “Your data is your differentiator when it comes to Generative AI.” AWS reports next week. However, revenue growth didn’t bottom until Q3 ‘09.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

” We saw some green shoots in AWS and a few other consumption names, and overall sentiment seemed more positive. Q2 benefited from an “easy comp” (since Q1 was so light), so we’ll see how this trend continues (or doesn’t) in Q3 Moving on to Q2 YoY revenue growth. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 6.2x

Cloud 169

Cloud Software Review AWS Trends 169

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Does it cost so, so much to host a few million lines of code on AWS? Ultimately, almost everyone in B2B SaaS, down the road, ends up getting 80%+ of their leads through their brand, through word-of-mouth, through second-order revenue, etc. Raise prices tomorrow. If your competition is fierce, raise prices even more.

Scale 285

Scale SaaS Banking AWS 285

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2023

Ed Lenta, the SVP and GM of Databricks, had the rare opportunity of scaling three hypergrowth companies — VMware, AWS, and Databricks. At VMware, they priced based on physical CPUs customers chose — a hugely transactional service that constrained growth. Invest in and put that into the market to start softening the beach.

Scale 192

Scale Scaling AWS Sales Hiring 192

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP as companies look for cloud GPUs who aren’t building out their own data centers) Infra (Data layer, orchestration, monitoring, ops, etc) Durable Applications We’ve clearly well underway of the first 3 layers monetizing. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Top 5 Median: 14.5x

Cloud 183

Cloud Artificial Intelligence AI GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 183

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

For some context, Base10 is a research-driven investment firm focusing on companies automating the largest sectors of the real economy. This last quarter announced revenue was up over 100% in the quarter, and now they’re a top five company in the world by market cap. The automations are an add-on, priced at 50% of core offerings.

Generative AI 239

Generative AI Outsourcing Services AI Software Review 239

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2021

The Treasure Data platform instantly analyzed large amounts of data, which meant that companies didn’t need to hire lots of computer scientists or put up a considerable upfront investment for data projects. . million revenue quarter…In reality, though, we were still the founder-led sales company.”. million and $1.2

Sales Hiring 265

Sales Hiring Data AWS Leadership 265

Blulogix

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Transforming the Technology Industry: The Power of Usage-Based Pricing By BluLogix Team The technology industry is in the midst of a profound transformation. Traditional pricing models, such as fixed subscriptions and one-time purchases, no longer align with the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of this sector.

Technology 52

Technology Pricing Payment Features Subscription 52

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

AWS growth seems to be re-accelerating, and qualitative feedback from a number of companies in Q2 (especially those with July quarter ends) suggested new customer bookings conversations were picking up. For the bottom 10 companies on the right hand side of the chart, the median change in stock price after earnings was (18%).

Software Review 130

Software Review Cloud Software AWS 130

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Then, we moved to a more customer-friendly model with SaaS and subscription-based pricing. What’s evolved over the years and is driven by hyper-scalers like Google Azure, AWS, Twilio, and Stripe is the consumption-based model. Key Takeaways Consumption-based pricing requires rethinking your organization. The lines will blur.

Compensation 169

Compensation Sales Azure AWS 169

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 9, 2023

Expansion revenue is still declining (we see this in falling net retention rates), but gross retention remains strong. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue. New customer growth seems to be picking up.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Azure AWS 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

The majority of COGS (revenue less COGS = gross profit) fall in hosting costs (ie AWS), and some customer support. The only way for software companies to avoid this gross margin compression when incorporating AI features is to raise prices. Double the price! Consumption Pricing.

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 11, 2022

Consumption-based pricing is best used when you can accurately and easily break down your service offering into small, digestible units. Many companies in the technology industry are moving toward “pay for what you use” consumption-based pricing models. Four pricing models. Challenges and shifts. New coverage models.

Pricing 52

Pricing Payment Solutions Outsourced Development Compensation 52

OpenView Labs

MARCH 4, 2021

For their first five years in business, HubSpot offered three subscription packages ranging in price from $3,000 to $18,000 per year. The company struggled with poor churn and anemic expansion revenue. Net revenue retention was near 70%, a far cry from the 100%+ that most SaaS companies aim to achieve. HubSpot isn’t an outlier.

Pricing 55

Pricing Outsourced Development Marketplace as a Service AWS 55

Stax

APRIL 18, 2024

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Software-as-a-Service Providers (SaaS) operate within the same market, thus creating a push-and-pull revenue dynamic. How companies price and distribute their solutions affects everything from revenue streams and customer interaction to product development and delivery methods.

Outsourcing Services 88

Outsourcing Services SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Methods 88

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2022

And it’s one of the three large cloud vendors that we all know: Microsoft, AWS, and Google. AWS’s marketplace has seen 1.5 But also it’s allowed us to get much closer to our provider, I mean, we host and run 100% on AWS, but pull data from everywhere. It was pretty easy to drive that from our side.

Scale 195

Scale Marketplace as a Service Cloud SaaS Payments 195

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

There’s a real chance the fed funds rate isn’t going >5%, and a soft landing or delayed recession is certainly possible (maybe even being priced in). If the market thinks the setup for H2 is great, it won’t wait until H2 to “price it in.” Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Generative AI 130

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

While the overall median revenue multiple of the software universe is ~6x (which is ~25% below the long term average of ~8x), high growth software is currently trading at a premium to it’s long term average (9.4x The hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) are seeing some uptick, but this is largely from selling compute (ie cloud GPUs).

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

OpenView Labs

MARCH 16, 2021

The usage-based pricing model almost feels like a cheat code —it enables SaaS companies to more efficiently acquire new customers, grow with those customers as they’re successful, and keep those customers on the platform. But the shift from pure subscription to usage-based pricing is nearly as complex as going from on-premise to SaaS.

Pricing 52

Pricing Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 52

Chart Mogul

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Customers will expect AI that not only speeds workflows and reduces manual tasks, but is proven to uncover new opportunities and accelerate revenue growth fast.” SaaS investment will close at around $100B this year, a four year low, and down from $264B in 2021.

AI Search 52

AI Search SaaS Generative AI ChatGPT 52

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

I’m talking about product-led growth as an investment strategy, but really my background is 10 years of operating experience in the product-led growth world. Now I’m investing in that. I say investment strategy, but really it’s like how do you build a company that’s focused on product-led growth?

Investment 100

Investment Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring Software Review 100

How To Buy Saas

OCTOBER 14, 2021

Yearly Or Lifetime: As Black Friday Saas Deals come once a year so buy it for at least 1 year at a discounted price. But you will not get the best deals like Black Friday at a discounted price with huge savings as it is the biggest sale of the year. OneBill Reviews: Details, Pricing, & Features. $ 349.00. Visit Website.

SaaS Payments 108

SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Methods Software Review 108

OpenView Labs

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

To find out which of these features are most common, OpenView surveyed over 500 SaaS companies ranging from pre-revenue to $100 million in ARR. All too often, companies omit certain acquisition costs, over-inflate recurring revenue by failing to strip out one-time revenue, and/or leave out some of the ongoing costs of serving a customer.

Headcount 73

Headcount SaaS Compensation Acquisition 73

Chargify

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Over the last decade, recurring revenue has emerged as the preferred model for businesses moving beyond transactional commerce. While the first generation of recurring revenue was defined by simple subscriptions—think Netflix’s original “one-size-fits-all” $7.99 while targeting different customer niches (startups, government, etc.).

Subscription 75

Subscription Payment Features AWS Scale 75