AWS and SaaS - SaaS Brief

Clouded Judgement 12.1.23 - Net New ARR Starts to Rebound + AWS ReInvent Recap

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Subscribe now Amazon ReInvent This week Amazon had their annual AWS ReInvent conference. ” AWS fully embracing the breadth over depth approach. Looking at the mid to long term, we feel very optimistic about the outlook for strong AWS growth. Follow along to stay up to date! This year, there was tons of experimentation.

AWS

AWS Cloud AI Search Cost optimization & reporting

Datadog, ZoomInfo, Atlassian, AWS: Epic Growth — But Some Real Headwinds For The First Time

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

So with the latest batch of earnings out, we can get a sense of where the leaders are in SaaS. Atlassian noted a decline in Free to Paid conversion, but importantly, no decline in demand for their products: Amazon: We’re Seeing Strong But Slowing Growth at AWS to 28%, Albeit at a Stunning $82B Run Rate. More on that here.

AWS

AWS Azure Cloud Scale

Shopify Says eCommerce is Back. But AWS Says Cloud Under More Scrutiny.

SaaStr

OCTOBER 28, 2022

o this was an interesting week in terms of reading the tea leaves on what’s going on in SaaS, Cloud, the economy, and all that. Second, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud all grew nicely, and are still growing like a weed — but the growth rate slowed. So the good news is the bellwethers in SaaS are still growing at strong rates.

AWS

AWS Cloud Azure Investment

Webinars

Beyond the Basics of A/B Tests: Highly Innovative Experimentation Tactics You Need to Know

MORE WEBINARS

Atlassian and AWS Say: “Maybe Worry a Little Bit”

SaaStr

JULY 31, 2020

Zoom is growing at rates we’ve never seen before in SaaS and Cloud. Amazon/AWS and Atlassian both had huge Q2’s. But both Atlassian and Amazon/AWS said … Maybe Not As Much Going Forward, Not Forever. But Covid-19 somehow, someway, turned out to be The Best of Times for SaaS and Cloud.

AWS

AWS Azure Cloud SaaS

Why Now is a Great Time to Raise Seed Funding. Even If It’s Awful for Series A-E Rounds.

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2023

A great deep dive on later-stage SaaS investing here: And look venture is a mess today. Even If It’s Awful for Series A-E Rounds. We just did our latest Workshop Wednesday with Omers Growth, and they only did one growth investment last year. Crypto investments are going bankrupt. Board meetings are endless drama sessions.

AWS

AWS Venture Capital Finance Cloud

Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS?

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2024

Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS? Typically support consumes about perhaps 5%-7% of your revenue at scale (excluding customer success) in most SaaS models. Another 5%-7% go to core infrastructure costs (AWS, Azure, Snowflake, etc). Have instant support while you can.

Azure

Azure AWS SaaS Customer Success

MacStadium’s VMWare virtualization replacement now available at AWS

IT World

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Reflecting the growing popularity of the Mac platform , Mac cloud and SaaS provider MacStadium's Orka Platform is now available to purchase at the AWS Marketplace, a move that brings Orka to Amazon EC2 Mac instances.

AWS

AWS Marketplace as a Service Cloud Development

Panintelligence Named a 2023 AWS Partner Award Finalist

Panintelligence

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Panintelligence recognized as Rising Star Partner of the Year (ISV) – EMEA finalist, one of many AWS Partners around the globe that help customers drive innovation. Geo and Global AWS Partner Awards recognize a wide range of AWS Partners, whose business models have embraced specialization, innovation, and cooperation over the past year.

AWS

AWS Innovation Business Model Metrics

Session Registration Open for SaaStr Build 2022: Sign Up to Hear HubSpot’s GM, Amplitude’s CEO, AWS’ Head of Customer Success and CircleCI’s CEO

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

Why Customer Success and Product Should be Best Friends: Lessons Learned with AWS’ Head of Customer Success Harini Gokul. In this session, Harini will discuss the optimal engagement model for the product , services, and customer success teams in the SaaS world to deliver value and innovation to your customers.

AWS

AWS Customer Success Scale Sales Hiring

The Top 10 Events in SaaS. According to ChatGPT.

