Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

net retention and CAC payback). It looks at the YoY dollar change in quarterly revenue from the hyperscalers (just looking at Azure / AWS because the data goes back further) going back a few years. Through these interactions, I’ve built up mental benchmarks for metrics on which I place extra emphasis.

Cloud 184

Cloud Software Azure AWS 184

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Amazon on AWS : “…customers are continuing to shift their focus towards driving innovation and bringing new workloads to the cloud. ” Microsoft on Azure : “And I think last quarter, we said one, we are going to continue to have these cycles where people will build new workloads. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cost optimization & reporting 167

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS 167

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 31, 2019

The most triumphant transfer of control from an original generation leader to a new CEO was surely that of Microsoft, which pivoted from chasing after Apple’s success in the consumer space under Steve Ballmer (don’t mention Nokia ) to successfully focusing on the cloud under Satya Nadella (please do mention Azure).

Payment Solutions 259

Payment Solutions Payment Methods Software SaaS Payments 259

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 28, 2023

AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft), and Google Cloud (Google) all reported this week. Azure reported on Tuesday and gave us that glimmer of hope. Then AWS appeared to add fuel to that hope before giving us a huge rug pull. Azure came in at 31% (constant currency). They then guided to 26-27% Azure growth in Q2.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search 130

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 6, 2023

Cloud Downgrades This week UBS came out with a couple research reports citing concerns in AWS / Azure growth. This brings me back to AWS / Azure downgrades. Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! It’s very tricky to predict.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Underperforming Technical Team 130

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Hyperscalers Report Quarterly Earnings This week we saw AWS (Amazon), GCP (Google) and Azure (Microsoft) report earnings. Overall, it wasn’t pretty… AWS grew 28% when expectations were 30-31%. At the same time, Azure came in below expectations. Follow along to stay up to date!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting 130

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Hyperscaler Preview Next week Amazon, Microsoft and Google report earnings and we’ll see Q3 data for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Said another way, the 10Y today is double what it averaged from 2010 to 2020.

Cloud 167

Cloud Azure AWS Software Review 167

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 4, 2023

” These are two quotes about AWS on the Amazon earnings call. AWS grew 16% in Q1, but called out growth in April (first month of Q2) was 11%. You can see more detail about their net new ARR added each quarter below Azure Growth came in at 27%, and guided to 25-26% growth for Q3.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting 130

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 2, 2024

Cloud Giants Report Q2 We also got the Q2 quarters from AWS / Azure / GCP this week! A lot of companies report next week, we’ll see if they’re able to quell any fears!

Cloud 157

Cloud Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS 157

Clouded Judgement

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

Subscribe now Foundation Models Are to AI what S3 was to the Public Cloud Many people look at 2006 as the birth of the public cloud - the year Amazon launched AWS. Microsoft launched Azure in 2010, and Google launched GCP to the public in 2011 (they launched a preview of Google App Engine in 2008, but made it publicly available in 2011).

Cloud 176

Cloud GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS Azure 176

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 9, 2023

Expansion revenue is still declining (we see this in falling net retention rates), but gross retention remains strong. Usage on Snowflake is driven by queries run on Snowflake Azure: Neutral Tone With Strength in AI Overall I’d characterize Azure’s quarter as a net positive.

Trends 130

Trends Cloud Azure AWS 130

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 21, 2023

Next week we get all 3 hyperscalers reporting (AWS from Amazon, Azure from Microsoft, and GCP from Google). Let’s double click on Azure. On AWS, in their Q4 earnings call they said AWS was growing “mid teens” in January (down from 20% in Q4). The Q4 ‘22 growth rate was 38% YoY.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

Enterprise software businesses strive for 90-95% gross retention (generally the percent of revenue that sticks with you vs churns altogether), with net expansion in the 120%+ range (the aggregate change in expansion - contraction - churned revenue). Namely, retention!! For “fake” ARR, retention can vary wildly.

AI 190

AI Cloud Revenue Technical Advisors 190

Clouded Judgement

JULY 28, 2023

AI = Data + Compute I’ll continue beating this drum, but we got two great quotes from Azure and AWS this week. ” Then at AWS Summit they called out “Your data is your differentiator when it comes to Generative AI.” AWS reports next week. ” Data is more important than ever!

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

MAY 10, 2024

All 3 (AWS, Azure, GCP) saw positive reacceleration Quarterly Reports Summary Top 10 EV / NTM Revenue Multiples Top 10 Weekly Share Price Movement Update on Multiples SaaS businesses are generally valued on a multiple of their revenue - in most cases the projected revenue for the next 12 months.

Cloud 167

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure 167

User Pilot

JULY 23, 2020

You’re leaving cash on the table for your competitors to sweep up if you don’t have a strategy for retention marketing. So, in this blog we’ll show you how to keep your customers happy with a targeted retention strategy. What is Retention Marketing? How to Measure Retention. Day 1 Retention. Week 1 Retention.

Retention 95

Retention SaaS Payments Strategy Payment Solutions 95

Clouded Judgement

MAY 31, 2024

This can lead to an airpocket of valuation as companies transition to a different primary valuation metric Outside of the hypserscalers (Azure, AWS, GCP) who have uniquely benefited from AI revenue (mainly selling compute), everyone else has largely struggled. Coming in to Q1 there was broader optimism. Q4’s were generally good!

Cloud 184

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI 184

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

What’s evolved over the years and is driven by hyper-scalers like Google Azure, AWS, Twilio, and Stripe is the consumption-based model. In this approach, you’re paying a lot to reps for retention. There are still some complexities around SaaS-based approaches. So, it’s more customer-friendly, but it also has its pros and cons.

