SaaStr

NOVEMBER 24, 2024

Battery Ventures: Startups Are Actually Far More Overvalued Now Than in 2021 #3. Top Posts: #1. 83% of You Haven’t Gotten AI SDRs to Work — Yet #2. The Arguments For Not Raising at a Unicorn Valuation #4. 5 Interesting Learnings from ServiceTitan at $700,000,000 in ARR #5. Carta: 43.6%

Scale 283

Scale AI Startup Scaling 283

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 10, 2022

I’m going to tell you a bit about two startups and I’d like you to guess the name of each company. Both startups provide database software to developers to build applications. But here the stories diverge in 2021. Both of these businesses are publicly traded. Both have grown very fast. Red Company. Blue Company.

Startup 338

Startup Pricing Revenue Development 338

SaaStr

OCTOBER 5, 2021

So that’s a wrap on SaaStr Annual 2021, #007. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) September 30, 2021. We had as many attendees in 2021 as 2019, and 55% of the SaaStr community couldn’t come (Europe, Australia, NZ, etc) for visa issues alone Get ready for an epic 2022. #2. — D Sharp (@djdsharp) October 1, 2021.

Cloud 319

Cloud Startup 319

SaaStr

JANUARY 7, 2022

Everyone has slightly different data, but it helps answer a seeming conflict in the VC markets: Massive amounts of funding have flowed into startups … and yet … Why doesn’t it seem easier to raise seed funding for many startups? So net net: Global VC investment doubled in 2021 from 2020, from $335B to $643B; and.

Investment 323

Investment Startup Revenue SaaS 323

SaaStr

AUGUST 29, 2021

It’s time to Meet Your Mentors for SaaStr Annual 2021! To help facilitate meetings between up-and-coming startups with top VCs, we’re bringing back our super popular Meet a VC program. We have hundreds of investors joining us for SaaStr Annual 2021, not to mention hundreds of post-revenue startups.

Stax 296

Stax Startup Cloud Metrics 296

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

SaaS products and services like Pilot track the finances of 1,000s of SaaS and other startup so they’re an interesting source of hard data. Something that’s both not surprising but also pretty impactful: 57% of venture-backed startups will have to go “back to market” in 2024 to raise more capital. Carpe Diem.

Startup 357

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS 357

SaaStr

JUNE 2, 2024

About 20%-25% are growing like it’s 2021. The post Maybe Only 10%-15% of VC Backed Startups Can Raise Another Round Right Now appeared first on SaaStr. And at the growth stage, top decile may not even be enough to raise another round. This is roughly what I see in my own portfolio at SaaStr Fund. Ask your existing investors.

Startup 353

Startup Metrics Data Software 353

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 1, 2022

How much value does a successful software startup create per dollar of venture investment? Over the last 30 years, a venture dollar invested in a successful US software startup generated $10 of value. In 2021, the figure topped 15 for the first time in ten years. Startups in the 90s raised less than $10m.

Startup 331

Startup Software Pricing Investment 331

SaaStr

JANUARY 14, 2022

returns from VC + PE in 2021 pic.twitter.com/ZSjfFQMXYh. So 2021 was a crazy year for venture capital, topping 1,000 unicorns and an IPO-a-day. Very well for top Limited Partners (“LPs”), the folks that invest in VC funds, and give them the capital to invest in startups. And they had an incredible year.

Venture Capital 342

Venture Capital Benchmarks Investment Startup 342

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 17, 2021

From time to time, I chart the fastest growing categories of startup investment in the US for seed through Series C. I analyzed Crunchbase data and looked for the startup categories that grew fastest in terms of funding rounds year-over-year, provided there were at least 10 rounds in that category.

Startup 362

Startup Software Engineering Finance Engineering 362

SaaStr

DECEMBER 2, 2023

But for many startups, the hangover from the Excesses of 2021 is a real and tough one. Startups shutting down are up 238% this year — already. So, so many SaaS startups got funded in the Boom, and they just can’t all make it. And the latest Carta data here supports that. Now it sort of has to be that way.

Startup 320

Startup Cloud Pricing Data 320

SaaStr

APRIL 24, 2021

A lot of our SaaS older times don’t quite know what to make with a lot of B2B startups these days, let alone some public SaaS companies. So many startups these days are claiming they have “ARR” from revenue that … doesn’t recur. In 2021+, Yes. Doesn’t ARR stand for Annual Recurring Revenue?

