AWS, Azure and Revenue

From $1M to $3B ARR: Databricks CRO Ron Gabrisko on Scaling a Revenue Rocket Ship

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

With Databricks now one of the largest pre-IPO technology companies, with $10 billion of expected non-dilutive financing and a valuation of $62 billion, Ron’s insights are gold for any revenue leader looking to scale. Our founders focused on adoption first, not revenue, Ron explains. The takeaway? The takeaway?

Scale

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue

The Capex Conquest in the Cloud

Tom Tunguz

APRIL 30, 2024

Cloud Capex in Q1 AWS $14 billion Azure $14 billion Google Cloud $12 billion These are not one-time investments, but part of a broader trend that started to occur after the introduction of GPT 3 in mid-2020 Amazon was the first to invest significantly. “Moving to AWS.

Cloud

Cloud AWS Azure AI

Cloud Stocks May Be Down. But the Cloud Remains on Fire. That Matters More.

SaaStr

MAY 16, 2022

So follow AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Let’s look a whole level up to the real canaries-in-the-coalmine: AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. And AWS grew 37% at a $74B run-rate , down a bit from 39% the prior quarter but still adding an insane amount of new revenue. For now, they are still on fire.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Engineering

Webinars

Going Beyond Chatbots: Connecting AI to Your Tools, Systems, & Data

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5 Interesting Learnings from Google Cloud at $13 Billion in ARR

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 20, 2021

But are AWS, Azure and Google Cloud just too big for us to learn from? Google Cloud sees Cloud revenues tripling in the next 5 years. Google Cloud continues its march upmarket, competing with Azure. You can see that here vividly, with Google Cloud having a $30B backlog of signed revenue on top of its $13B in ARR.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Scale

Predicting Cloud Growth Rates for 2023

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

A year ago, AWS, GCP, & Azure averaged 44% annual growth. Amazon: We expect [customer] optimization efforts will continue to be a headwind to AWS growth in at least the next couple of quarters. So So far in the first month of the year, AWS year-over-year revenue growth is in the mid-teens.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Cloud AWS Sales Hiring

A Look Back at Q1 '24 Public Cloud Software Earnings

Clouded Judgement

JUNE 19, 2024

The charts below show the change in quarterly revenue YoY (so Q1 ‘24 rev - Q1 ‘23 rev) going back to 2017. It’s worth pointing out that Azure is a bit above the long term trendline, while AWS is still below (but accelerating up). Beating consensus revenue estimates is the first aspect of a successful quarter.

Cloud

Cloud GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Software Azure

5 Interesting Learnings from DigitalOcean at $500,000,000 in ARR

SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2022

Focusing on smaller developers, in some ways it’s been a bit overshadowed by AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. DigitialOcean doesn’t want to take AWS, Azure and Google on in the enterprise and doesn’t really try. They are only 15% of the customers, but 83% of the revenue. That’s impressive.

Azure

Azure AWS SMB Cloud

Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS?

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2024

Typically support consumes about perhaps 5%-7% of your revenue at scale (excluding customer success) in most SaaS models. Another 5%-7% go to core infrastructure costs (AWS, Azure, Snowflake, etc). Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS?

Azure

Azure AWS SaaS Customer Success

Clouded Judgement 2.7.25 - "Group + Triage" AI Systems

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

They each have some of the largest cloud businesses in the world in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud respectively. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue. Overall, there was weakness across the board.

Systems Review

Systems Review Cloud AI Artificial Intelligence

5 Interesting Learnings from Digital Ocean at $700,000,000 in ARR

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Many have used Digital Ocean at the cheaper, simpler version of AWS-Azure-Digital Ocean to get going fast and quickly. But it’s raining cash, and earnings per share is growing 22% — faster than revenue. And if so, maybe that’s Digital Ocean. If you haven’t heard of Digital Ocean, ask your developer.

Scale

Scale AWS Azure Cloud

The Health of Cloud Spending in Mid-2022

Tom Tunguz

JULY 26, 2022

Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure grew 40% y/y, tying the fastest quarterly growth rate in the past 5 quarters. Google’s growth rate fell to 35%, a 29% decline from the trailing 4 quarter average of 49% annual revenue growth. Here are some hypotheses: Google may have greater customer concentration in GCP than Azure.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Cloud Azure AWS

SaaS Multiples Are At a 3+ Year Low. Where It Goes From Here.

