Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 7, 2023

Perhaps there’s a parallel in buyer psychology in software & in venture capital. I wonder if later-stage investors will begin to use employee exercise rate as an input to their diligence for this reason - especially during this next transition period where the capital markets plateau & renormalize.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Software Review Data Marketing 100

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

After several years of booming business in SaaS, the world of fundraising nearly gave everyone whiplash when capital stopped flowing as freely in 2022 as it did in 2021. So, what exactly is happening in the venture capital world, and what do startup founders need to know? They’re just going to get a little bit better.”

Venture Capital 193

Venture Capital Sales Hiring Social Media Healthcare 193

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Fundraising with a successful VC firm is a huge goal for entrepreneurs, especially in the early stages of the business. During an enlightening session at SaaStr Europa 2022, Zach Coelius (Managing Partner at Coelius Capital) and Tiffany Luck (Investor at GGV Capital) share the secrets and lesser-known players in the world of venture capital.

Venture Capital 208

Venture Capital Management Metrics Investment 208

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2023

Lemkin describes the sudden shift of capital being cut off that forced leadership to change strategy: “Sometimes these companies are struggling, but for the most part, COOs are waking up to the fact that there’s just no more money coming. That’s the issue; that’s what’s fueling layoffs.”.

Venture Capital 181

Venture Capital Investment Sales Hiring Entrepreneurship 181

Baremetrics

APRIL 21, 2021

At Bigfoot Capital , we wanted to know how early-stage companies think about capital as a component of their business. To do so, we decided to ask 30 SaaS Founders their thoughts on raising money and venture capital. Raising Capital for Your SaaS Business. Building a profitable business is a priority.”

Venture Capital 71

Venture Capital SaaS Finance Scale 71

Tom Tunguz

MAY 22, 2016

To thrive, venture capital firms must perform three things well: raise capital from limited partners, source companies to invest in, and pick the best opportunities. Which turns out to be a very similar conversation among early stage co-founders: which is the best business to start right now? I’m excited to see.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Investment Startup Business 113

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of SaaS, Venture Capital, Bootstrapping, and Valuations – understanding market trends and investment patterns is critical. SaaS businesses were forced to adapt quickly or risk being left behind as consumer behaviors shifted dramatically due to lockdowns and social distancing measures.

Venture Capital 220

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 220

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

When reps want a $160k+ OTE for hitting say a $400k attainment, really, that’s only possible when fueled with a lot of venture capital. Not a bad thing per se, but it also put a lot of pressure on business models. Either higher quotas, lower attainment, or for a while, even more venture capital.

Scale 315

Scale Venture Capital Sales Hiring Sales 315

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2023

The expert group of investor panelists – Accel Partner Arun Mathew , Inspired Capital Founder & Managing Partner Alexa von Tobel , and Salesforce Ventures Managing Partner Paul Drews – tackled a wide range of topics, from the volatility of the investment landscape to understanding the nuances of building a successful, durable business.

B2B 224

B2B Investment Venture Capital Scale 224

OPEXEngine

JANUARY 28, 2020

As alternative financing solutions attract more attention from entrepreneurs, some VC investors are noticing more startups are turning to these options for their growth and working capital needs, many times mixing and matching RBF with a term loan, line of credit with a forward commitment, or both. Funding options by stage of growth.

Venture Capital 61

Venture Capital Finance Payments Revenue 61

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

A mediocre “business guy” that can’t really marketing and sales won’t really get you those key early customers. Raising venture capital is really, really hard — and only available to a small subset of founders. Venture capital is a niche type of funding and 99% of startups will never be able to raise venture capital.

Venture Capital 273

Venture Capital Startup CTO SaaS 273

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2021

Now every 6 months or every 3 months some startups receive termsheets valuing their business. If things continue as they are, the venture capital ecosystem will mimic the stock market, which marks companies to market every minute. At the same time, venture capital fundraising sets records each year. Just kidding.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Innovation Startup Acquisition 277

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Isn’t venture capital, well risk capital? If founders have been at it for 5+ years, and the business is truly at scale, and past the risk stage, then helping them sell some shares can be just the right thing to help them go long. Venture Capital just doesn’t work properly without trust.