Compensation 179

Compensation Sales Azure AWS 179

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP as companies look for cloud GPUs who aren’t building out their own data centers) Infra (Data layer, orchestration, monitoring, ops, etc) Durable Applications We’ve clearly well underway of the first 3 layers monetizing.

Cloud 190

Cloud Artificial Intelligence GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI 190

OpenView Labs

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

This is why we’re seeing more and more SaaS companies—Datadog, Twilio, AWS, Snowflake, and Stripe, to name a few—find success with product led growth paired with usage-based pricing. Though it was pioneered in the infrastructure layer (think: AWS and Azure), it’s becoming increasingly popular for API-based products and application software.

Scale 98

Scale Pricing Scaling AWS 98

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

The good news is gross retention (ie churn) stayed constant. If next quarter we get similar commentary that Azure gave us this quarter (“still a couple quarters away” without any specific guidance), then we may see market loose a little patience. The weakness they called out was from larger cloud-native businesses.

Cloud 130

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) 130

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

In the short term, enjoy the ride as the chase continues 😊 Kind of related to all of this - we now have seen the Q4’s from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Lots of deceleration in growth.

Cloud 130

Cloud Azure AWS Generative AI 130

User Pilot

APRIL 29, 2024

Service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure offer server hosting and load-balancing services. Service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure offer infrastructure services that support backend development.

Azure 52

Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS Construction 52

User Pilot

APRIL 30, 2024

Appcues enhances user onboarding, adoption , and retention with targeted walkthroughs, in-app messaging, and feature adoption tools. Key examples are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, which provide scalable resources like virtual servers and storage. What are the benefits of the SaaS model?

SaaS Payments 104

SaaS Payments Payment Methods Payment Services Payment Solutions 104

OPEXEngine

DECEMBER 7, 2021

It has tended to be used most in infrastructure platforms, like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Companies with the best net dollar retention (NDR) and customer acquisition costs (CAC), two other closely watched SaaS metrics, also tend to rely on usage-based pricing. But that has been changing. Closely watched SaaS metrics.

Payment Features 52

Payment Features Subscription Pricing Venture Capital 52

ProfitWell

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Running your own server to handle your customer's valuable data requires a huge investment to match the same level of security and reliability that comes baked into services like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure cloud. Double down on retention. Yet, many SaaS businesses do not spend enough time focusing on retention.

SaaS Payments 66

SaaS Payments Trends Merchant Services Payments 66

How To Buy Saas

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Either way, a decrease in attrition could be achieved using digital retention methods and an improved customer interaction site. Industry Cloud Consulting A team of industry cloud professionals can have considerable experience with insurance cloud-native systems and competence in top hyperscalers like AWS and Azure.

Blockchain 52

Blockchain Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team Systems Review 52

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 13, 2020

We’ve all seen AWS and what they’ve done with their platform. Azure has been gaining on them rapidly and is growing a double that rate. And so in the early years of the company, we really struggled from a net retention and logo churn perspective. It is staggering. It’s sort of what you’re saying.

Sales Hiring 233

Sales Hiring Scale Payments Cloud 233

BetterCloud

JULY 14, 2022

Five months after he was terminated , a former Cisco employee accessed a critical AWS-hosted system. Is it an HRIS or an IdP like Okta, OneLogin, or Azure AD? What are the retention requirements? A disgruntled employee can cause major damage if their access isn’t completely revoked immediately after they are terminated.

Data 52

Data Azure AWS Banking 52

SaaStr

AUGUST 22, 2020

This will be a really strong indicator of retention and recruiting. I think that there is probably another couple orders of magnitude of growth in these markets, which is why I don’t get that energized by like, “Okay, is Azure in the lead? Is AWS in the lead? Is the Google in the lead?”

Sales Recruiting 211

Sales Recruiting Cloud CTO Hire Sales Hiring 211

Audacix

AUGUST 11, 2023

Restrict access and establish retention timelines. Examples include: Veronis, Azure Purview, AWS Macie. What are the best practices regarding record maintenance and retention for activities concerning personal data? Allow easy consent withdrawal and review. Examples include: Delphix and Informatica.

Outsourcing Services 52

Outsourcing Services Technical Review Cybersecurity Data 52

SaaS Metrics

JUNE 10, 2019

The three security layers that help prevent unauthorized access and safeguard valuable data include: Layer 0 aka IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is the primary layer on which everything else runs e.g. AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. Data Deletion Policy. User-level Data Security.

VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) 40

VPCs (Virtual Private Cloud) Technical Review SaaS Systems Review 40

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

” “Azure OpenAI usage more than doubled over the past 6 months” “GitHub Copilot enterprise customers increased 55% quarter-over-quarter” Google on AI “Gemini API calls have grown nearly 14x in a 6-month period.” ” No commentary on 2025 AWS CapEx Q3 CapEx: $22.6B vs expectations of ~$17B.

AI 167

AI Cloud Technical Advisors AWS 167

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2020

And I remember like AWS was growing really quickly. And at the time there was a big debate of, “Will big companies ever really use AWS?” I mean them an Azure, like they’ve just had tremendous success, but 10 years ago that wasn’t a given. ” Michelle: For the retention of people?

Sales Hiring 253

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Scale Sales Recruiting 253

How To Buy Saas

MARCH 3, 2025

Dynamic, customer-friendly pricing strategies that balance affordability, profitability, and user retention. Why It Works Predictable revenue (great for business stability) Encourages long-term retention (monthly vs. yearly plans) Scalable for businesses of all sizes The Challenge Churn risk: If customers stop seeing value, they cancel.

Payment Solutions 52

Payment Solutions Software Review SaaS Payments Payment Services 52