Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 3, 2022

to $360b invested per year. Bay Area startups claimed of 55% total dollars up from 45% in 2012. In 2019, US startups raised $126.4b. In the span of two years, a region’s startups raised as much capital as all of the US. During this same period, the US venture industry grew 41x from $8.8b per year to $30b-$36b per year.

Startup 309

Startup Finance Investment Marketing 309

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

years ago in the first few months of SaaStr.com, in November 2012. Back then, folks all over Twitter were making fun of Sequoia for investing $20m+ in an iOS app that never launched and failed. So the original post below I wrote a full 10 (!) But they missed the point of how the game was played.

Venture Capital 286

Venture Capital AWS Enterprise Investment 286

SaaStr

OCTOBER 11, 2022

The first investors invested in 2012. Now … imagine in year 10, one of those investments turns out to be a real rocketship. And the fund owns 20% of that investment. By pushing on in the rare investments that not only get to $1b in value — but blow past it. There are a lot of myths around venture capital.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Investment Acquisition Sales 290

The Angel VC

JANUARY 2, 2012

It's also a good time to take a look at my angel investments because from now on I'm going to make all new investments via Point Nine Capital. In 2011 there were 0 write-offs , which means that the total number of active investments is 26. Last year I wrote a series of small portfolio review postings.

Investment 109

Investment Startup Sales Marketing 109

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2021

R&D) … and that ballooned to as much as 44% under SAP (re-investing in product) … and now has come down to 31% as the company marches again to being a stand-alone company. There are a lot of mini-lessons here on the ability to invest when you don’t have to worry about being public, etc.,

Enterprise 316

Enterprise Scaling Investment Revenue 316

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2024

Lesson #1: Invest In Customer Support Early Cloudinary strongly believes that customer success and support are enablers of PLG growth and aren’t just a cost center. They made a bet to hire a CFO early in their history to help guide them in terms of what the investment model should look like with PLG and, over time, with PLG and Enterprise.

Scale 316

Scale Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Development 316

SaaStock

MARCH 8, 2019

Before getting into the investment world, she started and sold two successful companies in edutainment, and made a prominent name in the tech field around the world. At the beginning of 2019, she became an ambassador of Moxie Future, an initiative for women investors that facilitates investment in a responsible and sustainable future.

VP of Engineering 264

VP of Engineering CTO Coach Venture Capital SaaS 264

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2020

I’ve been investing just long enough now to see start-ups fall out of product-market fit. When I started blogging on SaaStr.com back in 2012 (!), I didn’t really think this happened. I thought folks got out-sold, lost to the competition, and even failed to evolve.

Product Marketing 363

Product Marketing Sales Hiring Marketing Startup 363

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 8, 2019

FinTech - challenger banks, new electronic stock brokers, AI-powered investment advisors; startups are besieging the incumbents of this regulated world and assailing them in ever greater numbers. Social Media - Facebook went public in 2012. Food and Beverage - the way we eat and farm is evolving quickly.

Artificial Intelligence 280

Artificial Intelligence Startup Blockchain Social Media 280

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2020

And I’m also going to throw in a few small moments from running “SaaStr Inc” now to almost $20m in annual revenue, and investing in a handful of awesome unicorns. A Good Day: Dec 31, 2009; Dec 31, 2010; Dec 31, 2011; Dec 31, 2012. Maybe it will be cathartic for you. It is true. New Years was spent in the office.

Sales Hiring 357

Sales Hiring SaaS Revenue Churn 357

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

To do this, Lucid invested in a growth team tasked with iterating on all aspects of pricing, packaging, click pathing, and CTAs. It wasn’t long before they landed their first Enterprise customer in 2012. They had to invest a lot upfront to make sure they were ready to meet the needs of a global user.

Scale 312

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring compliance 312

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2020

We’ve been through ups-and-downs in SaaS since 2012 (the start of SaaStr), flash crashes, multiple contractions, as well as the crazy bull run of 2020. And every single SaaS company I work with or invested in had a better July. And almost entirely, I’ve tried to stay out of Debbie Downerisms. Even a global pandemic.

