SaaStr

MARCH 1, 2024

So Michael Ho did an analysis here of Carta valuation data in a way that IMHO visualizes in a way so many founders miss. At the end of the day, the top SaaS companies IPO and end up trading at “standard” ARR multiples. If they raised $2m, that would be a – $200k pre-money valuation! And misunderstand.

Revenue 282

Revenue AI Startup Investment 282

SaaStr

JULY 2, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Everyone Has a Side Hustle Now. The Top Things Founders Get Wrong When They Start a SaaS Company Dear SaaStr: What Are Some of the Qualities of a “Bad” Startup CEO? Valuation: The Founder Playbook with Loom’s CEO and Co-Founder 2.

Startup 238

Startup Scaling Software SaaS 238

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. From $1B Valuation in 2018 to $20B+ Today.

AWS 279

AWS B2C AI Scaling 279

SaaStr

AUGUST 13, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: 5 Top Tips to Drive Down Churn in The Early Days 5 Interesting Learnings from Atlassian at $3.2 SaaStr 680: The Most Important SaaS Metrics of 2023 with monday.com Co-Founders and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin  2.

Scale 245

Scale Churn Scaling Metrics 245

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Three Valuation Lows in SaaS: 2013, 2016, and 2022 5 Interesting Learnings from Doximity at $450,000,000 in ARR Is Cold Calling Dead? 74% of You Say No!

Scale 231

Scale Enterprise Churn Startup 231

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Next Great SaaS IPO is Officially Coming: Klaviyo The Official Guide to SaaStr Annual 2023 Parties and Side Events!! At the Top SaaS Companies, Founder-CEOs Own ~15% at IPO. From 2 Weeks of Runway to a $1.5B

AI 237

AI Startup Scaling SaaS 237

SaaStr

AUGUST 27, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Irreplaceable But Toxic Employee SaaStr Annual 2023 Will Return Sept 6-8, 2023, SF Bay Area The Official Guide to SaaStr Annual 2023 Parties and Side Events! The Top 10 Worst Pieces of SaaS Advice with SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin 2.

Startup 232

Startup Scaling Metrics SaaS 232

SaaStr

JULY 9, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: 5 Interesting Learnings from MongoDB at $1.5 Valuation: The Founder Playbook with Loom Co-Founder and CEO Joe Thomas                                      Top Videos This Week: 1.

B2B 224

B2B Startup Retention Software 224

SaaStr

DECEMBER 21, 2023

What’s really going on in the world of SaaS right now, from software valuations to business performance to interest rates? PST, Jamin Ball, Partner at Altimeter Capital and author of Clouded Judgement , took us through the current state of SaaS and what we should expect in 2024. Software is a riskier investment.

SaaS 269

SaaS Software Metrics Revenue 269

SaaStr

JULY 23, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: The Cold Hard Truths About SaaS in 2023 with Jason Lemkin The Cold Hard Truths About SaaS in 2023 with Jason Lemkin Part 2 Want To Steal a Customer from the Competition? Hosted by Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund  2.

Retention 228

Retention Revenue SaaS Customer Success 228

SaaStr

JUNE 25, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Everyone Has a Side Hustle Now. Valuation: The Founder Playbook with Loom Co-Founder and CEO Joe Thomas   3. SaaStr 666: Scaling a SaaS Startup to $1B+ ARR: Insights from UiPath’s CEO and Founder Daniel Dines  5.

Startup 217

Startup Scaling Customer Success SaaS 217

SaaStr

JULY 30, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: 93% of You Say Competitors Lie To Close Deals. 30+ SaaS CEOs Share The Signs Their First VP of Sales … Just Wasn’t Going to Work Out (Updated) Want To Steal a Customer from the Competition? From 2 Weeks of Runway to a $1.5B

Startup 208

Startup Pricing Revenue SaaS 208

SaaStr

AUGUST 20, 2023

SaaStr 680: The Most Important SaaS Metrics of 2023 with monday.com Co-Founders and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin    3. The Most Important SaaS Metrics of 2023 with monday.com Co-Founders and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin 2. Valuation: The Founder Playbook with Loom’s CEO and Co-Founder 5. From 2 Weeks of Runway to a $1.5B

Churn 192

Churn Scaling Metrics Startup 192

OPEXEngine

JULY 26, 2022

Even when the market is repricing and falling, key growth metrics remain fundamental targets to maintain or grow company value because they remain highly correlated to higher valuations, even in this market. Valuations are still pegged to top-level growth metrics, balanced by operating profitability. Revenue growth rates. Rule of 40.

