SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2021

And though there are many great reasons to attend the SaaStr Annual 2021 – the amazing networking, incredible no-fluff content, built-in fun – these are the top 6 takeaways from past attendees : #1 – Learn from the best . There’s no better investment you will make this year. #6 It should be a snoozefest, and yet, it’s anything but.

Startup 295

Startup Investment Enterprise Pricing 295

SaaStr

APRIL 17, 2024

So it’s been a long IPO drought since HashiCorp was the last IPO of the Boom Times in December 2021. Still, it’s losing far less than in the Go Go Times of 2021. But it’s decided to keep investing heavily in growth. Let’s great ready for just the second SaaS IPO since 2021! 68% of Revenue in U.S.,

Scale 238

Scale Pricing Scaling Cloud 238

FastSpring

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

But what about pricing? When FastSpring’s Chief Product Officer Kurt Smith worked with growth-stage to Fortune 100 companies at Accel-KKR, he consistently saw pricing as one of the most essential growth levers they employed to meet their next revenue goal. Why You Shouldn’t Trust How Your Competitor’s Price.

Pricing 138

Pricing Payment Solutions Payment Services SaaS Payments 138

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

PE wants to invest in leaders, if not necessarily always #1 in a category. Well, certainly it exploded in 2021, in my portfolio at least, if perhaps not as dramatically as in the public markets. The startup I invested in that were acquired by PE in the 2020-2021 Boom were acquired for 8x in one case, 12x in another, and 15x in a third.

AWS 256

AWS SaaS Pricing Acquisition 256

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

PitchBook surmises non-traditional VC (aka hot money) comprises 78% of venture dollars invested in 2021. Across Series A to Series E rounds in the US, hedge funds participated in 63% of startup financings worth more than $200B in 2021. 2021 marked a near universal strategic focus on Series C, D, and E rounds.

Finance 356

Finance Pricing Investment Startup 356

SaaStr

MARCH 4, 2024

2021: “Just raise the extra capital! We don’t need it, but at that price — it’s basically free” 2024: “Free? jasonlk) February 15, 2024 So, so much has changed since the peak crazy days of 2021. A High Priced Round Puts a Ton of Pressure On The Exit and Growth Rate Raise $2m, $4m, $10m? Selling for any price is OK.

Finance 234

Finance Payment Solutions Payments Pricing 234

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 12, 2024

The big cash piles raised in 2021 are starting to get smaller, and we dug in on how investors and founders should be thinking about the world. If we rewind the clock back to 2021, the venture funding market went crazy. This all shifted in 2021. Many companies raised rounds in 2021 who thought they had product market fit.

Cloud 284

Cloud Venture Capital Acquisition Metrics 284

Kellblog

JANUARY 30, 2021

I certainly didn’t have “global pandemic” on my 2020 bingo card and, even if I somehow did, I would never have coupled that with “booming stock market” and median SaaS price/revenue multiples in the 15x range. That said, I’m back on the proverbial horse, so let’s dig in with a review of our 2021 predictions. 2020 Predictions Review.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Payment Services Payments AI Search 143

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2022

As Crunchbase noted just the other day , growth rounds are down at least 40% as well, and their data likely has more lag than AngelList (and is from a few weeks earlier): The bottom line is every category of venture investment has gotten harder since the go-go days of 2021. It is what it is. Just be aware of it.

Pricing 344

Pricing Investment Data Marketing 344

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2024

It’s much more common today than in the past, if not quite as common as 2021 ? Where the pre-seed investors can sell into the higher priced, later stage round. Funds are larger, and they are also often investing a tiny bit later than they used to, and with commensurately larger checks.

Pricing 229

Pricing Investment 229

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2023

As buyers grapple with expanding technology, higher prices, and a need for efficiency, SaaS companies need to deliver what their audience is looking for to win in the market. Data Security : Oates reveals that “Costs have risen for cyber attacks by 80% since 2021, and the frequency of those attacks continues to rise. weakest link.

VP of Engineering 251

VP of Engineering Trends Cybersecurity Sales Hiring 251

Tom Tunguz

MAY 23, 2021

In 2021, the post-money valuation has spiked 60% from $48.1m While not as hyperbolic an inflation rate as copper or lumber, the price trajectory of early stage cloud startups does result from a similar supply demand/imbalance. But it hasn’t soared like it’s older brother in 2021, preferring a more consistent path.

