Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 26, 2023

It’s a marvel of business with strong growth, great efficiency & the potential to reignite interest in SaaS IPOs. The company raised $455m in venture capital, but has used only $15m, growing nearly entirely on profits. Shopify is a key partner & significant investor in the business. for the last 6 months.

Benchmarks 158

Benchmarks Venture Capital Marketing SMB 158

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

The Bank provides community banking products including lending and comprehensive deposit and treasury management services to small and medium-sized businesses through our California-based branch offices and Denver, Colorado branch office.

Banking 222

Banking Payment Features Venture Capital Subscription 222

Tom Tunguz

MAY 23, 2021

Rather than burn dictating when to raise capital, founders elect to raise when inbound interest arrives, or immediately before launching to sell the dream rather than the metrics, or at other strategic inflection points. A few years ago, raising a large venture round anointed a winner.

Software Review 364

Software Review Venture Capital Cloud Pricing 364

SaaStr

JUNE 20, 2022

An impactful deck that explains your business and the opportunity waiting for investors can often clinch the deal. Logan Allin, Managing Partner at Fin Venture Capital, has reviewed hundreds of deck submissions and shares the secrets to crafting the perfect presentation to win over investors. The Team, the Market, and Metrics.

Venture Capital 187

Venture Capital Management Business Model Investment 187

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The venture capital firm’s mission is to be “entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs.” They highlight aggregate trends over the past five to ten years, particularly how to think about these in today’s business environment. How do the best-in-class companies perform when ARR is treated as a growth metric?

Scale 196

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Venture Capital 196

SaaStr

OCTOBER 7, 2022

The number of global venture capital (VC) investments dipped in 2022, thanks to ongoing geopolitical tensions, turbulence in global capital markets, supply chain issues, and increasing interest rates. Venture capital firms pumped a lot of money into the economy during the pandemic, buying countless software companies.

Venture Capital 200

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Construction 200

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 12, 2024

Every type of investor was broadly operating in a “risk on” mindset given the ZIRP environment, and the venture capital ecosystem was no exception. I hope this post provides a bit of a cautionary tale of raising a mega round ahead of your metrics. 2025 is probably the year of max pain in the venture ecosystem.

Cloud 284

Cloud Venture Capital Acquisition Metrics 284

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 16, 2020

Ideally, the management team should raise more capital to move to the upper right quadrant of the matrix. Venture capital, debt, or negotiating better cash collections (multi-year prepay) are all viable strategies to position the business to press its advantage. First, when should the company raise capital?

Strategy 308

Strategy Startup Venture Capital Acquisition 308

SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2020

This article looks at the history of SaaS as it relates to financial capital and production capital. I argue that standard saas metrics make it possible for founders to scale using debt capital (production capital thats cheaper) instead of solely relying on venture capital (financial capital thats more expensive). .

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital Technical Review SaaS Scale 223

Baremetrics

SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

Equity financing is a method of capital raising via the selling of stock. Businesses grow money for a variety of reasons. They may need cash to meet immediate financial obligations or have a longer-term objective and require capital to invest in their development. Table of Contents. What is Equity Financing in SaaS?

Finance 98

Finance Venture Capital SaaS Payments Payments 98

SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2022

But, over the years as both a founder and a start-up exec, I have raised over $40m in Venture Capital across 4 successful start-ups. Because in Venture Capital, it turns out Getting the First Check is Easy. There should be no big surprises in SaaS from a core business metrics perspective, at least.

Venture Capital 221

Venture Capital Technical Review Finance Investment 221

SaaStr

APRIL 11, 2023

Silicon Valley Bank specialized in venture capital-backed startups, primarily in tech. Understandably, the collapse of a venture bank where companies could lose billions of dollars was staggering. Wait And See DiTargiani has worked in sales and business development roles in Silicon Valley for a long time. Be available.

Banking 203

Banking Sales Hiring Venture Capital Communication 203

SaaStr

APRIL 10, 2023

However, what many businesses may overlook is the startup segment. Often, startups are lumped in with small businesses, yet this approach fails to recognize what motivates and attracts these early-stage companies. We really anchor on these metrics where we can drive conversion rates higher, where we can drive average deal size higher.