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2023

SaaStr Annual: SaaStr Annual is one of the largest SaaS conferences, attracting thousands of attendees, including entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts. It provides insights into the latest trends, best practices, and networking opportunities in the SaaS space.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT AWS SaaS CTO

What Are Public SaaS Companies Taken Private At? 7.7x ARR On Average Per SaaSomomics

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

So one thing that has exploded in SaaS in the past decade is the role of Private Equity buying both public SaaS companies (to take them private, “fix” some metrics, and IPO or sell them again), and generally later-stage private SaaS companies. They are generally looking for good but not great deals.

AWS

AWS SaaS Pricing Acquisition

Gartner: SaaS Will Still Grow 18% in 2023 to $200 Billion Worldwide. And Another 18% in 2024.

SaaStr

MAY 2, 2023

So there’s no doubt things are a bit harder for everyone in SaaS and Cloud right now. A few of us are seeing no macro impacts, but probably the biggest tell are Cloud platform giants — AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. SaaS spend is still growing. All are still growing at very strong rates. But they are still growing.

Azure

Azure AWS Cloud SaaS

Who’s Accelerating in SaaS? DataDog. HubSpot. Zendesk. Everyone.

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2021

We all know times are good in SaaS and Cloud — but just how good? It really is almost everyone at SaaS that is at scale and has a winning brand. AWS accelerated to 37% YoY growth , up from 32% last quarter. Some public SaaS companies that are less competitive than they used to be (e.g., But the majority are.

SaaS

SaaS AWS Cloud Scaling

Join FastSpring at SaaS North 2023!

FastSpring

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Looking to join SaaS founders and tech enthusiasts who are discussing the most innovative trends for SaaS companies? If so, join FastSpring at the SaaS North November 15-16th! Since 2016, SaaS North has been recognized as THE Canadian hub for rapidly-scaling SaaS founders and their teams.

Merchant Services

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Methods Payment Services

BowtiedCocoon: Top SaaS SMB AEs have $125k OTEs. But The Best Ones Make $261k.

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2022

Per LinkedIn data, SMB AEs at some of the top SaaS and B2B companies have: an average base salary of $70k, an average OTE of $125k, and. Sales Organization 1 Miro 2 Okta 3 Arctic Wolf 4 Sprout Social 5 Google 6 Clickup 7 Cisco Meraki 8 Microsoft 9 Klaviyo 10 AWS 11 Rippling 12 Fivetran. And it’s super helpful.

SMB

SMB AWS SaaS B2B

Mastering Partner Marketing: What NOT to Do and How to Excel with Drata CMO Sydney Sloan

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Welcome to the latest installment of our “ What’s New ” series where SaaStr founder and CEO Jason Lemkin sits down with some of the top leaders and founders in SaaS and Cloud to discuss What’s New and what should be top of mind for fellow founders. AWS can’t support 20 partners equally. Otherwise, it falls apart.

AWS

AWS Scale Sales Hiring Marketing

Why Can’t SaaS Companies Just Mint Cash?

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

You know what’s back in fashion today in SaaS? And that’s a lot rarer in SaaS. But so many SaaS leaders aren’t really profitable at $1B ARR even, Why not? And it’s not just public SaaS companies that are often struggling to get profitable. I’m an investor in maybe 30 SaaS startups. So is SaaS cursed?

Scale

Scale SaaS Banking AWS

ISVs vs SaaS: What’s the Difference?

Stax

APRIL 18, 2024

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Software-as-a-Service Providers (SaaS) operate within the same market, thus creating a push-and-pull revenue dynamic. SaaS companies deliver software applications over the internet on a subscription basis, simplifying access and management for users. What are SaaS companies?

Outsourcing Services

Outsourcing Services SaaS Payments Payment Services Payment Methods

Clouded Judgement 2.2.24 - Cloud Giants Report Q4 '23

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

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS

SaaS Multiples Are At a 3+ Year Low. Where It Goes From Here.

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2022

Many SaaS and Cloud leaders are down more than 50% from their all-time highs. A Covid Hangover in SaaS stocks.’ Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and even Google Cloud are on fire, adding insane amounts of revenue this year. The top SaaS and Cloud leaders are even accelerating at $1B in ARR, for goodness sakes!!

