Clouded Judgement

MARCH 1, 2024

Anything AI related has always been “hot,” but it has really hit a fever pitch in the last few months. What’s most interesting about this, is a lot of the darling AI companies from last year have really slowed down, but everyone seems to have forgotten this and is ready to “find the next big thing.”

Cloud 311

Cloud AI Investment Metrics 311

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 26, 2024

What was arguably more impressive (and a better indicator of what’s to come for the rest of infrastructure software than overall Azure growth) was the Azure growth excluding AI Services (since Azure uniquely benefits from this). If I take my best guess at pulling out AI Services from overall Azure, I get to the data in the below graph.

Azure 177

Azure Cloud Software AI 177

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Couple takeaways for me: 2024 is shaping up to be the “prototype to production” year for AI. A strong data foundation is critical for an effective AI strategy! This was repeated quite a few times AI tends to be additive budget for large enterprises. This year, there was tons of experimentation.

AWS 293

AWS Cloud AI Search Cost optimization & reporting 293

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

Recently, I was on the HR Heretics podcast and we talked about the increasing efficiency of software companies (in addition to other topics including the implications of AI for executives, how to diligence a candidate, & what board members expect of their people leaders). Perhaps another doubling ( driven by AI! )

Software Review 290

Software Review Trends Revenue Software 290

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin also wrote how Customer Success has now morphed into part of the sales team and that the 2024 trends in CS include everyone wanting to eliminate humans from support to replace that headcount with AI and bots. We still want to drive retention and growth and make money. The world has changed. Never stop,” he said.

Sales Hiring 251

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 251

User Pilot

MAY 22, 2024

Also, you can make evidence-based decisions to improve user retention and engagement. Next, you have to create two versions of the onboarding flow and define the metrics you want to track. Goal tracking : The A/B testing tool you select should allow you to track specific goals or metrics. Let’s dive right in. Userpilot pricing.

Software 105

Software Scale AI Mobile 105

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., net retention and CAC payback). Who are the real AI winners.

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Azure AWS 177

Blulogix

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

This blog post delves into advanced strategies that can help subscription services foster deeper connections with their customers, thereby improving retention rates and fostering brand loyalty. Retention, on the other hand, focuses on maintaining these subscribers over time, turning them into loyal advocates for your brand.

Retention 52

Retention Engagement Strategy AI Search 52

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 26, 2024

Net new ARR is something I track very closely for all of the private companies I work with, and it’s also an important metric to look at in public companies. And here is a passage from their earnings transcript talking about AI: Let's spend some time framing the dimensions of this new AI world. trillion by 2027.

Cloud 161

Cloud Marketplace as a Service AI Subscription 161

Clouded Judgement

MAY 10, 2024

So far - you’re either tied to AI tailwinds, or it’s rough out there. And in the public universe, it’s really only been the hyperscalers who’ve benefited from AI. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 161

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure 161

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Artificial intelligence (AI) for sales – buzzword or solution? AI-driven sales tech is emerging as a practical answer for many of the challenges facing sales leaders, trainers, managers, coaches, and sales enablement pros. AI simply helps you make better business decisions. AI simply helps you make better business decisions.

Scale 102

Scale AI Technical Review Artificial Intelligence 102

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

So what you're seeing is much more of that continuous cycles by customers, both when it comes to AI or whether it comes to the traditional workloads.” Sometimes new workloads are AI related. They also are seeing AI revenue (largely compute) show up sooner than anyone else. ” What’s the TLDR?

Cost optimization & reporting 161

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 161

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

When I think about the monetization of AI (and which “layers” monetize first) I’ve always thought it would follow the below order, with each layer lagging the one that comes before it. Model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc as companies start building out AI). 2024 will be the year of AI applications!

Cloud 183

Cloud Artificial Intelligence AI GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 183

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Turning to our customer metrics in the fourth quarter. AI companies] have a real use case for the cloud which is somewhat different than what we see from some other companies. Today, our largest R2 customer is another AI company using us for exactly the purpose of being a neutral place to store their training data.

