Clouded Judgement

MAY 3, 2024

We now have results from the three hypersclaers (AWS / Azure / GCP). The most notable change in tone was Andy Jassy talking about AWS. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cost optimization & reporting 190

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Software AWS 190

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Amazon on AWS : “…customers are continuing to shift their focus towards driving innovation and bringing new workloads to the cloud. Azure (excluding Azure AI) continued to decelerate, and while AWS did come in ahead of expectations, it wasn’t a blow out. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cost optimization & reporting 167

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 167

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

Subscribe now Foundation Models Are to AI what S3 was to the Public Cloud Many people look at 2006 as the birth of the public cloud - the year Amazon launched AWS. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 176

Cloud GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS Azure 176

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Subscribe now Cloud Giants Report Q3 ‘23 Not a great signal for software this week from the Cloud Giants (AWS, Azure and Google Cloud)…After Q2 (3 months ago), the tone from the Cloud Giants around optimizations was largely: optimizations have started to ease, and net new workloads have picked up. That is not new.”

Cost optimization & reporting 157

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 157

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Hyperscaler Preview Next week Amazon, Microsoft and Google report earnings and we’ll see Q3 data for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. Even a DCF is riddled with long term assumptions.

Cloud 167

Cloud Azure AWS Software Review 167

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., This metric is more self-explanatory, so I won’t go into detail.

Cloud 184

Cloud Software Azure AWS 184

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 2, 2024

Cloud Giants Report Q2 We also got the Q2 quarters from AWS / Azure / GCP this week! 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 157

Cloud Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS 157

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

” We saw some green shoots in AWS and a few other consumption names, and overall sentiment seemed more positive. I’ve put together a number of charts below to show how metrics from this quarter compared to prior quarters. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Cloud 176

Cloud Software Review AWS Trends 176

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 6, 2023

Cloud Downgrades This week UBS came out with a couple research reports citing concerns in AWS / Azure growth. This brings me back to AWS / Azure downgrades. This was the worst tone that we’ve heard in years from large AWS/Azure partners, a group that usually expresses different shades of optimism about AWS/Azure growth.”

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Underperforming Technical Team 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

Subscribe now ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) vs ERR (Experimental Runrate Revenue) ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is one of the most popular SaaS (Non-GAAP) metrics. However, it’s also one of the most loosely used metrics, and is frequently misused. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

AI 190

AI Cloud Revenue Technical Advisors 190

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Hyperscalers Report Quarterly Earnings This week we saw AWS (Amazon), GCP (Google) and Azure (Microsoft) report earnings. Overall, it wasn’t pretty… AWS grew 28% when expectations were 30-31%. Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting 130

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 28, 2023

AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud (Google) all reported this week. Then AWS appeared to add fuel to that hope before giving us a huge rug pull. After all, they had a lot of AI tailwinds, and benefited tremendously from consolidation (without a headwind of a larger base of smaller startups, like AWS).

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search 130

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 4, 2023

” These are two quotes about AWS on the Amazon earnings call. AWS grew 16% in Q1, but called out growth in April (first month of Q2) was 11%. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure Cost optimization & reporting AWS 130

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

” From AWS (paraphrased): They said they expect the reaccleration they saw in Q4 to continue into 2024 2024 Estimate Updates One important metric I’m tracking this quarter is the change in 2024 estimates pre / post earnings. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Cloud 167

Cloud AWS Subscription Payment Features 167

Clouded Judgement

MAY 10, 2024

All 3 (AWS, Azure, GCP) saw positive reacceleration Quarterly Reports Summary Top 10 EV / NTM Revenue Multiples Top 10 Weekly Share Price Movement Update on Multiples SaaS businesses are generally valued on a multiple of their revenue - in most cases the projected revenue for the next 12 months. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cloud 167

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure 167

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 21, 2023

Next week we get all 3 hyperscalers reporting (AWS from Amazon, Azure from Microsoft, and GCP from Google). On AWS, in their Q4 earnings call they said AWS was growing “mid teens” in January (down from 20% in Q4). This post and the information presented are intended for informational purposes only.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP as companies look for cloud GPUs who aren’t building out their own data centers) Infra (Data layer, orchestration, monitoring, ops, etc) Durable Applications We’ve clearly well underway of the first 3 layers monetizing. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Cloud 190

Cloud Artificial Intelligence GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI 190

Clouded Judgement

MAY 31, 2024

.” As growth starts to slow, it gets harder and harder to justify using revenue multiples as a primary valuation metric. And when this happens, growth companies transition to more of a value based valuation metric (FCF or PE). I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric.

Cloud 184

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI 184

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 7, 2020

When it comes time to book a speaker for your next panel, presentation, or podcast there’s a lot to consider. Fortunately, more organizers than ever before are consciously seeking out female sales experts for panels, presentations, and podcasts. Amazon Web Services (AWS). Praxis Metrics. Post-Acute Sales Representative.

VP of Engineering 131

VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Payment Services 131

Clouded Judgement

JULY 26, 2024

I asked ChatGPT how many price changes AWS has made to S3 since it’s inception in 2006, and the answer it gave me was 65. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. Absent the Llama 3.1 Staggering!