Software Review 364

Software Review Venture Capital Cloud Pricing 364

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 1, 2022

How much value does a successful software startup create per dollar of venture investment? Let’s call the value generated per venture dollar the MOIC (multiple on invested capital). Over the last 30 years, a venture dollar invested in a successful US software startup generated $10 of value. Notes on the data.

Startup 289

Startup Software Pricing Investment 289

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2024

Ok the title here is a bit dramatic, but certainly seed investing is in an odd place in 2024. Public valuations are still at a fraction of their 2021 peaks, but seed rounds are more expensive than ever. The best investments grow from $1 million to $10 million in 5 quarters or less. Venture capitalists are investing more money.

CTO Hire 157

CTO Hire Development Team Review Software Review Technical Review 157

SaaStr

APRIL 19, 2024

He’s invested in startups as a VC since 2013 and has 10x his fund. The low point was in 2021, with $100k of revenue per employee for all of these unicorns, and we were only 10% as efficient as we used to be. Reverse Engineering Your Way to $100M Tip #3 As soon as you cross 5% of your revenue in an area, invest in it.

Engineering 256

Engineering Business Model Pricing Scaling 256

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

With too many examples from SaaStr Annual 2021 to call out specifically, here are 2 “Cloud talks plus decks” that I can imagine the Self-Taught Founder relying upon: David Sacks On SaaS Org Charts. The favorable consumption-based pricing metrics on this Battery slide speak for themselves. Full Session YouTube.

Scale 318

Scale Cloud Forecasting Pricing 318

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2024

2021 was nuts, with crazy growth and crazy multiples. In 2022, revenue growth held up for many leaders, but share prices and multiples cratered. per Jamin Ball’s great summary below The Top 10 in SaaS saw their stock price up 136% on average! So 2023 was a weird year. And 2023? So not all as gold and golden as it looks.

Startup 174

Startup SaaS AI Pricing 174

SaaStr

MAY 15, 2023

So raising VC capital has gotten a lot harder than it was at the peak of 2021 — when it was still hard for all but the best and more privileged. If a VC was interesting in investing at say a $15m valuation at $1m ARR, and next month, you grow +10% and the price is still $15m … that VC gets an even better deal. What That Means.

Investment 306

Investment Pricing Revenue Data 306

OpenView Labs

JANUARY 13, 2022

Welcome to the third edition of the Pricing Transformations series. This year we look back at 2021 and forward to 2022, measuring how our past predictions have stood up to another tumultuous year and laying out what you can expect in 2022. Pricing Transformations in 2020. Pricing Transformations in 2021.

Pricing 82

Pricing Payment Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 82

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 29, 2023

If we rewind the clock back a few years and look at the year end top 10 for 2020, 2021, 2022 and now 2023, there are 4 companies that find themselves on every year end list: Snowflake, Cloudflare, Datadog, and Zscaler. and 99.2%, respectively) And below you can see who ended up in the top 10 at the end of 2022 and 2021.

Cloud 189

Cloud Software Review Subscription Payment Features 189

SaaStr

APRIL 3, 2022

Most VC funds “mark-up” their investments to the price of the last round and … just sort of leave it there. But they generally have a lot of lattitude on when to continue to carry an investment at the last round price. Some VCs still feel like geniuses if they had big mark-ups in 2021.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Startup Investment Pricing 301

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2022

Most VC funds “carry” startup investments at their last round price, unless their value has been materially impaired. So that 100x unicorn round that closed in 2021? And in the middle are growth funds and investments. So, the investment gets marked down. Well, sort of. But its public comps are down 50%.

Startup 300

Startup Venture Capital SaaS Cloud 300

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2023

And while it’s stock price is down from its 2021 peaks, it’s still up 2x since its 2020 IPO. Docebo’s pricing is on the “corporate” side of LMS. It doesn’t compete at the bottom of the market, and targets top logos with a reasonably priced product. That’s right.

Scale 341

Scale Pricing Scaling Enterprise 341

SaaStr

MAY 15, 2022

In fact, you can invest when your competitors might be pulling back. At least, so long as the last round price wasn’t insane. Most VC funds are a bit more nervous about new investments now. Almost all VC funds want to invest more in their winners to increase their ownership. Go forth and conquer!