Marketing 52

Marketing SaaS Benchmarks Metrics 52

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

The SaaS Funding Napkin. What began as a blog post in 2016 has evolved into a yearly exploration and survey to founders and investors to discover what it really takes to raise capital for SaaS companies. The Evolution of SaaS Funding From 2016 to 2021. Valuation – 2016: $1M – $3M. 2021: $2M – $5M.

Finance 315

Finance Product Marketing SaaS Investment 315

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2023

Shopify, Canva, Monday and tons of other SaaS leaders less focused on tech and startups had big years. But overall, overall … well SaaS and Cloud growth hit record lows per the BVP Cloud Index: As you can see, even though 2022 was a tough year in the public markets and for valuations, revenue growth still held up reasonably well.

Azure 321

Azure Cloud SaaS Trends 321

SaaStr

OCTOBER 12, 2023

They’ve led later stage investments in the best in SaaS and Cloud. But a bit skeptical of AI valuations, and overfunded deals. Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr one of the best-performing early-stage venture funds focused on SaaS. Structure is often part of these valuation resets, is structure to rounds always bad?

Investment 254

Investment AI Cloud Scale 254

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Datadog, ZoomInfo, Atlassian, AWS: Epic Growth — But Some Real Headwinds For The First Time. Gartner: SaaS Spend In the Enterprise Will Grow 17% to $195 Billion in 2023. 5 Interesting Learnings from Duolingo at $360,000,000 in ARR.

Sales Recruiting 248

Sales Recruiting AWS Compensation Enterprise 248

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2023

G2 had us back for another great deep dive on just where SaaS investing is there days, and it was a great panel: Accel Partner Arun Mathew Inspired Capital Founder & Managing Partner Alexa von Tobel Salesforce Ventures Managing Partner Paul Drews and Jason Lemkin! It will be crucial to strike the right valuation balance.

B2B 241

B2B Investment Venture Capital Scale 241

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 14, 2020

The typical SaaS company grows faster, loses more money, and has a higher valuations than product sale companies. Public SaaS Companies. -8%. High-growth SaaS companies are often unprofitable. However, many unprofitable SaaS companies are cash flow positive because of the upfront SaaS payments by B2B clients.

SaaS Payments 59

SaaS Payments SaaS Scale Customer Lifetime Value 59

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

By the end of the year, valuation multiples for Cloud companies hadn’t just fallen below the 10-year trailing average but below the pre-pandemic long-term average we were used to seeing. While that deal has yet to close, it demonstrates that best-in-class Cloud companies can derive a valuation premium, even in an extremely tough environment.

Cloud 271

Cloud Payments Software Review Payment Solutions 271

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Given the massive downturn that started 18 months ago, many SaaS founders are nervous about what it takes to raise capital in SaaS in 2023 / 2024. Christoph Janz, General Partner of Point Nine Capital, shares what it takes to raise capital in SaaS, overall investment activity in 2023, and how to develop a convincing AI strategy.

AI 200

AI Underperforming Technical Team Cloud Strategy 200

Valuize Consulting

DECEMBER 21, 2022

2022’s impact on the SaaS industry was significant, deeply impactful, and turbulent. We’ve compiled our top 5 most-read customer success blog posts of the year that reflect the key priorities for the industry in 2022 and give us a glimpse into the trends that will be shaping the domain in 2023. Read Article. Read Article.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Churn Subscription Payment Features 52

SaaStr

JULY 16, 2023

Check out this week’s top blog posts, podcasts, and videos: Top Blog Posts This Week: Why Booths Work at Top Industry Events. Billion in ARR G2: 49% of Buyers Are Increasing Spend, But 47% Are Going Less Than Annual The Cold Hard Truths About SaaS in 2023 with Jason Lemkin Top Podcasts This Week: 1. Selling Your Startup?

Startup 172

Startup Retention Software Strategy 172

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2023

today SaaS didn't take time off during a banking crisis! link] — Jason Be Kind Lemkin  (@jasonlk) March 14, 2023 So does SaaS take time off? valuation Cvent is going private again at a $4.5B valuation Momentive is going private at $1.5B valuation Private Equity really hasn’t taken any time off.