Cloud 228

Cloud Azure Headcount Software Review 228

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Discover Bessemer Venture Partners’s annual State of the Cloud report, going through trends, benchmarks, and metrics that underpin the Cloud economy. SVB collapsed, market multiples are down, yet the IPO window is re-opening, and we have a platform shift to AI that’s exciting everybody. What does this mean for Cloud companies?

Cloud 251

Cloud Payments Software Review Payment Solutions 251

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Further they said: “For H2 [H2 for their fiscal year is the quarters ending March ‘24 and June ‘24], assuming the optimization and new workload trends continue and with the growing contribution from AI, we expect Azure revenue growth in constant currency to remain roughly stable compared to Q2.”

Cost optimization & reporting 152

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 152

User Pilot

MARCH 7, 2024

Amplitude is the best product insights tool with AI-based event analytics. Userpilot allows you to create segments of your users across common metrics like age, location, or time. Retention tables. Userpilot lets you conduct retention analysis. A retention table in Userpilot. AI analytics. User segmentation.

Social Media 105

Social Media AI Search Mobile AI 105

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 20, 2023

These are thought to be the early AI winners, largely due to all of the compute they’re selling to power GenAI applications. However, it’s important to keep in mind that while hype and expectations are quite high around AI, true enterprise buying cycles typically lag. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud 161

Cloud Azure AWS Software Review 161

User Pilot

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Tableau is a business intelligence platform that offers data visualization and AI capabilities. InMoment is an AI-driven customer experience platform best suited for analyzing feedback. Retention tables. Userpilot features retention tables to help monitor retention rates for your users. AI analytics.

Artificial Intelligence 105

Artificial Intelligence Social Media Software Review AI Search 105

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2024

Manipulated metrics and fraudulent practices can cause long-term problems for companies and investors. Churn rate is a key metric, and understanding acceptable levels in different market conditions is crucial. Founders should be transparent about their company’s financials to maintain credibility with investors.

CTO Hire 155

CTO Hire Development Team Review Software Review Technical Review 155

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 9, 2023

Expansion revenue is still declining (we see this in falling net retention rates), but gross retention remains strong. Usage on Snowflake is driven by queries run on Snowflake Azure: Neutral Tone With Strength in AI Overall I’d characterize Azure’s quarter as a net positive.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Azure AWS 130

User Pilot

MARCH 19, 2024

Constant UX optimization is important because it improves user satisfaction , improves user engagement metrics, and drives customer loyalty. Refine your product copy with AI. Userpilot can help you track customer experience metrics, collect user feedback, and run A/B and multivariate tests to improve your user experience.

User Experience 105

User Experience SaaS AI Search Customer Lifetime Value 105

User Pilot

APRIL 17, 2024

Intercom enhances customer support for businesses of all sizes with automation, AI, and advanced tools for a seamless team and customer experience. Here’s how businesses collect these crucial pieces: Customer data monitoring : By tracking important metrics like the drop-off rate, adoption rate, etc., Amplitude journey report.

AI Search 103

AI Search Social Media Cross-platform App Design (Application) Systems Review 103

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 26, 2023

Klaviyo is a customer data platform company which ingests marketing data & empowers their customers to automate their marketing with data & AI. Metric at IPO KVYO BRZE Primary Motion PLG SLG Revenue Growth 54% 52% Revenue, $m 585 185 Gross Margin 77% 72% ACV, $k 4.5 However, NDRs (net dollar retention) are equal.

Benchmarks 172

Benchmarks Venture Capital Marketing SMB 172

User Pilot

MAY 9, 2024

Better retention rates. Measure customer retention— low retention indicates customer satisfaction issues that need addressing. Use AI-powered chatbots to deliver outstanding customer service. Boost user retention : Happy customers stick for longer. Positive word of mouth from loyal customers. monthly or quarterly).

