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

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. I’ve put together a number of charts below to show how metrics from this quarter compared to prior quarters. Meanwhile, FCF margins stayed quite strong, with a median Q2 FCF margin of 12% Sales efficiency also dramatically improved in Q2.

Cloud 169

Cloud Software Review AWS Trends 169

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 21, 2023

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

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 177

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

Sales Efficiency. -. In other words, customers pay for their own hardware, rather than using GitLab’s cloud, which reduces the costs of goods sold and boosts gross margin relative to other cloud products. The sales efficiency of 0.67 Revenue, $M. Revenue Growth. -. Gross Margin. Net Income Margin.

Metrics 284

Metrics Outsourced Development Scale Cloud 284

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. “New logo and new product bookings and deal cycles haven't been impacted by the period of optimization and we continue to see healthy growth on the sales side.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

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

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 2, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. One of my favorite metrics to look at is net new ARR added in a quarter. From SentinelOne: “Macroeconomic pressures continue to impact deal sizes, sales cycles, and pipeline conversion rates. Follow along to stay up to date! Dispersion!

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends SMB Subscription 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 313

Technical Review Cloud Software Review Technology 313

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Jerry Capital @JerryCap Anyone seen a list of companies that traded at 10x sales and still ended up being multi baggers? Overall, out of my set of 96 cloud software companies, there were 49 that at one point traded >10x NTM from 2015 - 2020.

Cloud 130

Cloud Pricing Investment Revenue 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. They have massive distribution (installed customers + sales teams), and margin to play around with. Companies could end up hiring less SDRs but booking more sales demos. Follow along to stay up to date! What do I mean by this?

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 23, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Very interesting trend to monitor, and kudos to the Mongo team for sharing this level of detail Quarterly Metrics Trends We’re now through Q1 earnings season. Follow along to stay up to date! Let’s start with growth.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Retention Subscription 130

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. Given most software companies are not profitable, or not generating meaningful FCF, it’s the only metric to compare the entire industry against.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure Revenue Subscription 130

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2022

And we religiously track the NRR of all public cloud and SaaS leaders in our 5 Interesting Learning series. It’s epic NRR that has fueled UiPath, Twilio, Snowflake, and so many other Cloud leaders. So don’t get me wrong — NRR is a Top 3 Metric for any SaaS company. High NRR is the key to the magic in SaaS.

Customer Success 221

Customer Success Metrics Scale Retention 221

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Q2 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g.,

Cloud 169

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 169

SaaStr

MARCH 21, 2021

“The 5 Metrics You Should Track to Maximize Your Company’s Valuation with Tomasz Tunguz” A crowd favorite from SaaStr Build 2021. #4. “The State of the Cloud: 2021 with Bessemer Venture Partners” Missed the 5th annual edition of State of the Cloud? Find out here! #3. Catch up here!! #5.

Cloud 255

Cloud Scale Customer Success Scaling 255

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 12, 2023

Q4 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g.,

Cloud 161

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 161

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 20, 2023

Q1 earnings season for cloud businesses is now behind us. Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis. My hope is that this analysis can provide startup entrepreneurs with a framework for how to manage their businesses around SaaS metrics (e.g.,

Cloud 161

Cloud Software Benchmarks Scale 161

Clouded Judgement

JULY 21, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. They’re often rapidly hiring engineers (to build more features) and sales reps (to sell the product) in attempts to capture the majority of a market against their competition (both other startups and incumbents). ” Quite the claim!

Cloud 130

Cloud Software Sales Hiring Scale 130

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 211

Scale Marketplace as a Service Cloud SaaS Payments 211

Clouded Judgement

DECEMBER 20, 2022

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

Cloud 130

Cloud Software Review Software Benchmarks 130

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 229

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 229

SaaStr

MAY 17, 2024

What Metrics Matter Most for Your Roadmap As you put your roadmap together, what should you look at? What metrics and outcomes matter most? So, when looking at metrics for success, you have to look at what’s driving the business forward. A lot of sales doesn’t work that way. You’re optimizing for a metric or outcome.

Scale 244

Scale Technical Review Sales Hiring Artificial Intelligence 244

SaaStr

DECEMBER 11, 2023

The most extreme example of the public Cloud and SaaS companies is Fastly. We saw Cloud and SaaS leaders sending unsolicited 3 year binding contacts to month-to-month customers. Track that metric religiously in 2024. And maybe take renewals away from sales — if they took it too far in 2023. Incent it. Be flexible.

Cloud 301

Cloud Pricing Customer Success Metrics 301

SaaStr

MARCH 27, 2024

So we’ve probably covered HubSpot more than any other SaaS and Cloud leader on this 5 Interesting Learnings series, but there’s a good reason for it: First, HubSpot is a lot like most of us. It sells sales, marketing, support and more tools. To me, this is just the impressive metric of all. Billion in ARR.