SaaS

SaaS Azure Cloud AWS

5 Interesting Learnings from Digital Ocean at $700,000,000 in ARR

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

So is it possible to be too efficient in SaaS and Cloud? Many have used Digital Ocean at the cheaper, simpler version of AWS-Azure-Digital Ocean to get going fast and quickly. And if so, maybe that’s Digital Ocean. If you haven’t heard of Digital Ocean, ask your developer. It’s gotten crazy good.

Scale

Scale AWS Azure Cloud

Pilot: 57% of Venture Startups Will Need to Raise More In 2024

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. SaaS and Cloud growth overall will remain strong. Shopify , Datadog, Crowdstrike , Google Cloud-Azure-AWS, Snowflake , etc. What does Pilot’s latest data say?

Startup

Startup Venture Capital Azure AWS

Some SaaS Stocks Are Actually Still Doing Pretty Darn Well. E.g, Sprout Social, ZoomInfo, Zscaler, etc.

SaaStr

MAY 21, 2022

The markets for SaaS and Cloud stocks are down 50%+ in just a few months, and it hasn’t spared even the leaders. But let’s step back a bit … the damage hasn’t been even, and capital-efficient SaaS stocks in many cases have held up pretty well. The post Some SaaS Stocks Are Actually Still Doing Pretty Darn Well. They’re worth $2.7

AWS

AWS SaaS Cloud Scale

Cloud Stocks May Be Down. But the Cloud Remains on Fire. That Matters More.

SaaStr

MAY 16, 2022

So follow AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. So there’s much angst and even panic with so many SaaS and Cloud public stocks down 50% or more from their peaks. Will things get worse for SaaS products themselves on a day-to-day basis? And is buying of SaaS and Cloud products accelerating, decelerating, and/or flattening out?

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Engineering

How and why we spent $400K on AWS in 4 months

Baremetrics

OCTOBER 31, 2021

Changing how and where you host your product is one of the most challenging decisions for a SaaS company to. Changing how and where you host your product is one of the most challenging decisions for a saas company to make. None of us started a saas company to deal with server migrations. And… It’s not fun.

AWS

AWS DevOps as a Service Underperforming Technical Team Development Team Review

Clouded Judgement 10.27.23 - Cloud Giants Report Q3 '23

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

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS

A Look Back at Q4 '23 Public Cloud Software Earnings

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., It looks at the YoY dollar change in quarterly revenue from the hyperscalers (just looking at Azure / AWS because the data goes back further) going back a few years. Is Software Rebounding?

Cloud

Cloud Software Azure AWS

5 Interesting Learnings from Canva at Almost $2 Billion in ARR

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2023

So we don’t know quite as much about Canva as we do SaaS companies that have IPO’d. Canva hasn’t seen any “macro impacts” to revenue growth, nor have a number of other SaaS leaders that sell in large part outside of tech. #2. But the very, very best in SaaS? That’s awfully impressive.

AWS

AWS B2C AI Scaling

Thanks to Multiplier, Pepper, Tin Men Capital, and To the New’s CloudKeeper for Sponsoring SaaStr APAC 2023!

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

We’ll see 1,000+ of the best SaaS founders, execs, and VCs February 22-23 at SaaStr APAC 2023 ! CloudKeeper from TO THE NEW, is a cloud spend optimization solution that guarantees to cut down your AWS bills by 5-15%. Grab tickets here. Join these incredible companies to experience all the value of SaaStr! No lock-ins.

Cloud spend optimization

Cloud spend optimization AWS Scale compliance

Bessemer: $1 Trillion in Cloud Market Cap Lost Year-to-Date

SaaStr

MAY 23, 2022

There are many ways to slice-and-dice public market data, but the headline one Bessemer called out is the most visceral I’ve seen: Public SaaS and Cloud companies lost $1 Trillion in market cap so far in 2022. And the number of public SaaS and Cloud decacorns has fallen from 50 to 17. Strange Days, Indeed.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Marketing

Founders Today Just Need to Assume the Next Round Never Comes

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

So we’ve talked about it often here at SaaStr, but things are just so … odd right now in SaaS. And while AWS’s growth is down a bit, it’s still at epic levels, Azure isn’t even really down, and Google Cloud is growing faster than ever. It’s very, very quiet at $300m+ valuations.

