Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! Subscribe now Are Software Companies Over or Undervalued? Today I wanted to dig in to this question and its implications: “Are software companies fairly valued today?” Every week I post a number of charts and tables, but the most popular chart shows the software universe’s median revenue multiple, the long term average, and the 10Y (below).

Software Review 183

Software Review Cloud Software Revenue 183

Predictable Revenue

AUGUST 29, 2023

Debra Senra joined the Predictable Revenue podcast to discuss changes in sales leadership over the last 18 months and her insights. The post Beyond the Deal: The Importance of Post-Sale with Debra Senra appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

Sales 130

Sales Leadership Revenue Development 130

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 26, 2023

On Friday, Klaviyo filed their S-1 - one of the first software companies to do so since the beginning of the economic downturn in late 2022. It’s a marvel of business with strong growth, great efficiency & the potential to reignite interest in SaaS IPOs. Klaviyo is a customer data platform company which ingests marketing data & empowers their customers to automate their marketing with data & AI.

Benchmarks 171

Benchmarks Venture Capital Marketing SMB 171

TurnKey Labs

AUGUST 29, 2023

There’s a saying in the business world, “Time is money.” Especially when considering software development outsourcing, effective time management and using time zone management tools become pivotal for seamless collaboration and project success. Software offshoring, or outsourcing software development to offshore software development teams, has become a sought-after cost-saving strategy.

Outsourced Development 52

Outsourced Development Software Management Software Development 52

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Generative AI is upending the way product developers & end-users alike are interacting with data. Despite the potential of AI, many are left with questions about the future of product development: How will AI impact my business and contribute to its success? What can product managers and developers expect in the future with the widespread adoption of AI?

Generative AI

SaaStr

AUGUST 30, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Do VCs Do When They Aren’t Sourcing or Closing New Deals? VCs don’t spend most of their time working on new deals. They spend most of their time on existing investments. Imagine you are a VC on 9 boards of directors: Board meetings alone can take 20% or more of your time. Each board meeting takes a half day including travel, prep, etc. 9 boards x 8 meetings a year x 0.5 days = 36 business days right there.

Travel 253

Travel Interviewing Investment Business 253

Entrepreneur - SaaS

AUGUST 29, 2023

From starting an online business to publishing an ebook, these are smart passive income ideas to help you get started.

Business 143

Business 143

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 31, 2023

When Aprilynne Alter started her YouTube channel in 2021, she didn’t expect it to grow the way it did. Her content about learning how NFTs work and documenting her progress in creating them attracted an audience of more than 22,000 subscribers. In the process, she learned how to grow on YouTube and gained an appreciation for the medium. But NFTs and the broader web3 space weren’t Aprilynne’s topic of choice.

Education 114

Education Software Development Strategy Engagement 114

User Pilot

AUGUST 30, 2023

Want to improve the product experience at every stage of the customer journey? Heat map tools allow you to track user actions on your website or app. You can understand customer pain points, identify friction at different touchpoints, and improve your product accordingly. In this article, we’ll cover the 10 best heat map tools to help you choose the one most suited to your business needs.

Scale 97

Scale User Experience Software Review Pricing 97

Nimble - Sales

AUGUST 30, 2023

Navigating the constantly evolving landscape of the consulting industry presents its challenges, often requiring professionals to stay attuned to the latest insights and strategies. Along this journey, consultants inevitably encounter obstacles that prompt them to explore innovative solutions, including the incorporation of modern technologies like specialized apps.

Consulting 84

Consulting Innovation Technology Strategy 84

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Discover how top SaaS companies are earning up to $700k + and zero upfront cost with Usio Integrated Payments.

Payments

SaaStr

AUGUST 28, 2023

Nathan Latka of Founderpath is hosting a new bootstrapper workshop track at SaaStr Annual 2023 in our Executive Briefing Center. Anyone with a full pass can sign up through the Braindate app (the sessions are tagged as workshops / Super Braindates). Nathan is also giving out some tickets to his base as well. Next Week: 13 Bootstrappers On Stage, 9 Revenue Graphs, 18 SaaS Templates, 2 Book Signings ” We’re putting our money where our mouth is.