Pricing 248

Pricing Investment Cloud Revenue 248

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. Deals Coming Soon On 21ST OCTOBER 2021. $ 349.00. Visit Website.

SaaS Payments 108

SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Methods Software Review 108

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 82

Merchant Services Payment Services Payment Features Payments 82

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 31, 2023

Record inflows into tokens fuel all-time highs in Bitcoin, Solana, & higher performance L1s who offer better price/performance to market. US VC investment falls from $275b in 2022 to $200b in 2023 & sustains at about $200-220b in 2024 as LP interest in venture attenuates after the euphoria in 2020 & 2021.

AI Search 224

AI Search AI Scale Headcount 224

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Pretty crazy to think about - growth adjusted multiples are near pre-covid all time highs (excluding 2020-2021 period) even though rates are as high as they’ve been since 2007 (and double what they were on average from 2010-2020). Let’s rewind the clock to summer of 2021 when money was free and times were good!

Cloud 183

Cloud Government Banking Software Review 183

SaaStr

JULY 27, 2023

Fundraising Market Trends Over The Last 12 Months Markets in 2021 felt a bit like, “Shut up and take my money!” You can see how the market builds up until Q4 of 2021 with almost $63B of cash raised, and then fell to around $43B raised in Q1 of 2022 and $10B in Q1 of 2023. Series B was around $160M median around Q4 of 2021.

AI 198

AI Trends Banking Pricing 198

SaaStr

MAY 20, 2022

VCs want a few things: To invest some now, but see how it goes. Not have to invest it all up front. To later bring in new investors, at a higher price , to offload some risk and importantly to bring in larger checks. During the go-go times of 2021, sometimes you could get there in just a few months. Or Even MoreNow?

Pricing 214

Pricing Investment 214

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2022

Especially now in 2022, when venture capital again is scarcer, and more expensive, and far harder to close than it was during the go-go times for SaaS of 2021 and late 2020. That’s about all the Big Guys are willing to invest in their old products via M&A. What’s between $100m and $1b in acquisition prices?

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Acquisition AI Pricing 362

SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2022

Because in the Best of Times, there’s always more money to invest in top performers — and even mid-pack performer s. That really leaves just $120m to invest. (Yes, Yes, there are ways to “recycle” to get the amount available to invest up, but that’s not super important for this analysis). checks on average ($2.5m

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Investment Pricing 295

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2022

It IPO’d in November 2021 and today is doing $130m ARR, growing a respectable 30% year-over-year. A fairly standard SMB price point. With a current stock price of $3.37, the Series C and D investors are substantially underwater. A reminder growth investing isn’t a space you automatically make money at.

SaaS Payments 250

SaaS Payments Scale Payment Methods Payments 250

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

No, this SaaS Crash is so tough on VCs and public market investors because the market was just so, so high for Cloud stocks from mid-2020 to late 2021: You can see above in the BVP Nasdaq Cloud Index that while these are still Great Times in SaaS, they aren’t the crazy days that peaked around Thanksgiving 2021.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Cloud Startup SaaS 363

SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2023

It’s a good rationalization when you’ve invested in a good company that just was way, way overvalued at the peak, or for whatever reason, in the last round. Today, a $20m ARR startup growing 100% that magically raised at $1B in 2021 might fetch only a $200m valuation, for example. A far cry from $1B.

Banking 255

Banking Startup Acquisition Pricing 255

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

I’ve had the privilege to invest one way or another in about 35 SaaS companies, both as a VC and as angel. They understand why they got “No”s in the early, pre-traction days, and even, in the early-ish days when they had a handful of customers but wasn’t really taking off yet (my favorite time to invest).

Scale 337

Scale Sales Recruiting Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 337

SaaStr

MAY 3, 2023

Many people had similar experiences to Gainsight in 2021 and 2022. Mistake #4: Not Standardizing Pricing and Related Systems Early If you have an enterprise-type business, you often ask each customer how much they want to pay based on this or that and end up with a hodgepodge of deal types. And invest in back-office systems early.

Sales Hiring 180

Sales Hiring Scale Pricing Customer Success 180