Startup 200

Startup Scale SMB Venture Capital 200

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 8, 2019

In 1986, Amar Bhide wrote “ Hustle as Strategy ” for the Harvard Business Review. Opportunities to gain lasting advantage through blockbuster strategic moves are rare in any business. How did these businesses compete? First, they focused on handful of key metrics. Instead, it’s about focus and hustle.

Strategy 225

Strategy Venture Capital Banking Software Review 225

Baremetrics

AUGUST 23, 2021

Now, we use bootstrapping to describe the not quite impossible task of building your business without financing. If you choose not to finance your business by selling part of it to venture capitalists, and you also do not want or cannot secure a loan, then you are left with bootstrapping. What are the bootstrapping stages?

Business 96

Business Payment Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 96

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 16, 2020

Ideally, the management team should raise more capital to move to the upper right quadrant of the matrix. Venture capital, debt, or negotiating better cash collections (multi-year prepay) are all viable strategies to position the business to press its advantage. First, when should the company raise capital?

Strategy 191

Strategy Startup Venture Capital Acquisition 191

SaaStr

JULY 16, 2022

There’s a common meme in Venture Capital that traction is tough to quantify, but you know it when you see it. You’ve established the self-sustaining base of a compounding, powerful SaaS business model. Well, let’s take a stab at it anyway. Quantifying it. Initial Traction — this is the next step.

Scale 258

Scale Venture Capital SaaS Branding 258

SaaStr

AUGUST 13, 2021

Explain how — if the stars align — there’s a clear path to a $100m+ business. A Fully Baked Financial Model — Including Crystal-Clear MRR and Operating Metrics. And call out clear metrics that you are counting on — ACV, # Customers Over Time, Cost of Sales & # of Reps, etc etc. With comps.

Scale 286

Scale Sales Hiring Venture Capital Headcount 286

SaaStr

JUNE 30, 2023

You need to parse through the vanity metrics and figure out what will endure. When I look at the purpose of venture capital, it’s not to burn a dollar five in order to grow a dollar of revenue,” says Magnuson. If we lose sight of those facts, we lose the ability to build enduring businesses. You can’t chase shiny objects.

Scale 187

Scale Mobile Venture Capital Scaling 187

ProfitWell

MARCH 17, 2020

Raised venture capital for his previous startups (Flowtown and Clarity). Funnel metrics. Next up—funnel metrics. Dan says he’s noticed that a lot of founders have a difficult time holding other parts of the business accountable. That’s why funnel metrics are so important. An investor in 40+ startups.

Metrics 59

Metrics Venture Capital Forecasting Consulting 59

SaaStr

MAY 4, 2021

But here are some things that founders do that perhaps suggest you aren’t yet ready to raise venture capital. It may seem logical to you, but take this too far and many VCs won’t think the investment fits their business model. You don’t know your core metrics fluently. And up to a point. For $3m then it’s $30m.”

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Investment Pricing Business Model 225

SaaStr

OCTOBER 17, 2023

If you’ve raised venture capital, you know net revenue retention is important. Are they willing to trust me with more of their business? The most underrated metric at this stage is time-to-value. The feature adoption book of business for Customer Success is about everyone using the product now. Everything!

Scale 169

Scale Sales Hiring Customer Success Scaling 169

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 12, 2014

This post is part of a continuing series evaluating the S-1s of publicly traded SaaS companies in order to better understand the core business and build a library of benchmarks that might be useful to founders. Just how significant is the professional services component to WorkDay’s business?

Benchmarks 110

Benchmarks Deferred Revenue Venture Capital Outsourced Development 110

SaaSHolic

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

In the startup world, “success” has long been measured by the ability to attract venture capital, secure large rounds of funding, and achieve high valuations. The problem is that fundraising sucks all the oxygen from other more crucial aspects of business development.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Entrepreneurship Startup Business Model 52

SaaStr

DECEMBER 5, 2022

Many, however, will eventually switch to the externally funded phase because bootstrapping isn’t for every business. Allissa and Patrick believe that SaaS founders—bootstrapped or not—can pull six key levers to significantly impact their businesses. . Pricing is another vital lever in your business. Lever #1: Tactical retention.