Airlines 363

Airlines Government Entertainment Travel 363

SaaStr

JULY 8, 2020

What Nobody Tells You About Seed Investing with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and Cowboy Ventures Founder and Partner Aileen Lee. When Aileen founded Cowboy Ventures in 2012… Aileen Lee: 12, yep. Jason Lemkin: 2012. On either a scale of 1 to 10 or a percentage basis, where is seed investment? Aileen Lee: And hi, everyone.

Investment 216

Investment Technical Review Part-Time VPE Development Team Review 216

SaaStock

JANUARY 25, 2019

Founded : 2012. from Astella Investimentos, Spectra Investments and others. Founded : 2012. Founded : 2012. Founded : 2012. Its annual Nibo Conference gathers the entrepreneurial accountants who are revolutionizing Brazil. Their common goal? Preventing the bankruptcy of more than 2 thousand companies a day.

SaaS Payments 257

SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Methods Payments 257

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

David Sacks: SaaS Background and Investments. billion in 2012. David Sacks has invested in over 20 unicorn companies, including Airbnb, Bird, ClickUp, Facebook, Slack, and Uber. David Sacks has invested in over 20 unicorn companies, including Airbnb, Bird, ClickUp, Facebook, Slack, and Uber. ARR: $1million.

CTO Hire 290

CTO Hire Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting CTO 290

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Fred Wilson’s perspectives on trends in consumer web investment created a big brouhaha over the weekend. Commenting on a WSJ article , Wilson offered his confirmatory observations that follow-on investments in the consumer web have become more challenging as momentum investors have shifted toward enterprise. of VC dollars.

Trends 100

Trends Investment Healthcare Enterprise 100

SaaStr

OCTOBER 17, 2023

So we’ve been talking about customer success at SaaStr longer than almost anyone else, going back to our very first posts in 2012, including on Second Order Revenue. At SaaStr we’ve huge champions about investing early in CS. CLTV Isn’t The Whole Story. Don’t Shortchange Second-Order Revenue.

Customer Success 204

Customer Success Scaling Management Churn 204

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

2012’s Lesson from New Relic. We have managed to thread the needle between not only scale and love from customers, but also GTM investment. WebEx took note and managed to innovate their way into a competitive single-seat product that hit $20 million within eighteen months. It was a needed reminder we should never rest on our laurels.

Sales Hiring 289

Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise Mobile 289

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2019

Ellevest is on a mission to close the gender investing gap by leveraging a robo-advisor designed especially for women. He then stepped in as SVP of Service Cloud for Salesforce and went on to become CEO of Host Analytics from 2012-2018. With a staggering amount of likes as a presenter and a stellar sessions average.

Payment Methods 252

Payment Methods Payment Solutions Payment Services Banking 252

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. The rise and fall of these investments have resulted in negativity in the global VC space in 2022. The recent downward movement.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Construction Startup 263

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 11, 2017

Assuming investors purchase the same ownership stake for their investments in each of these rounds, this data implies the market is paying premium valuations again for SaaS companies. In 2016, venture capitalists reduced their investment in staff companies by 1 ⁄ 3 , falling to $2.8 The only exception is in the Series C.

Venture Capital 203

Venture Capital SaaS Trends Startup 203

SaaStr

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Expanding from IaaS (infrastructure as a service) products only in 2012, their business is now spread over 10 unique products, including PaaS (platform as a service) and serverless options. . Regardless of how invested you’re in a self-serve model, you’ll likely add a human touch and sales team at some point.”. Key takeaways.

Scale 245

Scale Scaling Revenue Enterprise 245

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

When it started out, Algolia was a lightweight mobile SDK that was anticipated to work inherently on mobile in 2012 when phones were much less powerful today. It also becomes difficult to track and invest more in the channels that are working well in terms of lead generation.

Scale 315

Scale Sales Hiring Technical Advisors Scaling 315

SaaStock

MARCH 1, 2019

According to Mike Laven, CEO of Currencycloud, the one thing necessary for any company to succeed in China – or in any of the Asian countries – is to get local investment. It has more than 100 investments since its founding in 2001. SAIF is also one of the biggest funds, investing in Hong Kong, China and India.

SaaS Payments 190

SaaS Payments Venture Capital Payment Services Telecommunications 190

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 1, 2015

The seed stage investment market feels like it’s changing quickly. These firms raised between $5 and $75M to invest in seed stage companies. In addition, VCs have been participating in the seed stage market as well, making 2013 a banner year for seed investment. Startups raised 132% more in seed rounds than in 2012.