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2022

Ultimately — revenue multiples. Revenue multiples are how much VCs, investors, and ultimately, an IPO and public markets will value each dollar of revenue. Revenue multiples don’t affect customers, or even revenue itself. That revenue multiples should rise from where they were in 2019.

SaaS

SaaS Azure Cloud AWS

Grey Skies in Cloud Earnings

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Microsoft Azure. Infrastructure revenue growth averaged 33% this quarter, which is astounding considering we’re talking about businesses that sum to more than $50b of revenue per quarter. At a 7x multiple of revenue, that is another $84b of market cap creation, in theory. Google Cloud Platform. Amazon Web Services.

Cloud

Cloud GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure AWS

Clouded Judgement 10.11.24 - Budget Flush

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 11, 2024

As a result, software vendors often see an uptick in revenue and bookings during these periods. 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

Cloud Cost optimization & reporting GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Software Review

Thanks to Bee, ChartMogul, Maast, SecureFrame, and StratusGreen for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2023!

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Which means better customer relationships, more data, and new sources of revenue. Secureframe allows companies to get compliant within weeks, rather than months and monitors 100+ services, including AWS, GCP, and Azure.

Payments

Payments Payment Services GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Payment Solutions

Thanks to Calendly, Drift, Reprise, Secureframe, and Shift Paradigm for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2022!

SaaStr

JULY 19, 2022

Using the Drift Conversation Cloud, businesses can personalize experiences that lead to more quality pipeline, revenue and lifelong customers. More than 5,000 customers use Drift to deliver a more enjoyable and more human buying experience that builds trust and accelerates revenue. Usually, it takes a paradigm shift to grow.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Artificial Intelligence Enterprise readiness Azure

Thanks to ChartMogul, ChurnZero, Cledara, Secureframe, and Verdane for Sponsoring SaaStr Europa 2023!

SaaStr

OCTOBER 13, 2022

You need an efficient way to keep your customers successful, reduce churn, drive adoption, and increase net revenue retention. Secureframe allows companies to get compliant within weeks, rather than months and monitors 100+ services, including AWS, GCP, and Azure.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure AWS Enterprise readiness

Thanks to Demandwell, DuploCloud, Prismatic, SafeBase, and WorkOS for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2023!

SaaStr

OCTOBER 6, 2022

We help B2B SaaS marketers turn organic search into a source of repeatable revenue through software and coaching. The platform automates the provisioning of your application to the cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), integrating cloud ops, DevOps, and security/compliance with 24×7 monitoring and support.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure AWS Enterprise readiness

Gartner: SaaS Spending Will Grow Another 40% in Next 2 Years Alone

SaaStr

APRIL 27, 2021

In my 148 public SaaS companies (including most of the categories of this list but not AWS, Azure, GCP) the aggregate revenue is $185B. No matter what, the wave of enterprise spending that fueled 100 SaaS and Cloud unicorns is just getting bigger and strong. This is your time, folks. Go make it happen.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure AWS SaaS

Clouded Judgement 10.27.23 - Cloud Giants Report Q3 '23

Clouded Judgement

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Subscribe now Cloud Giants Report Q3 ‘23 Not a great signal for software this week from the Cloud Giants (AWS, Azure and Google Cloud)…After Q2 (3 months ago), the tone from the Cloud Giants around optimizations was largely: optimizations have started to ease, and net new workloads have picked up. Staggering scale already.

Cost optimization & reporting

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS

Snowflake, CrowdStike and SumoLogic: “How to Leverage the Cloud Giants to Scale to 100 Million ARR and Beyond”

SaaStr

MARCH 31, 2022

And it’s one of the three large cloud vendors that we all know: Microsoft, AWS, and Google. Azure’s marketplace has over 4 million monthly visitors. AWS’s marketplace has seen 1.5 Like I said, we run 100% of our platform on AWS, so the fit was great. It was pretty easy to drive that from our side.

Scale

Scale Marketplace as a Service Cloud SaaS Payments

Clouded Judgement 5.3.24 - Hyperscalers Report Q1 + Early Look at Software Reports

Clouded Judgement

MAY 3, 2024

We now have results from the three hypersclaers (AWS / Azure / GCP). The most notable change in tone was Andy Jassy talking about AWS. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue.