Startup 238

Startup Venture Capital Investment Scaling 238

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2020

Q: Are there too many VC dollars seeking too few viable business opportunities in 2020? and the exiting funds have raised vastly more capital than before. All in, there is a fairly tiny amount of venture capital relative to the long-term value of the companies they invest in. Of course not.

Venture Capital 146

Venture Capital Business Cloud Investment 146

Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 13, 2024

You can’t charge enough to support your sales team, much less the other fixed costs of the business. In venture capital, we always ask ourselves “why now?” A $500 sales-led product normally cannot exist. Maybe it should exist, but it’s truly the “dead zone” of products. AI will help retain people for your widget.

Venture Capital 108

Venture Capital AI Business Model Cloud 108

SaaStr

JULY 18, 2022

Gartner: businesses will spend $100,000,000,000 more on software in 2023 than 2022. As of July 2022, Gartner predicts: Overall business software spend will still grow a stunning 11.8% Cloud stock prices have still fallen 50%+ from their highs, venture capital funding is way down as a result, and many are getting nervous about things.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Software Cloud Forecasting 333

SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2022

So much has changed in venture capital since the start of the year, and many founders don’t fully understand it. It’s just a radically different business than it was in January. And founders don’t really need to understand all the changes in venture capital. But they should understand some.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Investment Pricing 290

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

There’s no question that video is going to continue to be a critical medium for both individuals and businesses. Before heading to Silicon Valley for Google, he worked for DoubleClick, in venture capital and as a strategy consultant. The post Doubling Down: Satya Patel, Partner at Homebrew appeared first on SaaStr.

Marketplace as a Service 236

Marketplace as a Service Venture Capital Entertainment Construction 236

SaaStr

JULY 28, 2023

So Capchase surveyed 900 SaaS businesses between $1m and $15m ARR, and their data showed what I’ve seen as well: it’s tougher out there,and media growth is down. And the median at $1m ARR was “just” 60% annual growth. But the top performers in 2023 are doing just about as well as any other year.

Venture Capital 195

Venture Capital Startup SaaS Data 195

Buffer Resources

AUGUST 2, 2023

I was working at a Venture Capital firm and was feeling the itch to create something new on my own. After some time in Venture Capital, I took the knowledge I built around market research and started applying it to my personal life. I have historically always balanced having jobs and online businesses.

Business 91

Business Venture Capital Technical Review Trends 91

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 13, 2022

In the 2000s, when capital was scarcer, founders & VCs would derive round size by debating the quantum of money required to achieve Series B milestones. When capital is scarce, it’s rationed. In the 2010s, US venture capital grew 40x in 10 years. In 2021, employment costs per capital increased to roughly $200k.

Headcount 305

Headcount Venture Capital Finance Startup 305

SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Why The Business Model of Venture Capital is Really, Really Hard. Conan Economics, or How to Crush Your Enemies with Expensify CEO David Barrett. CEO Systems: 5 Lessons Learned from Scaling at Every Growth Phase with HashiCorp CEO Dave McJannet. appeared first on SaaStr.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Business Model B2B Startup 274

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2022

But the #1 leader in SaaS business software has hit big headwinds. Where Venture Capital Really is Right Now, With Accel, Iconiq Growth, and Salesforce Ventures at G2 Reach. SaaStr 615: Where Venture Capital Really is Right Now, With Accel, Iconiq Growth, and Salesforce Ventures at G2 Reach.   .

Scale 184

Scale Venture Capital Sales Forecasting 184

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Mary was previously named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Venture Capital and is a protagonist in a Harvard Business School case on Bessemer’s Century Fund. Prior to Bessemer, Mary worked in Equity Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and held roles at Apple and at the U.S.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Benchmarks Cloud compliance 225

The Angel VC

MAY 17, 2017

For VCs, the question is how many of these companies can become large enough to make the (admittedly somewhat weird) business model of venture capitalists work. Not yet convinced that you shouldn’t raise venture capital? :) Let us know ! Large VCs need multiple unicorns just to survive.