Merchant Services 360

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 360

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 28, 2024

What drives the acquisition market of startups? In 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021, these big mergers drove the figures into the tens of billions. X 2021 43.8% It’s the big deals. In the last decade, the total number of venture backed software M&A by count has remained relatively constant. X 2015 20.1% - 2016 43.0%

Acquisition 314

Acquisition Startup Venture Capital Software 314

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2023

Per Pitchbook and IVP, top-tier growth rounds had a 114x ARR ask at the very peak in 2021! Average asks and multiple for the very, very SaaS companies went up 700% in the Boom from late 2020-late 2021. We’re never “going back” to how things were in late 2020 and 2021. It Was 114x in 2021.

Venture Capital 67

Venture Capital AWS SaaS Startup 67

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 3, 2022

There’s a prevailing narrative that the health of the Bay Area startup ecosystem faces challenges. San Francisco’s share of startup rounds by count has fallen from its perch ten years ago. In 2021, San Francisco Bay Area startups raised $126b. In 2019, US startups raised $126.4b.

Startup 309

Startup Finance Investment Marketing 309

SaaStr

MAY 20, 2021

And make sure you have your team’s tickets to SaaStr Annual 2021 — you can’t meet the VCs if tickets sell out before you’ve purchased them! Here’s your early peek at the list of SaaS venture capitalists and investment firms already signed up for 2021… (and we all know VCs rarely plan this far out!).

Banking 296

Banking Finance Investment Innovation 296

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2022

But what about startups? 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? Even if the startup isn’t quite a rocketship anymore, most smaller VC funds will stay hold it at the same value. Well, sort of.

Startup 330

Startup Venture Capital SaaS Cloud 330

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

The overwhelming participation by both Founders and Investors at the upcoming SaaStr Annual 2021 exemplifies this. After “Founder Confidential” ends, emerging SaaS startups network in person with leading VCs in our CoWorking area as part of our “ Meet A VC ” program. . Startup Advice”. No VCs are invited. We raised our $2.8m

Scale 309

Scale Venture Capital Innovation Banking 309

SaaStr

AUGUST 16, 2024

Dear SaaStr: When Should a CEO Tell Startup Employees That The Company Is Going Under? It’s more common these days than in the past, given all the explosion of capital in 2020-2021 … into startups that aren’t going to make it. Everyone knows in a startup, even a big one. I almost did. But I never did.

Startup 310

Startup Interviewing 310

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 6, 2024

Hang around startups & venture capital long enough, & you’ll hear this aphorism. In any given year, there’s an 82% chance the value of startup liquidity will change by more than 77% - both up & down. In 2021, the sun shone brilliantly. Companies aren’t bought. They’re sold.

Startup 293

Startup Venture Capital Software Marketing 293

SaaStr

OCTOBER 14, 2023

billion Valuation in May 2021 and But Is Now Being Acquired by Atlassian for $975 Million? Great outcomes, but at lower than the peak 2021 prices. Valuations were much, much higher in 2021 than they are today. So high, in fact, that many acquirers will basically ignore those 2021 valuations, more or less.

Startup 286

Startup Pricing Marketing Strategy 286

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2021

That’s a wrap on SaaStr Money 2021 ! Fundraising for a Startup vs Fundraising for Banks with Treasury Prime’s CEO and Piermont Bank. Next up — SaaStr Annual 2021 in SF Bay Area, Sep 27-29! The post Catch Up on the Top Sessions from SaaStr Money 2021!! Quite a day! appeared first on SaaStr.

Payments 276

Payments Payment Services SaaS Payments Banking 276

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2021

You need startup folks to succeed at a startup. Many startup folks have no idea how to work at scale. — Jason BeKind Lemkin (@jasonlk) August 25, 2021. It’s a reminder the same is true of SaaS startups. Folks that know startups, and what it takes to put those initial points on the board.

Sales Hiring 324

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Scaling 324

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 4, 2023

The US startup M&A market in Q4 2022 was one of the quietest in the last 20 years. in Q4 2021 to a paltry $2.1b During a down-market, young startups who face a radically more challenging fundraising market than six months ago more often choose a quick sale. US venture-backed M&A fell from $34.6b in Q4 2022.

