SaaStr

MAY 6, 2022

And generating real cash flow at scale. #2. January 2016, SaaS stocks were riding high. It was called 2016: * Everyone panicked * Seemed like multiples would never recover * LinkedIn sold to Microsoft for 7x ARR. The Bears do have a lot of years of history on their side — all the years up to 2018. But it was just a panic.

SaaS 348

SaaS Azure Cloud AWS 348

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2021

from 2015 to 2016 … and then exploded: UIPath History. 2016: $3.5m Top 50 customers grew bookings 81x since 2016, and all 2016 customers together grew 57x. These 2016 customers really leaned in on UiPath. And then after a decade … it started to come together. 2014: $500k rev. seed round. 2015: $1m rev.

Outsourcing Services 362

Outsourcing Services Outsourced Development Payment Features Cloud 362

SaaStr

APRIL 24, 2021

Well, if it were 2016, we’d say no. But as Shopify scaled, its revenue as a percent of commerce on its sites — “Merchant Solutions” — began to eclipse its recurring SaaS revenues. Bill.com is one of my favorite sleeper SaaS companies. Half of its revenues comes from its software. But it isn’t.

Merchant Services 360

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 360

SaaStr

JUNE 3, 2021

and as Cloud continues to scale: Many of the best in SaaS are accelerating even at massive scale. That’s massive acceleration at scale. A fairly incredible thing has happened as we leave Covid behind (at least in the U.S.) Even at $1B ARR, or even at $24B ARR like Salesforce. Salesforce. Seize the day. 2014 $4.1B.

Cloud 307

Cloud Scaling SaaS Revenue 307

SaaStr

JUNE 3, 2022

2016: Dharmesh joined us for the first time, with one of the most engaging and highly-rated SaaStr Annual session on ever: their journey to IP O. Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO, gave 2 amazing SaaStr talks and 1 amazing deep-dive so far.

CTO 317

CTO Retention Startup Scaling 317

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Let’s go back in time … to early 2016. At SaaStr Annual 2016, in February, all the VCs were discouraged. “Unicorns are over,” they said. Just like Marketo was in the 2016 downturn. A sign many of those with the biggest checkbooks in SaaS think things will get substantially better. No way, you say?

SaaS 325

SaaS SMB Pricing Marketing 325

SaaStr

JANUARY 11, 2023

But importantly, it’s raised its ACV 4x since 2016. Many do need help scaling up their learning systems. Without that, the company would likely be a fraction of its current ARR. #3. 7% of Revenue from Professional Services — down from 12% in 2018.

Scale 351

Scale Pricing Scaling Enterprise 351

SaaStr

DECEMBER 2, 2021

A lot has changed since 2016, but SaaStr is still bringing you the best advice from industry leaders, and we don’t plan on stopping. 25 SaaStr 214: New Relic CRO Erica Schultz on What It Takes To Successfully Scale Into Enterprise & How The Very Best Reps Build Relationships With Their Leads. #24

Scale 315

Scale Benchmarks Enterprise Leadership 315

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 12, 2022

BTC, ETH and Software have all increased over the last five years (notice the y-axis is log10 scale). BTC and ETC moved more or less in synchrony from 2016 to 2018. The cryptocoins appreciated much more than software. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10 year Treasury declined. Three years ago, they went their separate ways.

Software 334

Software Marketing Trends Startup 334

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2023

While the data ends here, here’s what I can tell you I am seeing in growth rounds today: Very few growth rounds are happening at all When the do happen, they are for capital efficient startups growing > 50% at scale And … the peak valuation is about 15x. For the best ones.

Venture Capital 67

Venture Capital AWS SaaS Startup 67

SaaStr

JULY 10, 2024

It was founded in 2008 but took a while to get going, hitting $1m in revenue in 2011 selling to Utah schools — and then scaled from there. It rocketed to $100m in ARR just 5 years later in 2016. 11 Products and Modules, 80% of Customers Use 2 or More Products A good reminder of the key to being multi-product at scale. #4.

Scale 304

Scale SaaS Payments Payment Services Payments 304

SaaStr

JULY 14, 2022

This led to our first meet-ups in 2013 and 2014, the first SaaStr Annual in 2015 , the industry’s leading podcast in 2016, the first SaaS founder coworking space in 2017, and SaaStr Pro , the first learning management system for SaaS founders in 2018. 2016 The Second SaaStr Annual: From Impossible to Inevitable .

Scale 313

Scale Sales Recruiting CTO Hire New CTO 313

The Angel VC

JANUARY 10, 2017

In less earth shattering news, the fact that it's 2017 also means that my "SaaS Funding in 2016" napkin needs an update. As a reminder, in the original post I tried to give a "back of a napkin" answer to this question: What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2016? I won't argue with that.

