SaaStr

DECEMBER 23, 2023

So many mistakes you'll look back in VC But the #1 you'll probably regret was letting those founders leave the room, leave the pitch, leave the Zoom … that you >knew< were going to win There's a reason why even Sequoia gets those ones a term sheet the same day — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  ?? The merely good ones.

Investment 288

Investment Cloud SaaS Management 288

SaaStr

MARCH 14, 2024

What’s your most recent disclosed investment? From that lens, we invested in Paragon ([link] because of their orientation toward being the best possible tool for developers and allowing them to ship every native integration that their customers need. What’s your sweet spot for investing — check size, stage, type of deal?

Scale 198

Scale B2B Investment Acquisition 198

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2024

Funds are larger, and they are also often investing a tiny bit later than they used to, and with commensurately larger checks. In most of the investments I’ve done, if the round is oversubscribed, the new later stage investors try to buy out any earlier investors that are non-institutional and willing to sell.

Pricing 223

Pricing Investment 223

SaaStr

JANUARY 31, 2023

Securing funding has become more challenging for SaaS companies over the past few years as VC firms have grown more cautious about their investments. Strategic Funds: An Introduction Greer began his VC career at OpenView VentureCapital, where he invested in brands like Loopio, Calendly, and Applitools. Sign up for free.

Investment 213

Investment Startup Branding Acquisition 213

SaaStr

JULY 27, 2023

Year after year, VCs show up to SaaStr Annual locked and loaded, term sheets in hands , on the hunt for soon-to-be Unicorns to add to their portfolios. to the firms that send over a dozen of their Partners and Associates — everyone who invests in SaaS has a presence at SaaStr Annual.

Venture Capital 200

Venture Capital Banking Cloud Investment 200

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Venture capital is very expensive in the early days, in terms of dilution. It can either be cheap in that the ROI is high — e.g., you make $5 back for every $1 you invest. And in later stages, if you can raise money at huge valuations, the rounds literally can be very cheap in terms of dilution % for $ raised. or It’s “cheap”.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Investment Leadership 292

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 1, 2024

At $784m in ARR, growing 47% with 130% net revenue retention across 6100 customers, the company should be one of top 10 fastest growing software companies alongside Klaviyo, ZScaler, & Crowdstrike - in ARR terms. Half of new customers are over $100,000 in size & contract values have grown 19% from $101k to $120k in a year.

Data 195

Data Subscription Payment Features Cloud 195

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2024

But it isn’t, so I’m going to try to help by being brutally direct: No VC on Planet Earth Wants to Invest in a Startup with Mediocre Growth None. Ask them if they’d invest again. Here’s How “Reserves” Work Yes, you’ll hear a ton of stories from founders that had to meet 150 VCs to get 1 term sheet.

Startup 321

Startup Investment Business 321

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 29, 2024

Even a DCF is riddled with long term assumptions. This is for information purposes and should not be construed as an investment recommendation. Altimeter is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. The promise of SaaS is that growth in the early years leads to profits in the mature years.

Cloud 278

Cloud Forecasting Subscription Payment Features 278

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2023

In terms of each stage, everything is now down. Most dramatic is later-stage investing, with the latest Crunchbase data showing Series D rounds are now own 92% (!) Well, it doesn’t mean VCs have no money to invest … today. And importantly, I find most founders are still too optimistic here. Now what does that mean?

Startup 348

Startup Investment Trends Metrics 348

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 22, 2023

Subscribe now Revisiting the “Is Software Expensive” Question The current median revenue multiple for the software universe is 6.4x, which is ~17% below the long term average multiple of 7.8x. During the period where the long term average multiple was 7.8x, the median projected growth rate was 27%.

Cloud 177

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Metrics 177

SaaStr

AUGUST 19, 2023

can all basically raise a new fund in about a week … on any terms … the majority of firms do struggle to raise additional funds. If you can’t raise another fund, you get paid at least something to manage your existing investments for 10+ years. Challenge #3: Not Doing “Pretty Good” Investments. Why will you win?

Venture Capital 239

Venture Capital Benchmarks Investment Startup 239

SaaStr

JULY 13, 2021

Assume the probability of an investment happening isn’t 100% — until it closes: If a VC doesn’t get back to you, even after what seems like a great meeting — send another email. If a VC tells you they want to invest, but you don’t have clear terms or a term sheet, assume the odds are 5%-15%.

Finance 323

Finance Investment Sales 323

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Limited Partners or “LPs” are the folks that give the VC partners (the “General Partners”) the actual money to invest. Folks with billions and billions to invest over the long term. If they lose confidence in the GPs and stop funding, they can lose 100% of their investment. LPs fund that capital.

Investment 202

Investment Management 202

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

But with that out of the way, let’s talk just enough about financial accounting to explain why Big Tech Companies both acquire smaller ones — and do corporate VC investment. Because in the short-term, it often costs basically close to nothing to acquire a smaller startup with cash on hand, or do a corporate VC investment.