Startup 328

Startup Marketing Acquisition Technology 328

SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2025

The last IPO of the 2020-2021 era was HashiCorp in December 2021. The best leaders have experience with both startups and scale to navigate the in-between. The ideal leadership hire is someone who has seen both startups and scale. And it’s one of the first to be acquired! IBM just closed on its $6.4

Scale 188

Scale Systems Review Scaling Leadership 188

SaaStr

JUNE 10, 2021

Q: What are the top startup lessons we learned during Covid? A few lessons that maybe weren’t new, but they we relearned in 2020-2021: Things always bounce back. Shopify and upstarts like Gorgias used this to power ahead in tough times: Anytime is a great time to start a startup. It’s just never clear how long it takes.

Startup 273

Startup Cloud 273

SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2022

If as a VC you invested at $10m pre initially, and say it’s 2021 and that same startup is doing a 100x round at a $300m valuation, this early VC fund can pick and choose whether to invest more or not. The post Every Venture Backed Startup is Now Competing for Reserves appeared first on SaaStr. Just ask. No one asks.

Venture Capital 335

Venture Capital Startup Investment Pricing 335

SaaStr

JUNE 15, 2024

As you can see below, liquidity last year was down 50% from the historical average of the past 10 years, and way, way down from the crazy 2021 peak: Now to some extent, this is to be expects. Private Equity overall and Venture Capital in particular had an insane amount of “exits” for high dollar amounts in 2021. It will bounce back.

Venture Capital 249

Venture Capital Startup Investment 249

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2024

From startup to $500M CARR, Spencer Burke, SVP of Growth at Braze, shares how Braze scaled a growth and customer success team. As an early startup team, you’re doing every job under the sun. We get lazy writing job descriptions, and taking shortcuts is a luxury most startups don’t have. Braze went public in November 2021.

Scale 294

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Startup 294

SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2023

So my LinkedIn feed is full of sales execs complaining how unfair startups are: VPs get fired seemingly without cause (it’s never that simple, though. Startups not even hitting 40% quota attainmen t (more common these days, and brutal indeed). VC-backed startups can be an incredible journey. Is this fair? Perhaps not.

Startup 285

Startup Leadership Investment Sales 285

SaaStr

APRIL 15, 2025

Current State of Early-Stage Venture Market The early-stage venture landscape has experienced significant shifts since the peaks of 2021. We’re seeing: Deal activity decline : From the highs of 2021 (around 3.5B raised in Q4 2021), we’re seeing a return to baseline levels but still below pre-zero interest rate era volumes.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review Venture Capital Outsourced Development ChatGPT 159

SaaStr

DECEMBER 21, 2022

Dear SaaStr: Dear SaaStr: What Were Aspects of Your Startup That Were Easier Than Anticipated? — Jason Be Kind Lemkin  (@jasonlk) April 20, 2021. — Jason Be Kind Lemkin  (@jasonlk) April 20, 2021. More here : The post Dear SaaStr: What Were Aspects of Your Startup That Were Easier Than Anticipated?

Startup 287

Startup Retention Customer Success Revenue 287

SaaStr

JUNE 16, 2023

So Carta recently put together some dat a on a topic I’ve wondered about: just how many startups allow option exercises beyond the traditional 90 day window? The answer: the general trend is just over 10% of startups have extended windows beyond the traditional 90 days for departing employees to exercise stock options.

Startup 276

Startup Trends Data Compensation 276

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2025

Back in 2021 though, Ramp was just 2 years in — but already experiencing hypergrowth. In 2014, Atiyah co-founded Parabus, a consumer-focused startup that automatically secured refunds when prices dropped on online purchases. Ramp just closed a stunning round at a $15 Billion valuation!

CTO Hire 213

CTO Hire CTO Coach Scale CTO 213

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

. “You grow into the big, bloated company once you stop being a startup” This talk I gave at Web Summit 2021 is about pushing back against that. Here, I dive into how to remain a startup, what to look out for as you scale, and how to grow up without growing old. The key takeaway?

Startup 257

Startup Scaling Innovation Company Culture 257

SaaStr

JULY 16, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Do Late Stage Startups Prefer to Get Acquired or Go Public? When it was literally an IPO a Day in 2021, it seemed almost easy. It Was an IPO-a-Day in 2021. It really varies. Especially these days, when the IPO markets are closed. And today — it seems so far from easy. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 246

Startup Acquisition Pricing SaaS 246

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 18, 2022

Ds doubled in 18 months starting in 2016, and again doubled from $75m to $150m in 2020-2021 - so the growth has been steeper on the way up and that may suggest a more sudden correction on the other side of the peak. Corrections may subdue the growth rates, but haven’t reversed them in the past.

Marketing 362

Marketing Startup Finance Technology 362