SaaStr

APRIL 27, 2023

Startups are solving the world’s important challenges with agility, innovative technology, and determination. 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.

Cloud 219

Cloud Scale Startup Sales Hiring 219

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

My laptop is faster than your cloud. Instead of requiring a scale-out database in the sky, most analyses are faster with an optimized database on your computer that can leverage the cloud when needed. Because of these advantages, MotherDuck is the best place for startups to build their first Modern Data Stack.

Cloud 332

Cloud AWS Data Analysis Benchmarks 332

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. SBC / Dilution SBC goes in and out of being a hot topic of conversation, but it’s something every startup founder should always be thinking about. For startups, dilution from employee hiring isn’t always top of mind.

Cloud 195

Cloud Pricing Startup Revenue 195

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Discover Bessemer Venture Partners’s annual State of the Cloud report, going through trends, benchmarks, and metrics that underpin the Cloud economy. The past twelve months have been relatively turbulent for Cloud founders. What does this mean for Cloud companies? What does this mean for Cloud companies?

Cloud 256

Cloud Payments Software Review Payment Solutions 256

SaaStr

MAY 28, 2022

They predict public Cloud spending to rise 20% next year to $500 Billion. And that’s the key driver of overall Cloud spend. Some of your customers in B2C and that are startups may be under pressure and cutting back. But overall — things are still growing like crazy in SaaS and Cloud. The latest is good news.

Cloud 348

Cloud B2C SaaS Enterprise 348

SaaStr

JANUARY 2, 2024

ARR, Zendesk today gets 14% of new business from startups. On top of that, if you look at their top accounts globally, 33 of the top 50 customers by ARR are startups. This is where they started, but startups weren’t adopting the product as much with a discount, and there was a lot of conflict with the sales team. A free term.

Startup 191

Startup Scale Underperforming Technical Team AWS 191

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 22, 2022

Last week, David Heinemeier Hansson explained why his company, Basecamp, is leaving the cloud. For a hypothetical startup, a 60% reduction in infrastructure costs boosts sales efficiency by 11% & net income margin by at least 12%. Basecamp’s 60% reduction in cloud COGS isn’t anomalous.

Sales Hiring 232

Sales Hiring Cloud AWS Sales 232

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

I’m watching public company earnings to identify early trends in the software market to inform startups’ plans for 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.

Cloud 217

Cloud Azure Headcount Software Review 217

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

And for many in SaaS, especially those that sell mainly to startups and tech, it’s often been a rough 2 years. Well, the best in SaaS and venture and Cloud are not just still growing at epic rates, but they’re acquiring so much funding … they can still run the 2021 playbook. So can you pay less these days?

Startup 252

Startup Social Media AI Cloud 252

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 9, 2022

We’re delighted to share that Intercom has been named to the Forbes Cloud 100 2022 , landing at #35 on the definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world. We’re honored to see so many Intercom customers featured in the Cloud 100, as well. It’s a very competitive field.

Cloud 211

Cloud Leadership Innovation Communication 211

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

And no one quite saw how big Cloud would be. A related deep dive with the CEO of Mailchimp here: The post Dear SaaStr: What Prompted You To Sell Your Startups? And we took so much dilution in the first round, the math on 3 more rounds was intimidating. The VCs were too greedy here. It backfired on them.) Not this big.

Startup 203

Startup Cloud Pricing Revenue 203

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 19, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. So what can startups do today who have aspirations to go public? Only a small number of startups will ever reach it to the public markets. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 177

Cloud Scale Compensation Metrics 177

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2022

The best of the best in SaaS and Cloud, truly the fastest growing and most iconic SaaS companies, from Snowflake to Datadog and more are way, way down. But what about startups? Most VC funds “carry” startup investments at their last round price, unless their value has been materially impaired. The public markets are down 50%+.

Startup 301

Startup Venture Capital SaaS Cloud 301

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 5, 2024

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Another way of saying this, is the valuation metric applied to a startup gradually starts to converge on the multiple they’ll trade at in the public markets as they get later and later stage. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 161

Cloud Scale Revenue Pricing 161

Tom Tunguz

JULY 28, 2022

AWS’s growth rate is the slowest of the three largest public infrastructure clouds. Results from these clouds suggest the market isn’t as soft as the 30% estimate - at least not yet. With about 39% market share, AWS reigns supreme as the largest provider. GCP reported 37% growth & Microsoft 40%. Q/Q Growth Rate Change.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 265

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS Startup Azure 265

SaaStr

OCTOBER 2, 2022

State of the Cloud 2022: The Centaur Report With Bessemer Venture Partners (Pod 593 + Video). SaaStr 593: State of the Cloud 2022: The Centaur Report with Bessemer Venture Partners Sameer Dholakia, Mary D’Onofrio, and Elliott Robinson. . The Best in SaaS Are Just Growing Faster Than Ever. appeared first on SaaStr.

Cloud 265

Cloud Scale SMB B2B 265

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 28, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud (Google) all reported this week. On last quarters earning call Microsoft really emphasized the weakening demand environment for Azure / Cloud as optimizations picked up. ” What?!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 17, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. That $15B “hole” was quite large This hole led to fears about the banks soundness / liquidity (whether warranted or unwarranted, there were fears) This fear led depositors (who were concentrated in startups) to pull some deposits.