SaaS 262

SaaS Marketplace as a Service Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 262

SaaStr

APRIL 20, 2020

More here: From Initial Traction to Initial Scale (~$10M in ARR): The Hardest Phase. note: an updated version of a classic 2016 post). You’ll get back to normal times. Maybe not this week, or this quarter. But you will. It’s the top-line engine and NPS that matter. But — The Cavalry is Coming.

Scale 362

Scale Payment Features Engineering Product Marketing 362

SaaStock

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

SaaSociety has been a signature part of SaaStock since the first conference in 2016. Away from the crowds for two days and nights, founders exchange stories about their journeys, the triumphs, failures and the challenges of scaling a SaaS business. For most founders, growing and scaling a SaaS company can be a lonely journey.

Scale 155

Scale Scaling Entertainment Travel 155

SaaStr

APRIL 29, 2021

Shopify’s first quarter revenue: Q1 2021: $989 million Q1 2020: $470 million Q1 2019: $321 million Q1 2018: $214 million Q1 2017: $127 million Q1 2016: $73 million Q1 2015: $37 million Q1 2014: $19 million Q1 2013: $9 million. But enterprise isn’t growing faster than SMB as it often does as you scale. #7. As a result, Plus (i.e.,

Merchant Services 316

Merchant Services Payment Methods SaaS Payments Payments 316

SaaStr

DECEMBER 8, 2020

2016: IPO at $1.15B market cap. And yes, no one could have predicted the run we’ve seen in Cloud in the past few years. But take a look at these examples: Marketo (and Hubspot): Founded 2006. Marketo IPO’s in 2013 at $700m market cap. Vista buys Marketo for $1.8B A little more than 2 years later, it was resold for $4.75B to Adobe.

SaaS 290

SaaS SMB Cloud Revenue 290

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 28, 2021

The company also mentions the 2016 cohort of customers expanded 51x in the last 5 years. Improving the net income margin and the cash flow margin this quickly for a business of this scale is like ungrounding a large container ship from an Egyptian canal - no easy feat.

Payment Services 359

Payment Services Metrics Payment Solutions Payments 359

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2021

Cloud has been on an incredible tear since 2012 or so, and then even more since about 2016, and then as you can see above, went into hyperdive in about 2018 … and then into true warp speed after Covid. Yes, the markets have retreated a bit from their all-time highs. But does it even matter? SaaS and Cloud are up +1000% since 2013.

Cloud 326

Cloud SaaS Trends Metrics 326

The Angel VC

FEBRUARY 20, 2016

Call me when it scales.” The point is that getting to $1-2 million in ARR probably has less predictive value concerning a company’s ability to get to true scale than most people think – or at least thought some years ago. Being a seed investor I’m trying to find SaaS companies that can scale before they have scaled.

Scale 192

Scale Scaling SaaS AWS 192

SaaStr

JUNE 5, 2020

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). . In 2016, Digital Ocean opened a $130m credit facility with Keybanc. . I think there are two reasons. .

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Technical Review SaaS Scale 299

SaaStr

JULY 7, 2021

But to me the takeaways are: If you have something good at $10m ARR, you can scale forever, at least potentially. Several of the slower-growing ones did well, too — as long as they hit scale ($20m-$40m+ ARR). _. Where it Went: IPO’d in 2013, hit $250m ARR by 2016, a cquired for $1.8b A decade later. 78 Marketo.

SaaS 291

SaaS Technical Review Software Review Scaling 291

SaaStr

JANUARY 29, 2023

The Person that “Took Them From $0 to $100,000,000 in Revenue” or “That Scaled an Entire Dev Team from 1 to 100” or “Got Us On TechCrunch 7 Times in 8 Months” or whatever variant thereof. Zenefits was the hottest/fastest growing startup from 2013-2016. Here’s how to get the list of them.

Sales Hiring 337

Sales Hiring Scale Underperforming Technical Team Startup 337

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 14, 2016

In 2016, the question that will immediately follow, “What is your annual growth rate?” To sustain these growth rates, startups like these require lots of cash because of the customer acquisition payback period, and the more tenuous ones need capital to prove the business model actually works at scale.

Startup 100

Startup Metrics Transportation Marketplace as a Service 100

SaaStr

JULY 21, 2020

Regularly Ask Your Investors How Happy They Are on a Scale of 1-10. But there are 1,000+ new firms since 2016 alone. Instead, backfill them and help them present the best that they can. It’s OK for your investor to see which leaders are stronger than others. It’s good for them to know. But learn your Investor NPS.