Business Model 180

Business Model Venture Capital SaaS Underperforming Technical Team 180

The Angel VC

MARCH 11, 2016

Some people thought it was provocative though, and some chimed in with good feedback: @hunterwalk building ANY business is hard — Jonathan Abrams (@abrams) March 5, 2016 Therefore I thought it would be worth following up on the topic to make sure that my message is clear. 2) Getting a SaaS company from 0 to $1-2M in ARR is hard.

Venture Capital 190

Venture Capital Business Scale Startup 190

SaaStr

JUNE 1, 2023

Carta is a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses, and invest in the companies of tomorrow. The company is trusted by more than 30,000 companies, over 5,000 investment funds, and half a million employees for cap table management, compensation management, liquidity venture capital solutions, and more.

Scale 197

Scale Payments Payment Solutions Artificial Intelligence 197

Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 6, 2024

For Founders Make It Make Sense Venture capital is where innovation meets investment. In the world of sports, collaborating with the agencies and partners that represent an athlete’s business affairs can be a great resource in the event you don’t have a personal connection and want to lock in a partnership.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Innovation Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 100

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Our breadth and depth of expertise and A-SCEND, our proprietary compliance management platform, enable you to assess against the leading cybersecurity compliance frameworks important to your business – with one partner. We support our exceptional founders on their extraordinary journeys, with life time capital and a value-add platform.

Cybersecurity 240

Cybersecurity Venture Capital compliance Government 240

SaaStr

OCTOBER 27, 2023

But when you have an established sales business without an established sales process, you can hire the VP of Sales. Venture capital is a niche niche niche asset class only designed for outliers. Venture capital is particularly selective, so aim to stand out by generating impressive numbers. Is that a good approach?

Sales Hiring 248

Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital Generative AI 248

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

With only say 30–40 employees to service $4m-$6m in revenue, even the loss of one key hire can seem almost fatal to the business. SaaStr From $10m ARR on: Capital Inefficiency. You can raise ever more venture capital to fund it, or you can try to stay more capital efficient but often trade off some growth just when it’s getting going.

Sales Recruiting 262

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Startup Scale 262

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 211

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Construction 211

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

But you can’t base your business model purely on gut instinct: you need to understand the problem by conducting serious research. Many start-ups think they need to net venture capital to jumpstart their growth. Understand the business value of great UX design. Good user design can make or break a business.

Scale 213

Scale Venture Capital Sales Hiring SMB 213

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2023

Many founders hit the brakes on growth to pivot towards profitability when in reality, the right combination is aiming for durable growth with a profitable business model. What’s your pulse check on the venture markets right now, today? Be careful not to over-rotate based on short-term market dynamics.

Technical Review 214

Technical Review Software Review Payment Solutions Venture Capital 214

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2020

4: Growing & Scaling SaaS Businesses from $1M to $500M in ARR with Intercom. . #3: “Shifting Your Sales & GTM Strategy in Uncertain Times with Salesforce” Another top session from SaaStr Summit, senior leaders from Salesforce do a deep dive on how their sales processes have changed since shelter-at-home.

Venture Capital 273

Venture Capital Scale Cloud Scaling 273

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

The US venture capital ecosystem has grown 40x in dollars from $8b to $320b invested in 10 years. Fueled by this capital, startup company formation rates touched fifteen-year highs in 2021. The Decade of Data is just a few years in & already it has transformed the way we do business.

Venture Capital 195

Venture Capital Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Innovation 195

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2023

You should always have a base case which guides your business. If you need to raise venture capital, preparation is important, both in terms of process and in terms of expectation alignment. Understand what success looks like for them because it will dictate how they want you to run your business.

SaaS Payments 206

SaaS Payments Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 206