Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

Q4 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., We then dipped below the trendline as we hit the period of “cloud optimizations,” and things have started to rebound.

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Azure AWS 177

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

Many of the fundamental business models that were once engraved in the SaaS playbook are now changing thanks to a tougher macro environment and a maturing market. PST, Stephanie Opdam, Partner at Notion Capital, shares four business model changes that will allow SaaS companies to build resilience and staying power over time.

Business Model 258

Business Model SaaS Payments Payments Headcount 258

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

The surge in pipeline is notable given the uncertainty in the market but the close rates are low & sales cycles slow : another confirmatory data point for startups to plan cautiously in 2023. Channel sales have become stronger. I’m adding Cloudflare to the list of tracked companies for this series.

Cloud 226

Cloud Azure Headcount Software Review 226

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. This week Walmart and Home Depot reported earnings (I know, not the usual cloud software suspects!). One one hand - the economy added >400k jobs in January and retail sales grew 3% month-over-month, both above expectations.

Cloud 130

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Revenue 130

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Sales during November have turned higher as unseasonal weather abated and we kicked off holiday events. So sales have been somewhat uneven, and this gives us reason to think slightly more cautiously about the consumer versus 90 days ago.”

Cloud 152

Cloud Subscription Payment Features Trends 152

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. The weakness they called out was from larger cloud-native businesses. However, they called out strength when looking at new business (ie net new customer signups). Follow along to stay up to date! On the surface, it wasn’t good.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

In case u missed @SaaStrAnnual State of the Cloud w @bdeeter @TheValuesVC. ??Future Cloud proliferating globally ??B2B This will usher in unlimited potential for new innovation and growth in SaaS and Cloud. # 2 Cloud is Eating Software. Now, across all industries, 94% of companies today use at least one cloud solution.

Technical Review 305

Technical Review Cloud Software Review Technology 305

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Meanwhile, FCF margins stayed quite strong, with a median Q2 FCF margin of 12% Sales efficiency also dramatically improved in Q2. It shows the number of months it takes for a SaaS business to payback their fully burdened CAC on a gross profit basis.

Cloud 169

Cloud Software Review AWS Trends 169

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. All of these broadly falling into the bucket of customers looking to spend less, with a similar marginal cost structure for the cloud providers (hence the lower operating margin from AWS). Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting 130

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 2, 2021

But the clouds are rolling in for open source companies (pun intended). Today, open source software faces an identity crisis: what does it mean to be an open source company in the cloud? This decision will impact the business for the next 24 months and beyond. With that strategy, they’ve built huge businesses.

Cloud 267

Cloud Sales Hiring Banking Enterprise 267

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Can You Beat the Market Investing Businesses With in 10x+ NTM Revenue Multiples? This week I saw the below tweet and it got me thinking - can you beat the market investing in software businesses at a >10x NTM revenue multiple?

Cloud 130

Cloud Pricing Investment Revenue 130

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Q3 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis.

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 177

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 2, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. From SentinelOne: “Macroeconomic pressures continue to impact deal sizes, sales cycles, and pipeline conversion rates. It shows the number of months it takes for a SaaS business to payback their fully burdened CAC on a gross profit basis.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends SMB Subscription 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. How Will AI Effect Software Business Models? In particular - how AI will effect software business models. They have massive distribution (installed customers + sales teams), and margin to play around with. What do I mean by this?

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

Nimble - Sales

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Navigate 2024’s small business sales landscape with confidence. Gain insights into key prospecting techniques and strategies for robust sales growth. This dynamic environment challenges businesses to adapt, with a focus on customer-centric strategies.

Strategy 63

Strategy Sales Business Cloud 63

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 31, 2023

Open source software has evolved from a movement into a big business. Open source is a marketing strategy that fills the top of the sales funnel with users who may later convert to paying customers. These permissive licenses might enable competitors to offer competing products or clouds to host managed versions.

Business Model 170

Business Model Business Scale Sales Funnel 170

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 22, 2023

The Data Center business, which sells to clouds & consumer companies drove nearly all of the growth, surging 141% quarter-over-quarter to $10.3b & nearly 3x annually. If we needed another exclamation point on the tremendous growth opportunity, NVidia’s earnings punctuated the euphoria with gusto.

AI 241

AI Pricing Business Cloud 241

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 23, 2022

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. For software businesses, generally the sales capacity goes up every quarter (as you ramp more reps), so you want the net new ARR added every quarter to go up. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring Trends Subscription 130

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Retail sales / PPI also came in very hot, supporting the “strong consumer” narrative. It shows the number of months it takes for a SaaS business to payback their fully burdened CAC on a gross profit basis.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure Revenue Subscription 130

SaaStr

APRIL 27, 2023

So whether you’re starting out, building your startup, or scaling up to meet the needs of consumers, business, and society, we connect you with the right people, products, and best practices to help you thrive and grow. QuotaPath is the most adaptable compensation solution to bring Sales, RevOps, and Finance all on the same page.