Cost optimization & reporting

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Software Azure

Clouded Judgement 2.2.24 - Cloud Giants Report Q4 '23

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

Cost optimization & reporting Cloud Azure AWS

Snow Angels Come Early to Data : Snowflake's Strength Spells Success for Startups

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

“Q3 product revenue grew 34% year-over-year to reach $698 million. “Yes, we actually saw quite a bit of energy coming from the Azure platform this quarter. Non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow was $111 million, representing 7% year-over-year growth. Results reflect strong execution in a broadly stabilizing macro environment.

GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure Data Startup

Clouded Judgement 3.22.24 - ERR vs ARR and the Conundrum of AI Revenue Streams Today

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

Subscribe now ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) vs ERR (Experimental Runrate Revenue) ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is one of the most popular SaaS (Non-GAAP) metrics. Many investors laugh (and some rightly so) at the fact that software companies’ valuations are often described as a multiple of revenue.

AI

AI Cloud Revenue Technical Advisors

When did cloud computing start to become popular?

SaaStr

AUGUST 27, 2019

Around 2013 or so, the Cloud started to grow far faster than any of us had thought it would: Amazon Web Services revenue 2018 | Statista. That $200b+ of additional Cloud and SaaS spend fueled 50+ Cloud unicorns and massive growth in AWS, Azure, etc. The markets took a while to catch up. There were dips in 2016 and otherwise.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Enterprise

Clouded Judgement 4.28.23

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

Cloud Azure AWS AI Search

A Look Back at Q4 '23 Public Cloud Software Earnings

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 11, 2024

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. If we break this down and look at Azure and AWS independently (graphs below), you’ll see how the AWS “swings” were a lot more volatile.

Cloud

Cloud Software Azure AWS

Clouded Judgement 10.20.23 - Hyperscaler Q3 Preview

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. Office 365 Copilot, for example, doesn’t go live until November and we most likely won’t see meaningful revenue from it until next year. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 5.7x

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Software Review

Clouded Judgement 1.6.23

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. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Underperforming Technical Team

Clouded Judgement 10.28.22

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! Top 5 Median: 15.8x

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting

Clouded Judgement 8.4.23 - Cloud Giants Q2 Update

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. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 6.4x

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Cost optimization & reporting

Clouded Judgement 8.2.24 - Uncertainty Everywhere

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 2, 2024

Cloud Giants Report Q2 We also got the Q2 quarters from AWS / Azure / GCP this week! 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

Cloud Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS

Clouded Judgement 9.27.24 - The Foundation of Foundation Models

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

Cloud GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AWS Azure

Clouded Judgement 4.21.23

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). Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

Clouded Judgement 7.28.23 - Optimization Cycles and Economy Update

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. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

Clouded Judgement 5.10.24 - Software Weakness Across the Board

Clouded Judgement

MAY 10, 2024

And no one raised full year guide >2% The median “beat” (Q1 revenue over Q1 consensus estimates) was 1.5%, which is the lowest it’s been in the last 4 years Overall, it’s been a TOUGH quarter for software companies. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 5.7x

Cloud

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) Azure

Clouded Judgement 6.9.23 - Recap of Consumption Trends in Q1 '23

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. Overall Stats: Overall Median: 5.7x

Trends

Trends Cloud Azure AWS

Clouded Judgement 5.31.24 - Software Sentiment Crumbles

Clouded Judgement

MAY 31, 2024

” As growth starts to slow, it gets harder and harder to justify using revenue multiples as a primary valuation metric. Any kind of inference really can rack up bills quickly (see growth in hyperscaler revenue…), and AI talent isn’t cheap. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud

Cloud Software GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI

Clouded Judgement 11.10.23 - OpenAI Updates + Datadog Gives the All-Clear?

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. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework.

Cloud

Cloud Artificial Intelligence GCP(Google Cloud Platform) AI

Clouded Judgement 2.3.23

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. Revenue multiples are a shorthand valuation framework. Multiples shown below are calculated by taking the Enterprise Value (market cap + debt - cash) / NTM revenue.

