Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 27, 2021

Ten years ago, startups pulled capital from the capital markets. A startup raised money, executed for 12-24 months then sought more capital on Sand Hill, flaunting milestones to justify a higher valuation. The mark-to-market phenomenon fundamentally alters the board’s discussion of an investment proposal.

Startup 256

Startup Strategy Marketing Entertainment 256

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2022

The life of a startup is not a smooth ride. Starting with his time as an investment banker and later working in SaaS, Yancey Spruill, CEO at DigitalOcean , watched venture capitalists invest in seemingly strong companies, only to sell them off. Capital = Long Term. Process is a friend, not a foe, in order to scale.

Startup 243

Startup Leadership Innovation Scaling 243

Buffer Resources

APRIL 11, 2024

Think nonprofits and Silicon Valley startups have nothing in common?   As a tech writer and editor, I’ve also steeped in the “rocket fuel” of the startup world.   As a tech writer and editor, I’ve also steeped in the “rocket fuel” of the startup world. Think again.

Technical Review 107

Technical Review Startup Social Media Marketing 107

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2023

This you should know as a startup CEO or founder or executive. 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. Now what does that mean?

Startup 338

Startup Investment Trends Metrics 338

SaaStr

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Q: Will VCs who invested in my startup be happy to exit with a 4-5x return after 4.5 So why isn’t 4x-5x good enough on any individual investment? So why isn’t 4x-5x good enough on any individual investment? If you put all the fund into 1 investment, then a 4x-5x return would be plenty. It’s hard to say.

Investment 233

Investment Startup 233

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 230

Cloud Scale AWS AI 230

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2023

What’s your most recent disclosed investment? What’s your sweet spot for investing — check size, stage, type of deal? We invest across all stages — seed, early venture, and growth, with a primary focus on early-stage. Some of our most notable investments include Figma, Datadog, Discord, Adyen and Roblox.

Technical Review 199

Technical Review Software Review Payment Solutions Venture Capital 199

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Linda’s professional journey has taken her across businesses of all sizes — from startups in hypergrowth mode to mature, multi-hundred million-dollar businesses. It was there that she felt inspired about the impact she could have on a startup, and from there she became a founding member at Tapjoy, and then, Nextbit.

Startup 258

Startup Management Systems Review Leadership 258

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 206

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 206

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2020

Q: As a venture capitalist, what are some red flags that would make you reject a startup immediately? Again, if you have more demand that capacity, you can set the terms for a meeting. Having no idea I already invested in the space. Not every deal that seems competitive with a prior investment really is. Why you win.

Startup 281

Startup Investment Metrics Revenue 281

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Would You Invest a 5 Million Dollar Payout From an Acquisition? He still hadn’t figured out how to invest it! Here’s my best advice: First, resist the urge to invest in anything specific at first. Don’t invest in restaurants or real estate ventures you don’t understand.

Acquisition 190

Acquisition Investment Startup Marketing 190

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2023

The reality is, few folks have all 3 options available to them: Most startups cannot attract venture capital, at least not in the early days. Most startups can find some angels to invest, but not always enough. Many startups cannot find a way to self-fund / customer-fund to extend a long-enough runway to achieve success.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Startup Investment Pricing 225

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

In this edition of CRO Confidential, Sam Blond (former CRO at Brex and current Partner at Founders Fund) hosts his former colleague Lucas Fox (GM of Brex for Startups). Churn vs. Expansion: Where to Start As many startup founders know, in the beginning, acquiring customers is key to getting off the ground. Set Up Tracking Processes.

Retention 200

Retention Revenue Startup Sales Hiring 200

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2024

What’s your most recent disclosed investment? What’s your sweet spot for investing — check size, stage, type of deal? For over two decades, Creandum has specialized in early-stage investing, Seed and Series A. Some of our most notable investments include Spotify, Klarna, Bolt, Neo4j, Pleo or Factorial.

Payments 197

Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions Scale 197

SaaStr

APRIL 19, 2024

How do you reverse-engineer your first million as a SaaS startup founder? He’s invested in startups as a VC since 2013 and has 10x his fund. His first million came from a startup making implantable batteries from nanomaterials that sold for $50M after 12.5 Let’s step back in terms of reverse engineering.

Engineering 237

Engineering Business Model Pricing Scaling 237

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 6, 2021

The contracts are identical twelve month contracts except for the payment terms. Contract B relaxes payment terms to monthly payment, 12 monthly installments for the next year. All of the sales and marketing dollars invested to obtain persuade the buyer to put digital ink to pdf have been recouped immediately.

Sales Hiring 335

Sales Hiring Scale Payments Payment Solutions 335

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 228

Acquisition Investment Headcount Banking 228

SaaStr

JULY 19, 2020

Q: How stressful is it to run a venture-backed startup? Your investors want to see an “exit” of at least 10x what they invest. It is OK to hold off on a Series A, or a Series B, or a Series C for now — even if you have multiple offers, even if the terms are very attractive. Being a CEO in general is pretty stressful ??.

Venture Capital 248

Venture Capital Startup Banking B2B 248

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. As a result, startups trying to determine how to approach fundraising efforts may want to consider strategic partnerships with existing company funds. Sign up for free.