Sales Recruiting 363

Sales Recruiting New CTO Scale CTO 363

SaaStr

DECEMBER 14, 2023

They’ve also: Built-in all the security and controls and technology to be able to scale Introduced Duet AI on the Google Cloud side to help with day-to-day coding and assistance The way GenAI has been built into the whole stack, natively from top-to-bottom, and owning and managing a lot of the pieces has been giving Google an edge in the market.

Cloud 314

Cloud Scale AWS AI 314

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2024

Automattic was started in 2005 to democratize publishing, and WooCommerce was purchased in 2016 to democratize e-commerce. When WordPress purchased WooCommerce in 2016, they believed it would become their biggest business. Now, Woo is an open-source style Shopify and their largest business. Then, in 2023, they moved into messaging.

Underperforming Technical Team 333

Underperforming Technical Team Social Media Government Payment Features 333

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2022

We’ll see, but Zendesk for $10B in 2022 may turn out to be the LinkedIn for $26B in 2016 of this downturn. Yet, founders have only partially adjusted to the new world. A much, much harder and higher hill. A deal that is fair & makes sense when markets are turbulent and worried. But in just a few years, looks like just such a huge bargain.

Acquisition 339

Acquisition SaaS Pricing Revenue 339

SaaStr

APRIL 6, 2021

It added its Dispatch and Rails modules just in 2015 and 2017, and added transactional pricing to its Ordering module in 2016. Billion valuation today. A breathtaking 30x+ its ARR. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1. We’ve seen this with Box and others as well. This has been key to the accelerated growth. #5.

Merchant Services 249

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payments Payment Services 249

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham shares five big bets that paid off as he scaled this multi-product company. Instead of adding that cash to extend runway, Mathrubootham spent $45k over the next two months figuring out which online channel would scale for them. In 2016-17, the Freshworks team asked themselves: What could kill us?

Sales Hiring 290

Sales Hiring Scale SMB SaaS 290

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Between 2016 and 2023, you see the ACV (average contract value) going up and up. The bigger you scale, the harder this can be. A Misconception: Hiring Someone Big from Microsoft Will Help You Scale If you’re a founder or almost a founder, you want to hire people better than you. Leadership injections as you scale are tricky.

Sales Hiring 283

Sales Hiring Scale SMB Outsourced Development 283

SaaStr

APRIL 2, 2023

This thought is usually accompanied by a vague statement like “this person isn’t scaling.” Mistake: Not scaling based upon leading indicators We’ve had 3 periods in history where we scaled up way too fast: Early on, when we thought the enterprise opportunity for Gainsight’s Customer Success product was huge after closing *1* enterprise deal!

Sales Hiring 331

Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success Scaling 331

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 19, 2018

For acquirers of software companies, one thing seems to matter: growth at scale. SAP/SuccessFactors. Salesforce/Demandware. Oracle/Eloqua. SAP/Callidus. Microsoft/LinkedIn. Oracle/Responsys. The gross margin is second highest to LinkedIn, and close to Eloqua and Demandware. On this list, the Mulesoft is second to LinkedIn.

Acquisition 189

Acquisition Marketing Enterprise Revenue 189

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

2016’s Lesson from Quip. We have managed to thread the needle between not only scale and love from customers, but also GTM investment. Whereas the old mantra from VCs on the board was “spend until you break the model,” that model began to break down at just $101 million.

Sales Hiring 290

Sales Hiring Scale Enterprise Mobile 290

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 24, 2017

Based in Massachussetts, the company generated $320M in revenue in 2016. and 14% in net income margin in 2015 and 2016. How did a business at this price point scale, especially with an inside sales team? Geotab is a bootstrapped Canadian company that employs 300 employees and generated $110M in 2016 revenue.

Sales Hiring 186

Sales Hiring Strategy Venture Capital Marketing 186

SaaStock

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Talk: Scaling & Exiting: Dreams, Designs & Dramas. In 2016, André joined Superlógica Tecnologias, a management system designed to service small businesses with a recurring revenue model. in 2016, he co-founded Vendas B2B Summit, the largest Brazilian B2B sales online event. His focus there was deal-sourcing.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Scale Entrepreneurship Sales Hiring 207

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 22, 2019

His new venture focuses on creating a central knowledge network for scaling businesses so that employees aren’t wasting hours by chasing down important resources and company history scattered across a host of apps like Google Docs, SharePoint sites, Evernote and more. Collaboration pains increase as you scale. Short on time?

Scale 156

Scale Scaling Underperforming Technical Team AI Search 156