Acquisition 241

Acquisition Investment Headcount Banking 241

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Total Incoming Deals Do VCs Invest In? A seed stage fund meeting a Series B investment opportunity is a waste of time. Here’s the thing: >> The best companies, that are on-point for venture capital, always get a term sheet. Right here, right now? Deals seen per month?

Investment 228

Investment Venture Capital Leadership 228

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of SaaS, Venture Capital, Bootstrapping, and Valuations – understanding market trends and investment patterns is critical. We’ll explain Jason’s take on the recent market fluctuations, highlighting major deals that shaped investment patterns and their effects on valuation trends.

Venture Capital 218

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 218

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 12, 2024

This tells me the market is expecting one of two things - a true re-acceleration in top line that will show up in the short term, or inflation to reverse course and start falling again in the short term. Even a DCF is riddled with long term assumptions. Altimeter is an investment adviser registered with the U.S.

Cloud 141

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Revenue 141

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Usually, by that point they’ve either decided they likely want to do the deal, or in many cases on background checks, may have even already given you a term sheet on the assumption the checks work out before the deal closes. Finding material issues late in the potential investment process is a big flag.

Investment 201

Investment Leadership 201

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2024

A free term. The only challenge with a free term is there’s nowhere else to go. Building Your VC Channel First, understand if you’re starting a net-new relationship with a VC Firm, you’ll want to spend most of your time focusing on non-investing roles like LP relations, CFOs, and the platform. What is the size of the company?

Startup 187

Startup Scale Underperforming Technical Team AWS 187

SaaStr

DECEMBER 21, 2023

The light blue line is the 10-year interest rate, and the horizontal gray line is the long-term average multiple. So o n the one hand, we can look at this data and say the average median multiple is 22% lower than the long-term average, but the median growth rate is down nearly 50%. Software is a riskier investment.

SaaS 253

SaaS Software Metrics Revenue 253

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Most startups can find some angels to invest, but not always enough. Some angels are very aggressive on terms and control, for sure. But the classic Silicon Valley angel investing $25k-$100k each usually do not seek all that many rights or control. Angels generally ask for less / no control (although not always). Just a price.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Startup Investment Pricing 238

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How can startup founders identify bad investors before signing any term sheets with them? A few thoughts: Talk to as many founders they’ve invested in as you can. Ask how many investments they write second and third checks into. Ask what their worst investment was, and why. Do reference checks. And listen.

Investment 175

Investment Startup 175

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Alison brings the perspective of all sides of a startup, from investing to SaaS to Cloud. In terms of goals, Alison and Google Cloud have five “Priority Pillars” to focus on: People and culture — ensuring they have the right talent and that everyone’s growing Lifting mindshare — shifting perception in the market.

Cloud 241

Cloud Scale AWS AI 241

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

But with that out of the way, let’s talk just enough about financial accounting to explain why Big Tech Companies both acquire smaller ones — and do corporate VC investment. Because in the short-term, it often costs basically close to nothing to acquire a smaller startup with cash on hand, or do a corporate VC investment.

Acquisition 208

Acquisition Investment Headcount Banking 208

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Looking at the mid to long term, we feel very optimistic about the outlook for strong AWS growth. Even a DCF is riddled with long term assumptions. This is for information purposes and should not be construed as an investment recommendation. Altimeter is an investment adviser registered with the U.S.

AWS 293

AWS Cloud AI Search Cost optimization & reporting 293

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2024

Leading him to some of his biggest mistakes when hiring: Not investing enough time. “In our case, the principle is we look for are long-term company builders,” Schultz said. Mistake #5: Not Investing Early Enough in the Brand By investing early enough in branding, you lift demand gen higher.

Sales Hiring 251

Sales Hiring Scale Technical Review Leadership 251

SaaStr

AUGUST 14, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Does The VC Fund Pay for Legal Fees After The Term Sheet is Signed? If I lead a round with a million+ investment, I have the startup pay SaaStr Fund’s legal fees , I just put it in the term sheet. You Pay image from here ) The post Dear SaaStr: Does The VC Fund Pay for Legal Fees After The Term Sheet is Signed?

Finance 207

Finance Banking Startup Investment 207

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2023

In the past, Jason has led investments in Algolia, Pipedrive, Salesloft, TalkDesk, and RevenueCat to name a few. What has changed in what investors expect and want to see in potential Series A and B investments? What are the ARR benchmarks required to get a good growth round term sheet today? Growth: People are Too Negative!

Benchmarks 225

Benchmarks Investment Pricing Product Marketing 225

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

GC thinks about building out your Go-To-Market team in 3 ways: Short vs. long-term needs Product maturity Experimental vs. scale Short-term vs. long-term needs. Often, when debating a role, especially on the GTM side, you’re balancing short and long-term needs. That’s a potential short-term way of thinking.

Scale 265

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Marketing 265