Investment 100

Investment Marketing Finance Acquisition 100

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

In 2012, the website was transformed into the Atlassian marketplace, giving plugin developers the opportunity to make money off of their plugins. Both partners need to consider cultural fit as a priority and ensure they are both invested in one another’s success. This meant so many new features to use for every Atlassian customer.

Scale 264

Scale Scaling Marketplace as a Service Entrepreneurship 264

Tom Tunguz

JULY 13, 2015

Earlier this week, we examined the trends in the major categories of startup investment including eCommerce, Software, Social Networking and Education. Each year, starting in mid-2012 through mid-2015, these sectors have grown their investment dollars by more than 145%, according to Mattermark data.

Investment 100

Investment Startup Transportation Venture Capital 100

SaaStr

AUGUST 29, 2022

But when you’re in the throes of putting it together, it’s challenging to track the countless workstreams, investments, and partnerships involved – not to mention bringing all these pieces into alignment. What does best-in-class growth look like at each stage, and how do you orchestrate it at scale?

Scale 290

Scale Sales Hiring Marketplace as a Service B2B 290

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

When Lemkin started investing ten years ago, his first five early-stage investments were wildly successful. Talkdesk is worth $10B, and he invested when it was just five people. I’ve written this at least 80 times since 2012, but I’ll say it again because it’s true. Pipedrive sold for $1.5B. Algolia’s valuation is $2.25B.

Scale 290

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting AI 290

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

They may also require less dilution because of the smaller investment size. Using Crunchbase data from 2005 to 2012, I’ve plotted the follow-on rates by size of seed investment quintiles across 2906 companies in that period. More runway implies better odds of success.

Investment 100

Investment Startup Product Marketing Data 100

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

Imagine you have a dollar to invest and you can choose between two options: a public cloud service or a layer 1 blockchain. There are approximately 1/3 fewer shares of Apple in circulation today than in 2012 because the company has used their cash to buy them back and retire them. How do you decide which is more attractive?

Government 260

Government Compensation Blockchain Banking 260

SaaStock

JANUARY 30, 2019

Another was 2011/2012 where not only were another 5 VC firms started but it’s also when international ones set their eyes on this vast market. Its partners boast diverse venture experience and have previously invested in more than 70 companies. SaaS Investments: Pipefy, HeyDoctor. Founded: 2017. Size of fund: $20M.

Venture Capital 155

Venture Capital SaaS Healthcare Finance 155

SaaStr

JUNE 19, 2024

The three core areas to focus on are: Evolving your growth engine Building and solving for when to become a multi-product platform Investing in your people and team #1: Evolving Your Growth Engine Let’s start with some context for Bitly’s journey. Bitly began in 2008, right around the time that other link-shortening companies were starting.

Scale 306

Scale Scaling Underperforming Technical Team User Experience 306

SaaStr

MAY 24, 2024

Understanding the Importance of Revenue Goals Jason expresses concerns about the high costs associated with producing a podcast and questions the return on investment if not done thoughtfully. CROs and Marketing SaaStr Meetup in 2012 or 2013 had 800 attendees without an email list or content, showing product-market fit.

Sales Hiring 298

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Technical Review Scale 298

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 21, 2017

Over that 20 year period, annual SaaS investment has increased 20x, peaking in 2014 at $7B. In 2012 ChiefMartec landscape counted 350 vendors selling to sales and marketing. Since then, many major categories of software have been saasified. Venture capitalists have financed many of those businesses. Today, that figure is 5000.

Venture Capital 189

Venture Capital SaaS Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning 189

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2024

SaaStr was created in 2012 to democratize learning and how to build B2B companies, and WordPress was started in 2003 to democratize publishing. No One Feels Trapped Investing in WordPress How does Matt view the public markets and how things are looking compared to a year ago?

Underperforming Technical Team 333

Underperforming Technical Team Social Media Government Payment Features 333

SaaStr

OCTOBER 26, 2023

The SMB markets can test out features that aren’t built to scale yet, and as they succeed, Greenhouse invests in them and rolls them out to Enterprise customers. The swing nature is true for where to invest marketing dollars, so founders need to be thoughtful when running a portfolio of bets. That wasn’t obvious in 2012.

Sales Hiring 286

Sales Hiring AI SMB Scale 286