Payments 130

Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Venture Capital 130

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 21, 2017

Venture capitalists have financed many of those businesses. Those venture dollars have financed a panoply of competition. Most businesses are competing with the same strategies as their competition. I’m using SaaS seed rounds as a proxy metric. The SaaS era is about 20 years old.

SaaS 187

SaaS Venture Capital Finance Machine Learning 187

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2023

Pepper shares that ICONIQ, a venture capital firm with $10B under management, made fewer investments last year than ever before. Using these real numbers from real companies, they have a solid insight into the long-term health of businesses. PST, to unveil the data behind effective scaling.

Outsourcing Services 169

Outsourcing Services Scaling Venture Capital Forecasting 169

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 12, 2017

I hesitate to compare and contrast bootstrapped and venture backed businesses, because I’m a venture capitalist and it’s very easy to dismiss any analysis as biased in favor of venture investment. As I’ve said countless times, there are many ways of building a very successful business.

Sales Hiring 201

Sales Hiring Venture Capital Startup Finance 201

SaaStr

MAY 19, 2023

You can’t make money in venture unless you have companies that get to $100M or $200M in revenue within seven to ten years. Understanding what venture capital firms are looking for helps you make the best decisions for your specific company. If you’re frustrated with VCs, you have to understand their business models.

Venture Capital 192

Venture Capital Management Business Model Trends 192

SaaSOptics

JUNE 24, 2021

In a recent webinar, SaaSOptics CEO Tim McCormick and Bigfoot Capital CEO Brian Parks discussed the changes that have taken place across the SaaS financing landscape, particularly those in debt financing of SaaS companies. . So what’s the difference between debt and equity-based financing, and how do you know which is right for you?

Finance 59

Finance Venture Capital SaaS Banking 59

User Pilot

JUNE 13, 2022

We covered the best blogs on SaaS growth, product marketing , UX analytics, venture capital, and sales. The Kalungi blog is focused on educating users about how to implement inbound marketing in their SaaS businesses. The Brad Feld blog is one of the best venture capital blogs dedicated to entrepreneurs and investors.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital SaaS Data Scale 52

Totango

JANUARY 15, 2019

While it’s no doubt a thrill to pursue and persuade a new customer to work with your enterprise, for software and subscription-based businesses, the real value lies in customer retention. The digital transformation of businesses has given us a wealth of new ways to directly engage with customers and keep the relationship fresh.

Retention 75

Retention Subscription Payment Features Strategy 75

Kellblog

AUGUST 21, 2022

Answer: a small business [1]. When you make a list of key SaaS metrics, you’ll rarely find age listed among them. But that’s why we have other metrics like cash conversion score. Different metrics measure different things and these ones are focused solely on size/growth vs. age.

Venture Capital 118

Venture Capital Retention Finance Scaling 118

Chart Mogul

JUNE 8, 2018

On what it takes for SaaS startups to get venture capital funding today. “If you want to raise capital from a VC fund then it only makes sense if you really have the ambition and a very strong desire to do something really really big.” So what are Christoph and his team at Point Nine Capital really looking for?

Venture Capital 84

Venture Capital Software Review Scale Startup 84

SaaStr

AUGUST 25, 2023

You have to understand how venture capital works. You have to see: A couple of good hires brought in Improvement on some metrics A big deal or two hanging out there, brought in and closed Things taken off your plate. If, in one sales cycle, things aren’t improving on several core metrics, they never will. No, it won’t.

Part-Time VPE 173

Part-Time VPE Scale Sales Hiring CTO Hire 173

SaaStr

JULY 17, 2020

Keith Rabois: Second way to go is typically, when you do your discounted cashflow for those of you who went to business school or something, you’re basic applying it, the key variables, actually your discount rate and with the effective interest rates being so low, your discount rate is basically negligible. That’s one thesis.

Venture Capital 181

Venture Capital Travel PayPal Scale 181

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 25, 2022

Though the SaaS segment hasn’t emerged untouched from market-wide volatility, SaaS continues to attract high multiples and significant investment interest in companies with strong business models and strong growth rates. If the business is compelling then it’s not an issue to raise at a good valuation.”. Article Sources: .

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Cybersecurity Forecasting Finance 52