Cloud 214

Cloud Scale Startup Sales Hiring 214

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2022

Jessica Alexander, Senior Director Cloud Technology & OEM Partnerships, Crowdstrike. So for the audience, cloud giants are turbocharging startup sales, and the predominant reason for this is because they’re fundamentally changing IT budgets at the customers that we’re all selling to. Rico Mallozzi, Sr.

Scale 204

Scale Marketplace as a Service Cloud SaaS Payments 204

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 23, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. I posted a longer recap that you can find here , but wanted to highlight a few trends around growth, net retention, sales efficiency and FCF margins. On sales efficiency (I use gross margin adjusted CAC payback), we saw a huge spike in Q1.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Retention Subscription 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 20, 2022

One thing that is clear is that public SaaS and Cloud stock prices are way down. Sales tools seem under more pressure right now than infrastructure, for example. Sales tools seem under more pressure right now than infrastructure, for example. The post Gartner: Business Software Spend Still Forecast to Rise 11.3%

Forecasting 253

Forecasting Artificial Intelligence Software Business 253

SaaStr

OCTOBER 8, 2023

A Simple Guide To Being in the Top 25% of Sales Professionals Dear SaaStr: What Does A Salesperson Need To Do To “Earn Your Business”? SaaStr 688: The State of the Cloud 2023 with Bessemer Venture Partners    Top Videos This Week: 1. How AI is Changing the Way We Work with OpenAI’s Head of Sales 5.

Scale 263

Scale Sales AI Startup 263

SaaStr

MARCH 19, 2021

The Cloud is expanding and moving forward at a phenomenal rate, so we invited the team at Bessemer Venture Partners back to SaaStr to unveil their latest findings in the 2021 State of the Cloud. Is Cloud growth sustainable for the long term? Then if we look at the top five public cloud companies. Hello Unicorns .

Cloud 205

Cloud Scale Payment Methods Payment Solutions 205

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Q2 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., Source: company filings FCF Margin FCF is an important metric to evaluate in SaaS businesses.

Cloud 169

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 169

User Pilot

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

In the article, we look at 12 solid contenders for this title, covering a few most common use cases: In-app user engagement Sales funnel management Customer support Analytics and reporting Marketing Collaboration and project management Let's dive right in! What are the best Salesforce integrations in 2024?

Payments 105

Payments Payment Services Payment Methods Payment Solutions 105

SaaStr

JANUARY 8, 2021

When you’re trying to grow your SaaS business, the challenges can stack against you. In this guide, Sahir Azam, Chief Product Officer at MongoDB, and Javier Molina, SVP at MongoDB, share their journey to increasing company revenue through their cohesive sales and product relationship. Inside Sales. Enterprise Field Sales.

Scale 271

Scale Sales Cloud Enterprise 271

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 12, 2023

Q4 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., As you can see from the data below most cloud businesses beat the consensus estimates for Q4.

Cloud 161

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 161

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2023

Typically, sales leaders are the primary focus of CRO Confidential, but increased demand for this concept of founder-led sales lands us in front of a new and powerful productivity startup called Roam. The most important thing you can do in a B2B business is make a product you use yourself. And that’s where Roam comes in.

Scale 197

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Business 197

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 20, 2023

Q1 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., But what we’re really looking for is budgets expanding, shortening sales cycles, less pressure on expansion, etc.

Cloud 161

Cloud Software Benchmarks Scale 161

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 5, 2023

Lower interest rates can stimulate economic activity by making it cheaper for businesses and consumers to borrow money for everything from expanding a business to buying a home. When taxes are collected from individuals and businesses, those funds are deposited into the TGA. government's general daily operations.

Payment Services 169

Payment Services Cloud Government Banking 169

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Q3 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g., As you can see from the data below most cloud businesses beat the consensus estimates for Q3. Let’s dive in.

Cloud 130

Cloud Software Review Software Benchmarks 130

SaaStr

MAY 5, 2019

Join our Quora group to get all of The Week in Cloud updates throughout the week. The sham began in February, when an unknown user with a Chinese IP address and fake phone number side-stepped Zillow’s security measures and toyed with the sale prices displayed on the mansion’s listing.”. One space in cloud where growth slowed.

Cloud 156

Cloud AWS Pricing Revenue 156

SaaStr

MARCH 6, 2024

So Okta is one of our favorite SaaS and Cloud leaders. Much, Much, Much More Efficient Than 12-24 Months Ago The story of almost every Cloud leader. But like many SaaS and Cloud leaders today, the bigger ones are still growing faster. Way, way too many startups focus 100% on direct sales. The story is super inspiring.

Fractional VPE 226

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Scale SMB 226

SaaStr

MAY 5, 2022

What are some of the foundational ways sales leaders can think about building their sales teams as their company continues to expand and grow? There’s no shortage of ways to tackle this challenge, but one thing is clear: build sales teams thoughtfully and intentionally. Principle #1: Ownership is Key.

Scale 218

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 218

How To Buy Saas

APRIL 29, 2024

Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are becoming increasingly popular among businesses as a means of streamlining operations and increasing productivity. You should make sure that the software as a service provider follows the security procedures and compliance regulations that are typical in the business.

Systems Review 52

Systems Review Software Review Cloud Software 52