AWS

AWS Venture Capital Azure Cloud

The Top 10 SaaStr Posts of 2020

SaaStr

DECEMBER 7, 2020

Ok the Best But Craziest Year Ever for SaaS isn’t quite over, but as it drives to a conclusion, we thought it would be worth looking back at top posts you may have missed in 2020. “The Era of the SaaS Decacorn is Here” That’s for sure. The Era of the SaaS Decacorn is Here. What a crazy year for Cloud.

Venture Capital

Venture Capital Sales Hiring AWS Cloud

The Full SaaStr APAC Agenda for Feb 22-23 in Singapore is Here!

SaaStr

JANUARY 20, 2023

It will be the #1 place to talk SaaS, learn SaaS, and share SaaS learnings in APAC in 2023! We’ll have dozens and dozens of workshops, braindates, and much more! The post The Full SaaStr APAC Agenda for Feb 22-23 in Singapore is Here!

AWS

AWS Cloud Trends Startup

Clouded Judgement 4.28.23

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

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search

5 Interesting Learnings from Okta at $2.5 Billion in ARR

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2024

So Okta is one of our favorite SaaS and Cloud leaders. But like many SaaS and Cloud leaders today, the bigger ones are still growing faster. AWS alone generated $175m of contract value for Okta, growing 130%. The story is super inspiring. And a few other interesting learnings: #6.

Fractional VPE

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Scale SMB

What’s New at Google Cloud with CMO Alison Wagonfeld

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

In the latest installment of SaaStr’s What’s New series – where we sit down with the leaders in SaaS and Cloud for the inside scoop on what’s top of mind and what’s new, SaaStr CEO and Jason Lemkin chats with the CMO of Google Cloud, Alison Wagonfeld.

Cloud

Cloud Scale AWS AI

5 Interesting Learnings from Crowdstrike at ~$3 Billion in ARR

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

jasonlk) November 13, 2023 Not every area of SaaS and Cloud is seeing big “macro” impacts. 64% of Large Customers Sourced From Partners They are AWS’s largest cybersecurity partner. Even in a time of odd uncertainty in Cloud and SaaS. nottooshabbby pic.twitter.com/VOlpHaWcVd — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  ??

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity AWS Benchmarks Cloud

Clouded Judgement 8.4.23 - Cloud Giants Q2 Update

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%. The promise of SaaS is that growth in the early years leads to profits in the mature years. Tailwind of new workloads starting to overtake headwinds of optimizations.

Cloud

Cloud Azure Cost optimization & reporting AWS

User Model: What SaaS platform builders need to know to prepare for growth, Part 1

CloudGeometry

JANUARY 15, 2022

Before you shout “Digital Transformation” in a crowded marketplace, it’s important to recognize two foundational principles in developing a SaaS product plan. First: SaaS is a business strategy, not a technology strategy. Second (a corollary of the first): There is no one-size-fits-all SaaS architecture.

Well Architected Framework

Well Architected Framework DevOps as a Service AWS Traceability

My App Stack: Miguel Carranza, CTO of RevenueCat

SaaStr

AUGUST 13, 2023

We’re kicking off a new series on SaaStr on what top SaaS and Cloud leaders (CROs, CMOs, and CTOs) use in their tech stack. First up is Miguel Carranza, CTO of RevenueCat. It’s the nature of mobile. What’s the number one top new app you’ve added the past year? Linear, Snowflake #3.

New CTO

New CTO CTO AWS Mobile

The SaaS Balancing Act: Always Be Modernizing

CloudGeometry

MARCH 14, 2022

This seems easy, but it’s not, especially when you’re building a SaaS stack and don’t have the deep technical resources to compete with Apple, Facebook, or Google (you’ll get compared to them whether you like it or not). However, in SaaS, the leaders are those who understand that customer needs will always be evolving.

DevOps as a Service

DevOps as a Service Well Architected Framework SaaS AWS

We Just Launched Our ENTIRE SaaStr Annual 2021 Agenda. Get a Front Row Seat to The Best in SaaS!