Cloud

Cloud Azure AWS Generative AI

Clouded Judgement 8.11.23 - Datadog Consumption Trends

Clouded Judgement

AUGUST 11, 2023

While the overall median revenue multiple of the software universe is ~6x (which is ~25% below the long term average of ~8x), high growth software is currently trading at a premium to it’s long term average (9.4x The hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) are seeing some uptick, but this is largely from selling compute (ie cloud GPUs).

Cloud

Cloud Trends Azure GCP(Google Cloud Platform)

Playbook: Scale to $100M+ ARR with a Usage-Based Pricing Model

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

Scale Pricing Scaling AWS

Forgot the SaaS Gloom and Doom on Social. ‘Just Build’ with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

SaaStr

JUNE 26, 2024

Many people are doing great, even private companies like Netskope, which are growing over 30% at $500M in revenue. Canva is growing at 40% and has a revenue of $2.3B. Klaviyo is growing 42% at $750M, coming up on a billion in revenue, and number one in the Shopify ecosystem. Samsara is growing 39% at $1.1B. What’s going on here?

CTO Hire

CTO Hire AI Venture Capital Sales Hiring

From $1M to $3B ARR: Databricks CRO Ron Gabrisko on Scaling a Revenue Rocket Ship

The Capex Conquest in the Cloud

Webinars

Trending Sources

Cloud Stocks May Be Down. But the Cloud Remains on Fire. That Matters More.

Webinars

5 Interesting Learnings from Google Cloud at $13 Billion in ARR

Predicting Cloud Growth Rates for 2023

A Look Back at Q1 '24 Public Cloud Software Earnings

5 Interesting Learnings from DigitalOcean at $500,000,000 in ARR

Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS?

Clouded Judgement 2.7.25 - "Group + Triage" AI Systems

5 Interesting Learnings from Digital Ocean at $700,000,000 in ARR

The Health of Cloud Spending in Mid-2022

SaaS Multiples Are At a 3+ Year Low. Where It Goes From Here.

Grey Skies in Cloud Earnings

Clouded Judgement 10.11.24 - Budget Flush

Thanks to Bee, ChartMogul, Maast, SecureFrame, and StratusGreen for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2023!

Thanks to Calendly, Drift, Reprise, Secureframe, and Shift Paradigm for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2022!

Thanks to ChartMogul, ChurnZero, Cledara, Secureframe, and Verdane for Sponsoring SaaStr Europa 2023!

Thanks to Demandwell, DuploCloud, Prismatic, SafeBase, and WorkOS for Sponsoring SaaStr Annual 2023!

Gartner: SaaS Spending Will Grow Another 40% in Next 2 Years Alone

Clouded Judgement 10.27.23 - Cloud Giants Report Q3 '23

Snowflake, CrowdStike and SumoLogic: “How to Leverage the Cloud Giants to Scale to 100 Million ARR and Beyond”

Clouded Judgement 5.3.24 - Hyperscalers Report Q1 + Early Look at Software Reports

Clouded Judgement 2.2.24 - Cloud Giants Report Q4 '23

Snow Angels Come Early to Data : Snowflake's Strength Spells Success for Startups

Clouded Judgement 3.22.24 - ERR vs ARR and the Conundrum of AI Revenue Streams Today

When did cloud computing start to become popular?

Clouded Judgement 4.28.23

A Look Back at Q4 '23 Public Cloud Software Earnings

Clouded Judgement 10.20.23 - Hyperscaler Q3 Preview

Clouded Judgement 1.6.23

Clouded Judgement 10.28.22

Clouded Judgement 8.4.23 - Cloud Giants Q2 Update

Clouded Judgement 8.2.24 - Uncertainty Everywhere

Clouded Judgement 9.27.24 - The Foundation of Foundation Models

Clouded Judgement 4.21.23

Clouded Judgement 7.28.23 - Optimization Cycles and Economy Update

Clouded Judgement 5.10.24 - Software Weakness Across the Board

Clouded Judgement 6.9.23 - Recap of Consumption Trends in Q1 '23

Clouded Judgement 5.31.24 - Software Sentiment Crumbles

Clouded Judgement 11.10.23 - OpenAI Updates + Datadog Gives the All-Clear?

Clouded Judgement 2.3.23

Clouded Judgement 8.11.23 - Datadog Consumption Trends

Playbook: Scale to $100M+ ARR with a Usage-Based Pricing Model

Forgot the SaaS Gloom and Doom on Social. ‘Just Build’ with SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin

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