Investment 199

Investment Startup Branding Acquisition 199

Tom Tunguz

JULY 22, 2018

Long-term trends in the start of fundraising market have been consistent over the last 10 years. The truth is - in today’s market - the median startup is doing that already. In 2009, the median post Series C startup counted $20.8M of investment through that period. in investment - skipping a round of financing.

Startup 167

Startup Finance Marketing Trends 167

SaaStr

APRIL 17, 2024

The Journey of Selling Your Startup Harry was the co-founder and CEO of Periscope Data, which raised a seed round before finding customers, yet didn’t run out of money before becoming an overnight success 3-4 years later. It’s about the $50-$500M bread-and-butter, classic startup exit. How do these exits happen? They’re bought.

Underperforming Technical Team 164

Underperforming Technical Team Data Development Team Review Technical Review 164

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. Not Just Billion Dollar StartUps.

Venture Capital 231

Venture Capital Benchmarks Investment Startup 231

SaaStr

AUGUST 14, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Does The VC Fund Pay for Legal Fees After The Term Sheet is Signed? The traditional practice is that VC funds have the startup pay both their fees and the VC’s legal fees in the financing. 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.

Finance 194

Finance Banking Startup Investment 194

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2017

The cash conversion cycle is a key metric for startups, but one that often isn’t talked about until a business hires a CFO. Once a business established product market fit, the cash conversion cycle is a key metric of a company’s cash efficiency - how quickly a company can convert a dollar of investment into a dollar of cash flow.

Startup 186

Startup Sales Hiring Payment Solutions Payment Services 186

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 31, 2018

It applies to all types of investments, including startups. Time Value of Money is the economic argument for startups to raise money when it’s available. If I give you a million dollars today, you can invest it. Or invest in a certificate of deposit at 1.5%. The startup is a much riskier investment.

Startup 174

Startup Finance Investment Engineering 174

SaaStr

APRIL 3, 2024

Jennifer emphasized the importance of having the right motives and values as a leader, such as growing people, expanding markets, and building value for others, to sustain long-term success. As a startup, you can look at it a few ways. As startup and tech leaders, we need empathy for where they’re coming from.

Generative AI 226

Generative AI AI Technical Review Software Review 226

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 195

Acquisition Investment Headcount Banking 195

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2023

We did a great Workshop Wednesday with Iconiq Growth, where they said after an all time low of growth invest in 2021, they’ve already done a few good growth deals this year: But … but … here’s the thing. To be more specific, I’m now seeing SaaS startups with strong growth not get a Series A or B term sheet.

Startup 308

Startup SaaS Investment Marketing 308

Tom Tunguz

MAY 4, 2022

The term sheets signed in November and December closed in Q1, which may buoy these figures. Startup valuations. The 75th percentile of Seed startups raises at 30m valuation and Series A at $100m. 100m post is consistent with what I’ve seen in the market for the most sought-after investments.

Data 241

Data Healthcare Marketing Construction 241

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.

Investment 165

Investment Startup 165

SaaStr

JANUARY 10, 2024

In this CMO panel from SaaStr, Rick Schultz, CMO at Databricks, Janine Pelosi, Former CMO at Zoom, and Ryan Carlson, Former CMO at Okta, joined Carilu Dietrich, Advisor at Hypergrowth B2B Startups to talk about the seven biggest mistakes CMOs make. Leading him to some of his biggest mistakes when hiring: Not investing enough time.

Sales Hiring 238

Sales Hiring Scale Technical Review Leadership 238

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 2, 2018

There are five forces driving the startup ecosystem today. Private capital has become so abundant that it supplies hundreds of millions and billions to startups. All of this means more efficient pricing of startups. Imagine two startups in the same space with similar funding. There are many reasons for this.

Startup 182

Startup Acquisition Pricing Metrics 182

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2023

In my first tech job, I was working at a firm helping startups … and then I knew one night, it was time. I did end up joining a startup, and the strike price for my options doubled over those 60 days, costing me about $400,000. I could have left on better terms. It was time for me to join one. I just knew. And it cost me.

Startup 230

Startup Pricing Investment Sales 230

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 1, 2018

The most important tasks for any early stage startup are to write code and talk to users. Founding a startup is a lot like this. I didn’t have a perfectly mapped out startup marketing strategy. Does that mean that everyone should invest in content marketing early on? When we started Intercom the latter was my job.

Startup 201

Startup Strategy Marketing Social Media 201

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

For leaders nurturing a startup or scaling a business to the next level, Vlad had one central piece of advice: Embrace change. Startup leaders can never have enough good advice. As a leader, especially in the early stages of a startup, it’s important to invest in areas with the biggest impact, stretching money as far is it will go.

Startup 201

Startup Business Scale Travel 201

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2022

Instead, it sort of makes you think about taking the First Good Offer for your startup. There are 1000s of startups but only a handful of great opportunities for most of it. I’ll never make more money in the stock market, or investing in startups, or anything else … than I’ve made betting on myself.

Scale 360

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital Startup 360

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 187

Venture Capital Banking Cloud Investment 187