SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2020

This article looks at the history of SaaS as it relates to financial capital and production capital. I argue that standard saas metrics make it possible for founders to scale using debt capital (production capital thats cheaper) instead of solely relying on venture capital (financial capital thats more expensive). .

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Technical Review SaaS Scale 224

The Angel VC

MAY 17, 2017

Had I seen a SaaS startup with this growth curve in my first 2-3 years of SaaS investing (in 2008-2010) I probably would have asked “where do I have to sign?”. Not yet convinced that you shouldn’t raise venture capital? :) Let us know ! I’ll keep you posted.) And chances are that it would have been a good investment.

Business Model 180

Business Model Venture Capital SaaS Underperforming Technical Team 180

Tom Tunguz

JULY 15, 2017

The article pointed to the seeming collapse in the amount of venture capital raised by San Francisco startups relative to other regions. The slowing of venture investment more broadly across the US serves as a backdrop to San Francisco’s particularly strong correction. Note, the levels still exceed 2010-2013.

Investment 197

Investment Startup Venture Capital Trends 197

SaaSOptics

JULY 7, 2022

The State of VC Funding in Europe: How to Raise Capital. So, you’ve decided on European venture capital to scale your SaaS. . Even after all that hard work, without capital to scale your idea, your progress could screech to a halt. Compared to the United States, venture capital in the EU is still very new. .

Venture Capital 79

Venture Capital Scale Sales Hiring Technical Review 79

SaaStock

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

In 2010, he joined DGF Investimentos, one of the top VC firms in Brazil. With an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Rodrigo Baer launched a successful career in consultancy and entrepreneurship, and today is among the top figures in venture capital for early-stage tech companies in Brazil.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Scale Entrepreneurship Sales Hiring 207

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 18, 2016

Both types of rounds have increased by about 5x since 2010. Rounds without VC participation seem to be roughly twice as frequent as those with venture funds. So the data indicates venture capitalists are equally active in the seed market today as a share of total rounds as they have been in the past. in 2016 Q1.

Investment 100

Investment Strategy Venture Capital Trends 100

Hitenism

JANUARY 16, 2017

Optimizely CEO Dan Siroker wrote in this Quora post : “This was a journey we committed to back in August 2015 to put us on a path to sustained growth and profitability without additional venture capital. Use venture capital to scale an inside sales team and dial for dollars to gain market share. Have we hit peak SaaS?

Scale 147

Scale Venture Capital SaaS Headcount 147

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 12, 2014

In 2009 and 2010, the company recognized more revenue from services than subscription. WorkDay financed this huge investment by coupling long-term, near-million-dollar agreements and nearly $200M in venture capital. Just how significant is the professional services component to WorkDay’s business?

Benchmarks 110

Benchmarks Deferred Revenue Venture Capital Outsourced Development 110

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 14, 2021

Technology is reshaping the economy, and it starts with venture capital. Technology was a driving force behind the boom in venture investments over the past decade. Where are venture investors focusing their technology bets?

Technology 40

Technology Venture Capital Artificial Intelligence SaaS Payments 40

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 14, 2021

Technology is reshaping the economy, and it starts with venture capital. Technology was a driving force behind the boom in venture investments over the past decade. Where are venture investors focusing their technology bets?

Technology 40

Technology Venture Capital Artificial Intelligence SaaS Payments 40

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Atlassian has grown their customer base from 11,000 customers in 2010 to more than 48,000 today. This cash, in addition to a small amount of venture capital, has provided the wherewithal to fuel the business’s growth. In other words, no single client pays Atlassian more than $3.5M. Atlassian operates at 83.4%

Benchmarks 118

Benchmarks Metrics Venture Capital SaaS 118

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 24, 2014

The dollars in and out of the venture market are relatively constant. LPs are investing into venture capital at a steady, and likely increasing rate. Over the last five years, dollars into the venture industry has remained at or below the 12 year median. 2014 looks to be a bit of a stronger year.

Marketing 100

Marketing Venture Capital Acquisition Startup 100

SaaStr

OCTOBER 3, 2019

I’ve been in venture capital for about 20 years, made my first SaaS investment about 18 years ago and have really been focused on this space for a long time. I work at a firm called Shasta Ventures. So in 2010 the expectation was to reach 86 million dollars in revenue by whatever that is, year five.