Cloud 130

Cloud Banking Investment Startup 130

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

In this informative SaaStr Annual session, Bessemer Partners Sameer Dholakia, Mary D’Onofrio, and Elliott Robinson present the State of Cloud report, a look at the latest in SaaS trends, predictions, and cloud economics. Cloud Stocks Impacted by Macro Environment. Reminder: Cloud Fundamentals Are Still Strong.

Cloud 245

Cloud Trends Benchmarks Business Model 245

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 hot earlier-stage startups out of top incubators getting funded at record valuations. So net net, a ton more capital went into later-stage deals, but often into startups that did even better during Covid.

Startup 343

Startup Cloud SaaS Data 343

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 6, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. State of SaaS Next week I’m giving a talk at the StartUp Grind conference on the “State of SaaS in 10 Charts.” Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Headcount Subscription Payment Features 130

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

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 6, 2023

There are 4 questions a startup should ask themselves about building a startup that uses generative AI. There are 4 questions startups should ask themselves about building with generative AI. Startups have negative time to launch in many markets with Adobe, Microsoft, & Salesforce launching Gen AI enabled software in weeks.

Generative AI 197

Generative AI AI GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Startup 197

SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Startups That Are Acquired Remain Successful? In fact, Salesfeorce’s mutiple Clouds today are really built on top of its biggest acqusitions. The post Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Startups That Are Acquired Remain Successful? So we grew impressively. appeared first on SaaStr.

Startup 271

Startup Acquisition Cloud Engineering 271

SaaStr

DECEMBER 6, 2021

SaaS and Cloud have been on an incredible tear the last decade, and especially the last 5 years, like we’ve never seen before. When Cloud leaders are valued at 17x revenue instead of say 34x, it’s just harder for your startup to ask for a crazy premium. But: Cloud stocks are still up 1064% over the past 8 years.

Cloud 240

Cloud SaaS Enterprise Startup 240

SaaStr

AUGUST 19, 2020

These are the Best of Time in Cloud and SaaS, as odd as that still seems. Not some tiny startup that might take years to get to material revenue or market share. With Cloud stocks at unprecedented valuations, M&A is going to heat up even more. I expect more mega-mergers: $2b-$10b+ deals. You buy that growth.

Acquisition 278

Acquisition Cloud SaaS Pricing 278

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? On the other hand, the future is in cloud. But what does it mean to be open source in the cloud? It’s enterprise-first selling.

Cloud 268

Cloud Sales Hiring Banking Enterprise 268

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 16, 2023

Public software companies’ share prices have fallen 10% on average in the last 30 days dotted with positive notes like the stabilization cloud growth rates for Microsoft & Google. This is the moment startups with big balance sheets’ advantage will shine. Many startups will look to raise starting in September.

Startup 176

Startup Scale Strategy Forecasting 176

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Startups and younger companies don’t have this luxury. Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment Follow along to stay up to date! How Will AI Effect Software Business Models?

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

SaaStr

JANUARY 4, 2024

It was mixed actually, even if startups didn’t seem to get a breather, it wasn’t so bad for most public SaaS leaders. And yet … it wasn’t all bad, for the bigger guys: The median SaaS and Cloud stock was up 41% in 2023! The post Last Year Was a Pretty Rough Year for Many SaaS Startups. And 2023?

Startup 177

Startup SaaS AI Pricing 177

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., Over my years as a VC, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of entrepreneurs who are all building special companies.

Cloud 177

Cloud Software Benchmarks Retention 177

SaaStr

OCTOBER 24, 2022

And one of the most confusing thing is that: Many of the best SaaS and Cloud companies. The post The Simple Reason Startups That Just Raised $100s of Millions Are Doing Layoffs appeared first on SaaStr. But I thought it was worth writing up, because what’s happening on Twitter and the internet these days is confusing on many levels.

Startup 318

Startup Banking Cloud B2B 318

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Startups evaluating M&A have additional factors to consider. The period between a startup signing a merger agreement & the transaction close (when money & stock changes hands) might last a few weeks for a small acquisition or drag for more than a year for higher-profile buys. So can Austria - a pickled red herring [1].

Acquisition 176

Acquisition Startup Government Technical Review 176

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

This showcases a narrow segment of a niche market, and it’s missing a lot of startups. Any startup in any reasonable category likely has dozens of competitors, and Altman believes the best strategy to compete in 2023 and beyond is multi-product. Startups are no longer fringe. How can a startup compete with a big company?

Scale 241

Scale Scaling Startup Sales Hiring 241

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. I bring all of this up because I think both public and private investors, as well as employees and founders of startups and public companies, are still expecting a “bounce back.” Subscribe now Share Clouded Judgement Leave a comment

Software Review 183

Software Review Cloud Software Revenue 183

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 10, 2024

Enterprises push for their data to be under their control in virtual private clouds, in open data formats like Iceberg, to run AI models in their own environments - the cloud-prem architecture. Apple’s massive distribution will affect consumer & enterprise preferences. It’s already happening.

AI Search 208

AI Search AI VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) Sales 208

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 209

Scale Marketplace as a Service Cloud SaaS Payments 209