Cloud 144

Cloud Technical Review Software Review Artificial Intelligence 144

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 9, 2023

They did call out sequential growth in Confluent Cloud every quarter this year which was a big positive Still seeing elongated deal cycles and less expansion revenue The Bad AWS: Headwinds Getting Worse Their quarter ended in March, but on the earnings call they called out weakening growth in April.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Azure AWS 130

Clouded Judgement

JULY 28, 2023

AI = Data + Compute I’ll continue beating this drum, but we got two great quotes from Azure and AWS this week. ” Then at AWS Summit they called out “Your data is your differentiator when it comes to Generative AI.” AWS reports next week. ” Data is more important than ever! So what did we learn?

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

AWS growth seems to be re-accelerating, and qualitative feedback from a number of companies in Q2 (especially those with July quarter ends) suggested new customer bookings conversations were picking up. I created this subset to show companies where FCF is a relevant valuation metric. Even a DCF is riddled with long term assumptions.

Software Review 130

Software Review Cloud Software AWS 130

Kellblog

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Please join me on October 13th at SaaStock EMEA , a free European SaaS event, for my presentation entitled “ How to Make a Marketing Machine ” on October 13th at 9:05 am PT (6:05 pm CET). Executives from companies including Algolia, AWS, Celigo, Contentful, Freshworks, Intercom, Yellowfin, Zephr, and Zoominfo.

Marketing 106

Marketing AWS Venture Capital SaaS 106

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

In the short term, enjoy the ride as the chase continues 😊 Kind of related to all of this - we now have seen the Q4’s from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Generative AI 130

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

Then I’ll weave in where Tabular / Iceberg fit, and why they’re already playing a prominent role in the future (and present) of data infrastructure. Typical data lake storage solutions include AWS S3, Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS), Google Cloud Storage (GCS) or Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).

Data 130

Data Government Scale GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

The majority of COGS (revenue less COGS = gross profit) fall in hosting costs (ie AWS), and some customer support. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 31, 2019

One of the most popular sessions from SaaStr Annual, this presentation will provides an in-depth look at the cloud computing industry across Europe and globally. Retail was mentioned twice, that’s it, and AWS was mentioned 78 times, so it’s probably not surprising that they’re doing this.

Cloud 107

Cloud Scale AWS Machine Learning 107

Chargify

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

We are seeing a wave of businesses that understand how to package, price, and present offers in a way that empowers buyers and forces other businesses to think beyond traditional growth tactics. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a poster-child for the Relationship Economy—they truly understand the modern B2B customer. Change Is Inevitable.

Subscription 75

Subscription Payment Features AWS Scale 75

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

The hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) are seeing some uptick, but this is largely from selling compute (ie cloud GPUs). Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against. However, it’s not showing up in the data yet.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

User Pilot

AUGUST 18, 2024

A product adoption platform like Userpilot can help you collect feedback through in-app surveys and track metrics like conversion rates and NPS. In her upcoming talk on October 8th, Maja Voje will present a case study and talk about the nuances of launching AI-first products. Who is Maja Voje?

AI Search 105

AI Search AI Scale Strategy 105

CloudGeometry

APRIL 25, 2022

Start assessing what you will need to do by reviewing the AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar design principles and Google’s DevOps tech: Shifting left on security. #2 5 Application Deployment Options Almost every B2B SaaS company presents a subscription pricing scheme in a menu with three or four columns. How do you respond?

Enterprise readiness 130

Enterprise readiness Enterprise Technical Review Software Review 130

Unbounce

JULY 30, 2019

You’ve got oodles of sunny summer days ahead before you need to start worrying about untangling the lights, trimming the turkey, or leaving presents under the tree. By buying Marge a present that he wants for himself, he’s exhibiting pretty normal human behavior. Does this present have any special meaning?

Scale 111

Scale Branding Underperforming Technical Team AWS 111

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2020

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin. We’ve all seen AWS and what they’ve done with their platform. Number two, we really want companies to report and track these metrics early. You can read the podcast transcript below.

Sales Hiring 218

Sales Hiring Scale Payments Cloud 218

User Pilot

AUGUST 16, 2023

While data democratization has undeniable benefits, it also presents certain challenges that organizations need to address. Assessment tasks related to their roles, like using reporting and visualization tools to interpret and present data. Standardization of all the metrics different teams use could be the first step in the process.

Data 98

Data Technical Review Government Data Analysis 98

ProfitWell

MAY 15, 2020

Google Compute Engine (GCE), Digital Ocean, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are all good examples of IaaS. Depending on how sensitive your data is, storing it offsite with a SaaS service may present problems with compliance. Before purchasing a software subscription, research the capabilities you need and ensure they are present.

SaaS Payments 75

SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Solutions Payments 75

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2021

You guys are much more thoughtful around the metrics that you track and knowing that churn and retention is important. I would love to say, “Oh, I wrote this software, and I put two servers on AWS, and put a credit card form up, and the money just kept flowing in.” Here’s the mistake. Thanks for your time.

Part-Time VPE 283

Part-Time VPE Technical Cofounder CTO Hire New CTO 283