Revenue 258

Revenue Enterprise Scaling SaaS 258

The Daily Egg

AUGUST 29, 2023

Drip is more than just the sound of a leaky sink or a slang term for your freshest outfit—it’s also an email. The post Drip Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Marketing 258

Marketing 258

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 29, 2023

Large-language models have transformed how millions interact with products : from customer support to code generation to legal document analysis. These new engagement models invite users through a meaningfully different product journey. Every application now speaks English. Understanding user behavior is essential to building great products. How should a product manager gauge the customer experience?

Artificial Intelligence 214

Artificial Intelligence User Experience Customer Support Engagement 214

Sparktoro

AUGUST 30, 2023

Generative AI, and ChatGPT in particular have been catnip to the tech press, the mainstream media, and the conversations of professionals in nearly every field. How is it going to disrupt your work?! Will AI replace you? Are Hollywood writers, real estate agents, dog walkers, and anesthesiologists even useful anymore?

ChatGPT 144

ChatGPT Generative AI AI Data 144

Speaker: Timothy Chan, PhD., Head of Data Science

Are you ready to move beyond the basics and take a deep dive into the cutting-edge techniques that are reshaping the landscape of experimentation? 🌐 From Sequential Testing to Multi-Armed Bandits, Switchback Experiments to Stratified Sampling, Timothy Chan, Data Science Lead, is here to unravel the mysteries of these powerful methodologies that are revolutionizing how we approach testing.

Innovation

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

So we’re finally, almost back from the IPO Drout in SaaS. The last SaaS leader to IPO was HashiCorp back in Dec 2021. After that, the public markets began a precipitous decline — leading to an almost 2 year pause in SaaS IPO. But now we’re almost back. You may not have heard of Klaviyo until recently, if at all. But it’s the #1 break-out leader in the Shopify ecosystem, and the numbers are stunning: $650m+ in ARR Growing a stunning 56.5% at this scale (!!

Scale 250

Scale SMB Sales Hiring Interviewing 250

Andreessen Horowitz

AUGUST 30, 2023

“Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can’t figure it out. … The post BarbAIrians at the Gate: The Financial Opportunity of AI appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

AI 140

AI Generative AI 140

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 31, 2023

Open source software has evolved from a movement into a big business. Gitlab, Confluent, Databricks, MongoDB, Elastic, Snyk, Hashicorp, Mulesoft, have become huge companies using open source software. Across, just these they have generated about $100b in market cap. Company Status Market Cap or M&A Value, $B Databricks Private 38 MongoDB Public 28 Confluent Public 10 Gitlab Public 7.7 Elastic Public 7 Mulesoft Acquired 6.5 Hashicorp Public 5.5 Total 104 Early on, open source pioneers viewed

Business Model 175

Business Model Business Scale Sales Funnel 175

User Pilot

AUGUST 30, 2023

It’s 2023, and customers have options. This makes it more important than ever to create products people actually want to use. But how do you do that? What strategies can you implement to drive acquisition and retention faster? How do you ensure your team doesn’t lose momentum along the way? The expert speakers at Product Drive 2023 will answer these and many more questions.

Scale 103

Scale AI Growth Hacking Innovation 103

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Explore how integrated payment strategies impact investor and buyer evaluations. Payments are more than a feature — they’re a key to long-term success and market differentiation. They help SaaS companies offer seamless user experiences and efficient operations. Investors and strategic buyers assess these integrated payment strategies as a measure of a company's growth potential and sustainability.

Payments

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Ah, hiring those first 1 or 2 sales reps. So often, they are mis-hires. But when you get that Sales Magician — they really can be a game changer. If that’s you, hiring your first few sales reps, here are our Top 10 SaaStr Posts on Hiring Your First Few Sales Reps: #1. When You Hire Your First Sales Rep — Just Make Sure You Hire Two. A classic but updated post that now has become part of the SaaS playbook.

Sales Hiring 244

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Startup 244

Andreessen Horowitz

AUGUST 29, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS FedNow finally launched. Now what? After four years of development (and 10 years since its announcement), the Fed launched FedNow this past July with 41 banks, including JPMorgan Chase, BNY Mellon, and U.S. Bancorp, and 15 service … The post What’s Next for FedNow (August 2023 Fintech Newsletter) appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

Banking 112

Banking Development 112

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 26, 2023

On Friday, Klayviyo filed their S-1 - one of the first software companies to do so since the beginning of the economic downturn in late 2022. It’s a marvel of business with strong growth, great efficiency & the potential to reignite interest in SaaS IPOs. Klayviyo is a customer data platform company which ingests marketing data & empowers their customers to automate their marketing with data & AI.

