SaaStr

JULY 2, 2024

Logan Bartlett, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, shares their yearly “State of the Market” report to understand what is and isn’t happening in venture capital today. AI Businesses are Demanding a Premium The haves and have-nots are really stark between AI and non-AI businesses.

Venture Capital 300

Venture Capital Management Scale AI 300

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 16, 2025

Engineering teams within AI application startups are much smaller than a classic software company - maybe half the size or less. Because software companies aren’t valued on profitability - true within the venture capital & public markets alike - the cost savings from halving engineering teams aren’t that impactful.

AI 182

AI Venture Capital Enterprise Engineering 182

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

For example, Jason’s gotten hundreds of emails from founders creating an AI SDR app. 10 Best advice if you’re going from bootstrapping to venture capital to avoid a mistake: First, it all normalizes around 8 to 10 million in revenue. Second— 99% of companies cannot raise venture capital.

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Venture Capital Software Review Investment Startup 312

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

jasonlk) January 23, 2024 So I thought the toughest times for venture would be behind us now. . #2. The Chase for AI Unicorns and Decacorns is All-consuming. The one place where paper money seems easy to come by is Hot AI Startups. In AI, 2021 never went away. In AI, 2021 never went away.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital AI Startup Investment 299

SaaStr

DECEMBER 19, 2024

AI is remaking so many categories, but it’s often murky exactly … how. Venture Capital is out in force for the hottest AI companies — but in many cases, it’s checked out in other categories. You have to not only make the capital last, but make sure it lasts as long as planned.

Sales Hiring 280

Sales Hiring SaaS Venture Capital Healthcare 280

SaaStr

JANUARY 26, 2025

Top Posts: #1: The Top 10 Mistakes SaaS Startups Make: The 2025 Edition #2: When You Raise Venture Capital, A Clock Starts Ticking. 4: AI is the Best Thing to Ever Happen to SaaS. At First, Softly. Then Louder and Louder. #3: 3: What Works Better for Field Marketing: Small, Intimate Events? Or the Big Mega Industry Events? #4:

Sales Hiring 226

Sales Hiring Venture Capital AI Startup 226

SaaStr

MAY 27, 2025

Lemkin (@jasonlk) May 27, 2025 10 Unexpected Learnings from SVB’s 2025 State of the Markets Report Beyond the AI boom headlines, the 1H’25 data reveals surprising shifts that could reshape how we think about venture capital, startup operations, and the innovation economy.

Outsourcing Services 170

Outsourcing Services Venture Capital Outsourced Development Data 170

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

Venture Capital is Back. Its all flowing into AI and Growth, but its back. Yes, its often AI fueled SaaS leaders. AI has created 100s and even 1000s of new competitors in many categories. AI has created 100s and even 1000s of new competitors in many categories. As fast and as furious as 2021. #2.

Software Review 228

Software Review AI Search Venture Capital AI 228

SaaStr

DECEMBER 23, 2024

I cant magically turn you into the hottest Gen AI start-up out there. The Three Months of Strong Growth Rule in Raising Venture Capital # 6. Dont Be a VC Snob There are definitely risks raising capital from non-standard investors. I cant magically change your growth rate. By avoiding unforced errors. My list: # 1.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Investment AI Metrics 274

SaaStr

MAY 11, 2025

So far for SaaStr + AI Summit 2025, May 13-15, we have 711 VCs coming from 298 unique VC firms. Some of the notable VC firms on the list include Accel, A16Z, Base10 Partners, Emergence Capital, ICONIQ Growth, Innovation Endeavors, Mayfield, Redpoint Ventures, and Softbank, among many others.

Venture Capital 170

Venture Capital Technical Review Innovation AI 170

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

SaaStr is committed to having the most inclusive community in Cloud, SaaS and AI. We strive for the most representative attendee experiences possible, as well as expanding access to mentorship and venture capital firms and investors. Be actively employed at a post-revenue B2B / AI / SaaS operating company.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Travel Cloud AI 225

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2025

Crunchbase’s data is similar: Crunchbase: 50% of VC Capital Went to SF Bay Last Year, Q4 Roared Back for Venture Capital When Broken Down By Stage, What Do We See? #1: E&Y’s version of the data on venture overall — including Mega AI deals — is even more stark: Bay Area goes from 56.8%

Venture Capital 158

Venture Capital SaaS B2B Startup 158

SaaStr

JULY 17, 2024

Venture capital is the same as before but different. It’s always been hard to raise venture capital, but if you’re in the group of folks VCs do want to fund, it’s like 2021 in some ways. But those kinds of deals are back and only in the segment of AI. It seems like the only way to do this is in AI.