Banking 244

Banking SaaS Business Scaling 244

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Founder and General Partner of Craft Ventures, David Sacks, shares his perspective on what to expect from SaaS in 2024. Can you raise a Series A if you’re not “AI SaaS?” Can You Raise A Series A If You’re Not AI SaaS? So, can you raise a Series A if you’re not “AI SaaS?” Is everything going to be focused on AI?

SaaS Payments 241

SaaS Payments Payment Solutions AI SaaS 241

SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2023

Recently caught up with a great founder coming up on $40m ARR, but it had been a slog They raised a round at $100m valuation years back but weren’t about to raise again Their #1 competitor raised at $2.1B. One is how certain startups will just “grow into their valuations”. They’ve grown into their $1B valuation from 4+ years ago.

Banking 270

Banking Startup Acquisition Pricing 270

SaaStr

MARCH 23, 2023

2022 was a year of dealing with the fallout of fallen unicorns, terrible deals, and slashed valuations. It’s Year 2 of the Venture Downturn in SaaS. Outside of a few crazy outliers, no one really wants to believe in the Series A or later stages that a start-up can grow into an outsized valuation. A reality has set in.

Startup 336

Startup SaaS Investment Marketing 336

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2023

So the markets are still down and multiples are still low, but growth rates in SaaS and Cloud are slowly creeping back. If you can raise at a high valuation today though … should you? The best in SaaS and Cloud are still growing at epic rates. So unicorns remain rare but we may have bounced off the lows. But let’s simplify.

Cloud 236

Cloud AI Acquisition Branding 236

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

Hundreds of new SaaS unicorns were minted, sometimes as early as $10m ARR and is some cases, even earlier. Now, imagine you raised at a $1B valuation at $20m ARR, and fast forward to today, things are OK but not great. That means most SaaS unicorns are unfundable. Probably most SaaS unicorns today, in fact.

Startup 323

Startup SaaS Scaling 323

SaaStr

MARCH 10, 2024

The New Normal: 700 Employees at $200,000,000 in ARR Many SaaS and Cloud leaders are already there — especially the highest performers, from Cloudflare to Canva to ServiceNow. Not just unicorns and startups, but almost every public SaaS company had negative operating margins. It’s the only way to IPO now with any tolerable valuation.

SMB 267

SMB Cloud Startup Scaling 267

SaaStr

AUGUST 24, 2023

They stopped raising at $100m valuation There’s something to be said for stopping there. — Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin  (@jasonlk) August 20, 2023 So each time you raise money at a certain valuation, you’re raising the price you have to sell for, and in that sense, decreasing optionality. . Now it starts to get harder.

Venture Capital 208

Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing Investment 208

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of SaaS, Venture Capital, Bootstrapping, and Valuations – understanding market trends and investment patterns is critical. We’ll explain Jason’s take on the recent market fluctuations, highlighting major deals that shaped investment patterns and their effects on valuation trends.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 238

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2022

But overall, valuations and prices post-Series A still remain way ahead of where they were up until 2018. Even though things are down, SaaS overall and valuations are still much, much stronger than anytime before 2019. Fenwick’s data on valuation increases going all the way back to 2005 illustrates that: #4.

Pricing 318

Pricing Social Media B2C Startup 318

SaaStr

MAY 3, 2021

It can be hard to tell from the media and Twitter just what’s happening in SaaS and Cloud startups these days. We see emerging leaders like Brex quickly raise at $7B+ and ClickUp raise at $1B just months after raising at a fraction of those valuations. Sometimes at 2x-3x the valuation of just months before.

Startup 345

Startup Cloud SaaS Data 345

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2022

You can see the simply massive decline in the total amounts of VC capital raised this year here: A few specific learnings: The median pre-money valuation for Series D or later deals dropped from a record high of $3.5 For Series C deals, median pre-money valuations dropped from $502 million in June 2022 to $130 million in September 2022.

Education 313

Education Startup Pricing Investment 313

SaaStr

OCTOBER 24, 2022

And one of the most confusing thing is that: Many of the best SaaS and Cloud companies. No, what’s happened is a realization that at least in today’s climate, if you raised at a huge valuation — the next round just isn’t going to come. For the most part, Growth Stage investing, roughly deals at $500m valuations and up, is frozen now.

Startup 328

Startup Banking Cloud B2B 328