Benchmarks 157

Benchmarks Venture Capital Marketing SMB 157

User Pilot

AUGUST 29, 2023

Product management is equal parts art and science – and it’s vital to the success of your SaaS. In this article, we’re going to unpack what is product management , how it differs from traditional project management, the role it plays in building products that delight your users, and the skills a good product manager must demonstrate to succeed.

Management 100

Management Interviewing Marketplace as a Service Product Marketing 100

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Start-ups & SMBs launching products quickly must bundle dashboards, reports, & self-service analytics into apps. Customers expect rapid value from your product (time-to-value), data security, and access to advanced capabilities. Traditional Business Intelligence (BI) tools can provide valuable data analysis capabilities, but they have a barrier to entry that can stop small and midsize businesses from capitalizing on them.

SaaS

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2023

Huge congrats to @iDedupe + @elasticull and team @logikcull !! Proud to have been the first venture investor!! [link] — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  (@jasonlk) August 29, 2023 I was lucky enough to be the first venture investor in a next-gneration ediscovery startup, Logikcull, way back in 2015. A flash-back to them at $1m ARR or so here: Andy Wilson CEO has been part of SaaStr events and contents since then, and a great session below on how they scale, and a great post here on how they migr

Acquisition 243

Acquisition Scaling Startup SaaS 243

Agile Payments

AUGUST 29, 2023

ACH API’s enable businesses or SaaS platforms that deal with larger transaction volumes to develop software that streamlines payments via the ACH network

SaaS Payments 88

SaaS Payments Payments Payment Solutions Software 88

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 29, 2023

The world of social media and content marketing is a fast-moving space. Any individuals or teams working in those worlds know how essential it is to have the right tools in place to make everyday work flow more smoothly. At Buffer, not only are we writing and publishing blog and social media posts every day, we’re also a fully remote and distributed company.

Social Media 98

Social Media Systems Review Content Marketing Metrics 98

User Pilot

AUGUST 29, 2023

What’s market validation in SaaS, and why is it important? If you’re looking for the answers to these questions, we’ve got you covered! This article also introduces popular market validation methods and explains how product teams can develop a solid validation plan! Let’s get right to it! TL;DR Market validation helps you answer the question of whether there are enough potential customers who are willing to pay for your product.

Marketing 96

Marketing Scale Market Research Interviewing 96

As companies strive to boost revenue, deliver customer value, and stay competitive, they are increasingly embracing the potential of usage-based pricing.

Pricing

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2023

We have 250+ Braindates already for SaaStrAnnual.com 2023 next week!! Amazing smaller, deep dive sessions with top leaders in SaaS and Cloud. The Most Popular 2023 Annual Braindates So Far: #1. Navigating Corporate Venture Capital: Strategic Benefits for Early-Stage Founders with Erin Yang, VP and Chief Technologist Workday Savannah Greene, Principle @ Workday #2: How Expensify Grew to 10M Users Through Word of Mouth Joanie Wang, Director of Marketing and Brand #3.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Acquisition AI Innovation 240

Andreessen Horowitz

AUGUST 30, 2023

We believe artificial intelligence has the power to save the world —and that a thriving open source ecosystem is essential to building this future. Thankfully, the open source ecosystem is starting to develop, and we are now seeing open source models that rival closed-source alternatives. Hundreds of small teams and individuals are also working to make these models more useful, accessible, and performant.

Artificial Intelligence 94

Artificial Intelligence AI Technology Development 94

Kellblog

AUGUST 30, 2023

I’m excited to say that I’ll be speaking at SaaStr Annual 2023 as part of amazing speaker line up. The event runs from September 6th to 8th and will be held at the San Mateo County Event Center. While SaaStr works hard to keep things fresh by limiting repeat speakers, I’m proud to say that I was invited back this year as a fan favorite.

Metrics 91

Metrics SaaS Benchmarks Strategy 91