Venture Capital 305

Venture Capital AI Cloud Scale 305

SaaStr

APRIL 15, 2025

Prior to founding Chemistry, Ethan spent 16 years at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he led investments in successful companies like PagerDuty, Intercom, and SendGrid. ” Explain the “why now” moment : Connect your funding timing to market dynamics, technological shifts, or other factors creating urgency.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Venture Capital Outsourced Development ChatGPT 157

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

How is AI going to impact the software and SaaS landscape of the next couple of years and also the next 5-10 years? Kristina Shen, General Partner at a16z, shares some insights into the present and future of generative AI at this week’s Workshop Wednesday, held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. For B2B Generative AI Apps, Is Less More?

AI 312

AI Generative AI Venture Capital SaaS 312

Sales Hacker

MAY 9, 2025

In 2023, we saw a surge of SaaS brands adding anything AI-powered or AI-driven into their website headlines. The optics were that if AI wasnt integral to your roadmap and marketing, you were losing relevance. Many venture capital firms shifted their investments almost entirely into AI startups.

AI Search 85

AI Search AI Scale SaaS 85

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 16, 2023

In The Figures that Will Move the Venture Capital Market in the Next 3-5 Years , I wrote about the correlation between interest rates & venture capital investing. The correlation is strong enough to build a simple prediction of early stage venture capital activity in 2023. correlation to -0.51.

Venture Capital 306

Venture Capital Government Marketing Banking 306

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, what he really thinks about AI, what the future of lead generation in 2024 looks like, and much more. Q: Should Early-Stage Companies Sprinkle in AI? If you’re going to do AI, you should do so thoughtfully.

Scale 284

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting AI 284

SaaStr

DECEMBER 26, 2023

In part, because unicorn rounds have evaporated in SaaS (outside of some AI outliers), everyone just has to be cash-flow positive at scale. Venture capital is there to bridge the gap, and let you hire more to go faster. 18-24 months ago, it was all over the place. This starts to get tough. Few are this efficient today.

Venture Capital 341

Venture Capital Scaling AI Investment 341

SaaStr

MAY 26, 2022

Acton Capital. Aldea Ventures, S.A. All Iron Ventures. ALVEN CAPITAL. Armilar Venture Partners. BASF Venture Capital. Battery Ventures. Beyond Capital. Blossom Capital. BMC Ventures. Caixa Capital Risc SGEIC SA. Connect Ventures. Connected Capital.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Investment AI SaaS 284

SaaStr

JANUARY 7, 2024

How IBM Sees AI Changing the Game for Companies of All Sizes We End the Year at All-Time Lows for SaaS Growth. Raising Venture Capital in 2024? SaaStr 712: Is AI the Only Thing in SaaS that Anyone Cares About Anymore? What the Future of SaaS Holds for 2024 with David Sacks, Founder & General Partner, Craft Ventures 5.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Scale AI Customer Success 284

SaaStr

JUNE 6, 2024

PAXAFE uses AI to predict issues in cold chain logistics before they happen. To me, this is such a great, practical use of AI, driving real value for companies by increasing visibility and actually preventing losses before they occur. Check that out here. This week we’re focusing on Peter Berg, Managing Partner at M12! #1.

SaaS Payments 293

SaaS Payments Management Scale Venture Capital 293

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 30, 2024

Simultaneously, venture markets have expanded dramatically, contributing to this overcrowding. In a world without venture capital (or other sources of external financing for startups), each company would have to grow solely based on the merits of their product and sales. Over the long term, the best products and teams will win.

Cloud 274

Cloud Venture Capital AI Startup 274

Sales Hacker

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Kyle shares his insights on the inevitability of PLG in an AI-driven future and reveals must-try tactics to accelerate growth using a PLG approach. Attention’s AI-powered call recording platform ensures that your deals are executed flawlessly. 9:10) Will the vast majority of software companies have a PLG motion in the future?

Venture Capital 111

Venture Capital ChatGPT AI Consulting 111

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Venture capital is more than just funding. Instead, companies should carefully gauge their need for venture funding and evaluate the right amount of capital to raise. Reiterating the key point, Jason underlined that startups need to think beyond raising a maximum amount of money at the most attractive pricing.