Scale 251

Scale Cloud Scaling Pricing 251

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 1, 2024

y/y, estimated sales efficiency is 0.11, & contribution margins are negative : Rubrik sells $1 of subscription software for $0.88. In fiscal 2023, we began transitioning customers from our legacy CDM (Cloud Data Management) capabilities to our subscription-based RSC offerings. 41% of new bookings derives from those new customers.

Data 189

Data Subscription Payment Features Cloud 189

OPEXEngine

MAY 18, 2021

According to Bessemer ’s State of the Cloud 2021 as of this January, there were a total of 527 private unicorns (a unicorn is a private company with a valuation over $1B), with a total cumulative value of more than $1.9 The following 4 metrics are critical to the valuation of a private SaaS business. trillion dollars.

SaaS Payments 98

SaaS Payments Metrics Payments Payment Services 98

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2023

Sales-led vs. product-led is a hot topic right now, and Jason Eubanks, Chief Revenue Officer of Harness, shares the answer during this week’s Workshop Wednesday — held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. What’s his response to startups figuring out which strategy to begin with, product-led or sales-led? “It How do you achieve both?

Startup 235

Startup Sales Sales Funnel Education 235

SaaStr

MARCH 15, 2021

“The 5 Metrics You Should Track to Maximize Your Company’s Valuation with Thomas Tunguz of Redpoint Ventures” This fun, informal session with Thomas (and pinch-hitting from Jason Lemkin during an IT glitch) was a great deep dive into where SaaS is, right now. #2. Do a deep dive into the data, trends and more in Cloud in 2021.

Cloud 140

Cloud CTO Scale Venture Capital 140

How To Buy Saas

APRIL 29, 2024

There may be difficulties involved in integrating cloud software with legacy systems; nevertheless, if organizations take the appropriate strategy and employ the appropriate tactics, they will be able to achieve interoperability and maximize the benefits of their investments in SaaS.

Systems Review 52

Systems Review Software Review Cloud Software 52

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. Looking at some of the inventory metrics (this isn’t a software company!), Metric Q1 Q2 Inventory, $b 4.6 NVDA’s profitability is remarkable.

AI 244

AI Pricing Business Cloud 244

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Sales Efficiency. -. The company’s metrics all recorded positive gains including gross margin moving from 60% to 70%, which is impressive for a business providing hardware. In addition, Samsara enjoys strong and improving accrual sales efficiency of 0.70. Revenue, $M. Revenue Growth. -. Gross Margin. Net Income Margin.

CTO Hire 356

CTO Hire CTO Coach Benchmarks Scale 356

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2022

So Cloudflare is that quiet Cloud leader that just keeps … killing it. Even with some sales cycles indeed getting a bit more challenging, especially for deals in the $500k-$1m range. Massive growth masked it, but saw sales cycles lengthen this yea r. We last checked in on them at $500m in ARR, growing 50%.

Scale 271

Scale Cloud Revenue Scaling 271

Kellblog

MAY 16, 2020

It’s quite a line-up: A Brief History of SaaS with Phil Wainewright , co-founder of Diginomica and recognized authority on cloud computing. Key SaaS Metrics with me. Building a Sales Org with Jacco van der Kooij , founder and CEO of Winning by Design. Compound vs. standalone metrics. Customer acquisition cost.

Metrics 96

Metrics SaaS Technical Review Interviewing 96

SaaStr

MAY 4, 2023

So Cloudflare is one of our hero Cloud / SaaS companies and even under tougher macro conditions, still grew a stunning 37% at $1.2 The toughest metric is new customers. But new business is a lot tougher than 12 months ago, let alone 24: Founder CEO Matthew Prince was refreshingly honest about what was happening in sales.

Sales Hiring 272

Sales Hiring Scale Cloud Sales 272

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2023

So some SaaS and Cloud leaders have seen big impacts from the post-Covid hangover, but others have just kept accelerating. That’s about as good as it gets in SaaS and Cloud! Are we near or past the lows in SaaS and Cloud buying patterns? High NRR is magical, but NRR as a metric isn’t a GAAP metric.

Scale 194

Scale cloud efficiency Cloud Business Model 194

SaaStr

MARCH 13, 2021

running across multiple clouds. The size and power of the Cloud is just awesome these days. But the $100k-$1m “mid-market” segment isn’t growing as fast as smaller and larger customers … perhaps because sales is whale hunting. Multi-cloud is one of their top accelerants. Mongo shows very.

Scale 307

Scale Outsourced Development Cloud Scaling 307