Customer Lifetime Value 105

Customer Lifetime Value AI Search Benchmarks Onboarding 105

User Pilot

MAY 7, 2024

Mailchimp : It’s an intuitive email marketing platform that helps create, send, and analyze email campaigns with features like automated emails and AI marketing assistants. You can also add custom JS to integrate with other tools, such as adding an AI chatbot. Offers flexible pricing based on the number of tasks. Mailchimp homepage.

Software Review 105

Software Review Management Technical Review AI 105

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

How Will AI Effect Software Business Models? Like many, I’ve been thinking about how AI and foundation models will effect the world of software. In particular - how AI will effect software business models. The challenge with AI is that it introduces another (potentially large) component to COGS. Double the price!

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 26, 2023

Klayviyo is a customer data platform company which ingests marketing data & empowers their customers to automate their marketing with data & AI. Metric at IPO KVYO BRZE Primary Motion PLG SLG Revenue Growth 54% 52% Revenue, $m 585 185 Gross Margin 77% 72% ACV, $k 4.5 However, NDRs (net dollar retention) are equal.

Benchmarks 158

Benchmarks Venture Capital Marketing SMB 158

User Pilot

MARCH 19, 2024

You will also find the best tools for the job and learn about key behavior metrics to monitor for tracking user patterns. Metrics that help measure user behavioral patterns Activation rate. Product retention rate. Product retention rate shows the percentage of users who remain active and engaged over a specific period.

SaaS 104

SaaS AI Search User Experience Engagement 104

CustomerSuccessBox

MAY 6, 2021

From the last couple of weeks, we’ve been writing about the importance of customer retention , key metrics to track and how Customer Success can help you drive retention, and whether your organization is ready to implement Customer success software. . Steps to implementing Customer Retention Software. Define Scope.

Software Review 52

Software Review Retention Software Technical Review 52

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2021

Gross revenue retention just as important as net revenue retention (NRR). As Saleloft starts to think about an IPO, there is more and more focus on gross revenue retention, i.e. before upsells and upgrades. This north star metric keeps you from pushing the existing base for growth over finding new accounts, which is harder.

Scale 272

Scale Social Media SMB AI 272

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Deliver value early – in the product and external to the product In the product The concept of delivering value early is not just a philosophy; it’s a quantifiable metric known as “Time to Value.” ” This metric gauges the duration for users to realize the benefits, measuring onboarding efficiency.

VP of Engineering 93

VP of Engineering Scale Outsourced Development AI 93

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 13, 2023

Some of the optimism for longer term budget growth comes from AI/LLM spend. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Cloud 169

Cloud Artificial Intelligence Subscription Payment Features 169

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

The good news is gross retention (ie churn) stayed constant. And everyone hoping for AI acceleration will need to wait. In summary, I don’t expect real AI tailwinds to show up in non-hyperscaler businesses in a meaningful way through the rest of 2023. The weakness they called out was from larger cloud-native businesses.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

User Pilot

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

For each stage, choose the metrics to track performance and decide which team owns them. For example, the sales could own the revenue metrics like MRR or CLV. Next, put your teams to work on implementing their corresponding playbooks and driving key metrics. Make sure that only one team owns each of the metrics.

Acquisition 105

Acquisition AI Search Onboarding Software Review 105

User Pilot

MAY 7, 2024

Increase customer retention. Increase customer retention : A positive onboarding experience sets the tone for long-term customer retention —users who understand how to use your product effectively are more likely to stick around. However, it can be tiring to track metrics across different spreadsheets.

Software Review 105

Software Review Software Onboarding Engagement 105

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 12, 2024

Founders should always be aware of what metrics would be required to exit at the valuation they’re raising at under standard exit multiple assumptions (I hope my weekly posts help shed light on what “standard” multiples are). I hope this post provides a bit of a cautionary tale of raising a mega round ahead of your metrics.

Cloud 284

Cloud Venture Capital Acquisition Metrics 284