SaaStr

AUGUST 4, 2021

From AWS to Vimeo: this year’s speaker lineup is packed with incredible speakers and content. Get your ticket now and get a front row seat to the best speakers in SaaS. Mastermind Masterclass: The Most Common SaaS Sales Potholes and How to Avoid Them with Mark Roberge, Founder @ Stage 2 Capital. Will you be there?

Scale

Scale AWS B2C SaaS

Clouded Judgement 12.1.23 - Net New ARR Starts to Rebound + AWS ReInvent Recap

Datadog, ZoomInfo, Atlassian, AWS: Epic Growth — But Some Real Headwinds For The First Time

Webinars

Trending Sources

Shopify Says eCommerce is Back. But AWS Says Cloud Under More Scrutiny.

Webinars

Atlassian and AWS Say: “Maybe Worry a Little Bit”

Why Now is a Great Time to Raise Seed Funding. Even If It’s Awful for Series A-E Rounds.

Top SaaStr Content for the Week: VMware, AWS and Databricks, GUIDEcx’s Co-Founder and VP of Sales, Workshop Wednesday, sessions from SaaStr APAC and more!

Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS?

MacStadium’s VMWare virtualization replacement now available at AWS

Panintelligence Named a 2023 AWS Partner Award Finalist

Session Registration Open for SaaStr Build 2022: Sign Up to Hear HubSpot’s GM, Amplitude’s CEO, AWS’ Head of Customer Success and CircleCI’s CEO

The Top 10 Events in SaaS. According to ChatGPT.

What Are Public SaaS Companies Taken Private At? 7.7x ARR On Average Per SaaSomomics

Gartner: SaaS Will Still Grow 18% in 2023 to $200 Billion Worldwide. And Another 18% in 2024.

Who’s Accelerating in SaaS? DataDog. HubSpot. Zendesk. Everyone.

Join FastSpring at SaaS North 2023!

BowtiedCocoon: Top SaaS SMB AEs have $125k OTEs. But The Best Ones Make $261k.

Mastering Partner Marketing: What NOT to Do and How to Excel with Drata CMO Sydney Sloan

Why Can’t SaaS Companies Just Mint Cash?

ISVs vs SaaS: What’s the Difference?

Clouded Judgement 2.2.24 - Cloud Giants Report Q4 '23

SaaS Multiples Are At a 3+ Year Low. Where It Goes From Here.

5 Interesting Learnings from Digital Ocean at $700,000,000 in ARR

Pilot: 57% of Venture Startups Will Need to Raise More In 2024

Some SaaS Stocks Are Actually Still Doing Pretty Darn Well. E.g, Sprout Social, ZoomInfo, Zscaler, etc.

Cloud Stocks May Be Down. But the Cloud Remains on Fire. That Matters More.

How and why we spent $400K on AWS in 4 months

Clouded Judgement 10.27.23 - Cloud Giants Report Q3 '23

A Look Back at Q4 '23 Public Cloud Software Earnings

5 Interesting Learnings from Canva at Almost $2 Billion in ARR

Top SaaStr Content for the Week: Xero Global’s CSO, G2’s VP – Asia Pacific, Workshop Wednesday and more!

Thanks to Multiplier, Pepper, Tin Men Capital, and To the New’s CloudKeeper for Sponsoring SaaStr APAC 2023!

Bessemer: $1 Trillion in Cloud Market Cap Lost Year-to-Date

Founders Today Just Need to Assume the Next Round Never Comes

The Top 10 SaaStr Posts of 2020

The Full SaaStr APAC Agenda for Feb 22-23 in Singapore is Here!

Clouded Judgement 4.28.23

5 Interesting Learnings from Okta at $2.5 Billion in ARR

What’s New at Google Cloud with CMO Alison Wagonfeld

5 Interesting Learnings from Crowdstrike at ~$3 Billion in ARR

Clouded Judgement 8.4.23 - Cloud Giants Q2 Update

User Model: What SaaS platform builders need to know to prepare for growth, Part 1

My App Stack: Miguel Carranza, CTO of RevenueCat

The SaaS Balancing Act: Always Be Modernizing

We Just Launched Our ENTIRE SaaStr Annual 2021 Agenda. Get a Front Row Seat to The Best in SaaS!

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