B2B 282

B2B Investment Venture Capital SaaS 282

SaaStr

AUGUST 31, 2023

Navigating Corporate Venture Capital: Strategic Benefits for Early-Stage Founders with Erin Yang, VP and Chief Technologist Workday Savannah Greene, Principle @ Workday #2: How Expensify Grew to 10M Users Through Word of Mouth Joanie Wang, Director of Marketing and Brand #3. The Most Popular 2023 Annual Braindates So Far: #1.

Venture Capital 273

Venture Capital Acquisition Innovation Cloud 273

SaaStr

DECEMBER 28, 2023

The company is an AI platform that empowers teachers to give instant, personalized feedback to students, based in San Francisco. We were really impressed with Class Companion’s founder Avery Pan’s clear vision and mission to help teachers leverage AI to improve education. Our current set of funds totals $3.4B. #3.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital Payment Solutions 279

Tom Tunguz

MAY 8, 2024

The fastest growing category of US venture investment in 2024 is AI. Venture capitalists have invested $18.3 At this pace, we should expect AI startups to raise about $55b in 2024. AI startups now command more than 20% share of all US venture dollars across categories, including healthcare, biotech, & software.

Investment 204

Investment Venture Capital ChatGPT Healthcare 204

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Chinese startups raise nearly half of all venture capital dollars and nearly 100 are valued at $1B. Kai-Fu Lee’s book, AI Superpowers , provides some of the best history and perspective on the Chinese startup ecosystem I’ve read. The first is his view of the influence of machine learning in the world.

AI 174

AI Startup Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 174

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

Our most recent disclosed investment is in Pika.art, a company redesigning the entire video-making and editing experience utilizing AI. Before heading to Silicon Valley for Google, he worked for DoubleClick, in venture capital and as a strategy consultant. What’s your most recent disclosed investment? Why did you do the deal?

Marketplace as a Service 274

Marketplace as a Service Venture Capital Entertainment Construction 274

SaaStr

AUGUST 28, 2023

If you were in AI, if you were in hospitality, if you were in parts of e-commerce, if you were in mobile … things mostly have been Pretty Normal. All of a sudden, massive changes had to be made when it was clear another round of venture capital was never coming. But other segments have been hit with a sledgehammer.

Venture Capital 246

Venture Capital AI Startup Mobile 246

SaaStr

MARCH 28, 2024

I spend a lot of time researching software trends in vertical software, compliance, and AI. Base10 is a research-driven venture capital firm investing in technology companies automating the largest sectors of the Real Economy and founders who believe purpose is key to profits. These founders are solving problems for the 99%.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence Scale 274

SaaStock

MARCH 8, 2019

Today Carman is Founder and Managing Partner of Click Ventures, the globally renowned Hong Kong venture capital firm. With more than 15 years of solid experience, today she is the Chief Operations Officer at the Ping An Health Cloud, known as the most advanced AI healthcare technology. The reason? Maxine Ryan.

VP of Engineering 264

VP of Engineering CTO Coach Venture Capital SaaS 264

SaaStr

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Catch up on part one here , where he deep dives into what he really thinks about AI, Sales and lead Gen for SaaS in 2024. Venture capital is a niche niche niche asset class only designed for outliers. A first-time founder of a Generative AI startup is struggling with the question of going vertical vs. horizontal.

Sales Hiring 274

Sales Hiring Scale Venture Capital Startup 274

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2023

ARR, You Can Get Offers of $25m or if you are in a hot space (maybe generative AI today), sometimes even $100m. A nice example of a sale at this Local Maximum is Pardot selling for $100m to ExactTarget — on zero venture capital. But then — The $30m Venture Round Sort of Ends That Local Maximum.

Acquisition 361

Acquisition Venture Capital Scale Generative AI 361

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2024

Software is better, and AI makes it more so. GTM Mistake #5: Not Properly Jumping on the AI Bandwagon AI can be confusing in B2B because adding a lot of hallucinations into your app next week doesn’t make it better, or you don’t need to make text into cartoons. AI is where all the budget is right now.

CTO Hire 209

CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO Venture Capital 209

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

We develop & test theories about the future of technology, business, & venture capital through constant experimentation. We’re seeking an architect of the future, someone who thrives at the intersection of AI & process design. Theory’s name isn’t just a name - it’s our ethos.

AI 100

AI Venture Capital Technology Development 100