SaaS 148

SaaS Sales Hiring Scale Innovation 148

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

In order to execute on this mission, founders can bootstrap their company, raise outside money ( venture capital is the most popular), or use a combination of both to help build their business. Founded in 2010. Raised seed in 2010. Founded in 2010. Just remember, Lyft isn’t the only success story. Founded in 2011.

Outsourcing Services 78

Outsourcing Services Scale Startup Outsourced Development 78

Chargify

AUGUST 6, 2019

2010: 3,855 customers. 2010: 176 employees. Of course, it’s important to note that HubSpot raised a significant amount of capital in their first five years. Venture capital allowed HubSpot to prioritize expansion over profitability, helping them achieve explosive growth. . 2007: 48 customers. 2008: 317 customers.

Subscription 40

Subscription Payment Features Revenue Software Review 40

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

These factors resonated well with the investment theses of venture capital firms. In 2010, athenahealth results showed a ~10,500 Average ARR and a revenue mix weighted toward subscription at 97%. This is a typical result for an SMM SaaS business. Revenue retention also reflects the Customer-Centric model framework.

Business Model 52

Business Model Business SaaS Scale 52

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 4, 2020

Years later, he’s got a thriving business that is not venture capital backed. Years later, he’s got a thriving business but one that is not venture capital backed. Every day you wake up, you need to tell yourself and remind yourself, hey, this is not 2010. It’s not 2015. It’s not 2019.

Scale 105

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Outsourcing Services 105

Kellblog

JANUARY 3, 2022

6] I am not speaking of MarkLogic in its contemporary form (about which I know fairly little), but as it was in the 2004-2010 period when I ran it. The amateurs might offer 100 different excuses and/or forms of hope. [5] 5] Happily, I’ve also done plenty of time in Box 2! [6] Disclaimer: I own some residual shares in MarkLogic. [7]

Sales Hiring 124

Sales Hiring Scale Consulting Leadership 124

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

We hit a million dollar run rate by 2010. We saw this opportunity to grow faster, but we needed capital. In 2010, we decided to go out in Phoenix to do an angel round of funding. Venture capital always finds you, even when you’re in Phoenix. We launched the company in 2008. We were profitable by 2009.

Scale 172

Scale SMB VP of Engineering Leadership 172

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

The day Steve Jobs introduced the iPad in 2010, he gets up on stage and tells people, “Okay, maybe you haven’t noticed, but we are now in a digital media universe and we’re all consuming television shows and movies and music and books and news and everything else on digital devices.

Technical Review 205

Technical Review Sales Hiring Innovation Systems Review 205

ProfitWell

MAY 18, 2020

The beauty subscription box startup Birchbox launched in September 2010 as the unemployment rate peaked at 10 percent. million in funding from venture capital firms and now has a market cap of $17.1 It might feel like tough luck but successful founders argue now might actually be a good time to launch. In an article by Inc.

Data 52

Data Sales Hiring Customer Lifetime Value Subscription 52

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Since 2010, he has served as the founder and CEO of Slice, which used to be known as My Pizza, a mobile and online service that enables people to easily order from authentic pizzerias in their neighborhood. We’ve got the CEO of one of the fastest growing businesses in New York. Ilir on Growing a Bootstrap Business.

Scale 63

Scale Scaling Venture Capital Interviewing 63

The SaaS Garage

MAY 10, 2017

In 2010, when we started Deutsche Handelsbank, at that time SOFORT Bank, we saw ourselves as enabler for Internet businesses. DK: Clearly all shareholders benefit from additional debt capital which comes without any further dilution. We had to finance everything with money which we received from equity financing rounds.

Technical Review 73

Technical Review Startup Banking Outsourced Development 73

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 14, 2022

. There were quite a few memorable scenes from The Social Network, the 2010 movie that chronicles the inception of Facebook – and the lawsuits that followed. What the soon-to-be podcast host and venture capitalist calls to mind is a somewhat forgettable scene where Peter Thiel becomes Facebook’s first major investor.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Interviewing Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team 129

Outseta

OCTOBER 31, 2018

I remember sitting at my desk back in 2010, just knowing I needed a marketing automation platform and trying to make sense of the differences between Hubspot and Marketo. But the good almost always comes with some challenges, particularly for the end consumer. Both were making a lot of noise online. Their sales reps were slick and convincing.

Software Review 42

Software Review Technical Review Sales Hiring Venture Capital 42

FastSpring

MARCH 10, 2023

Nathan Collier I remember when that was happening because I was I was working at a company right around, you know, or 2010 around that time when that whole like making calls out of your computer tied to a CRM that was pretty new during I mean even I mean, that was after it had already been on the market. And we did this together.

Consulting 78

Consulting Underperforming Technical Team Interviewing Software 78

Outseta

MAY 8, 2020

Exactly 10 years ago today—May 10, 2010—I slinked through office doors that opened to my first day of work at a “real job.” Musing after a decade spent building SaaS start-ups By Geoff Roberts 20 min read. I was plenty nervous as I entered a shared office space with dingy gray carpets tucked away in Boston’s Fort Point Channel.

Part-Time VPE 102

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team 102

Point Nine Land

JANUARY 30, 2019

Challenges faced by startups during the SaaS installation phase (2000–2010) When you look at the first generation of successful “SaaS first” companies (Salesforce, Zendesk, Workday, Hubspot…), they had to overcome three main challenges to succeed: Market education Infrastructure UI/UX Market education.

AI Search 70

AI Search AI B2B Software 70

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 28, 2019

Felix will share insights on how he founded Collibra in Belgium, successfully relocated the company headquarters to New York City, and raised $233 million total in venture capital to become a unicorn company. Want to see more content like this? Join us at SaaStr Annual 2020. Felix Van de Maele | Co-Founder and CEO @ Collibra.

Sales Hiring 183

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Government 183

SaaSOptics

AUGUST 16, 2018

The problem these companies generally face is they’re sitting in a gap in the capital market. They may or may not be a fit for institutional venture capital yet. Maybe they’re bootstrapping and have no interest in venture capital. That capital is returned to us with some return. Excellent, great.

SaaS 40

SaaS Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital 40

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Since 2010 we’ve seen more startups, funds, and capital than ever before, but with this drastic increase, investors are seeing unexpected new trends reshaping the future of the industry.

New CTO 151

New CTO Sales Hiring B2C CTO Hire 151

SaaSOptics

AUGUST 16, 2018

The problem these companies generally face is they’re sitting in a gap in the capital market. They may or may not be a fit for institutional venture capital yet. Maybe they’re bootstrapping and have no interest in venture capital. That capital is returned to us with some return. Excellent, great.

SaaS 40

SaaS Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital 40

SaaSOptics

AUGUST 16, 2018

The problem these companies generally face is they’re sitting in a gap in the capital market. They may or may not be a fit for institutional venture capital yet. Maybe they’re bootstrapping and have no interest in venture capital. That capital is returned to us with some return. Excellent, great.

SaaS 40

SaaS Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital 40

Outseta

AUGUST 23, 2017

Let’s start with probably the most familiar scenario - I was working at a tech company, with top tier venture capital investors. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-founders of project management software company Basecamp , weighed in on this exact topic in their 2010 book Rework. Planning is guessing.

Forecasting 52

Forecasting Scale Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 52

ProfitWell

JULY 15, 2019

When it launched as the first cloud-based notes app during the recession in 2008, its founders didn't raise much venture capital. Evernote was another product that spread like wildfire in the mid-2000s. MailChimp pricing page today. They were adding more than 30,000 new free users and 4,000 new paying customers each month.

Pricing 41

Pricing Business Model Cloud Venture Capital 41

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2020

And so when you think back to what was happening, when we start back in 2010, when we were working on this idea in 2009, we just saw there’s this huge shift going on, where we were going from a world from hardware and software that you owned to services in the cloud that you rented. I really did not enjoy it.

Sales Hiring 172

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Scale Sales Recruiting 172

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

Jason Lemkin: Maybe it’s because you didn’t raise 11 rounds of venture capital, which we’ll touch into and bang your chest on TechCrunch every week with another huge round or maybe it’s because I wasn’t a marketer by training, right and I just grabbed an app here or there.

Scale 163

Scale Underperforming Technical Team Sales Hiring Branding 163