SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2023

So now is simply a terrible time to be raising growth stage venture capital. With the BVP Cloud Index down 40%+ from a year ago , and many of the top Cloud leaders trading for as low as 5x ARR, it’s just hard to justify a later stage $300m-$400m valuation round these days, let alone a true unicorn round. We just did our latest Workshop Wednesday with Omers Growth, and they only did one growth investment last year.

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AWS Venture Capital Finance Cloud 297

Kellblog

JANUARY 24, 2023

Here are the slides from the Balderton Capital webinar I did today with Michael Lavner , entitled How to Emerge Stronger from the Downturn than You Went In. For people who can’t use Slideshare, they are also available here. We discuss: The importance of how founders/CEOs frame challenges to the organization. What we mean by “stronger.” Focus, how to do fewer things, better — including reading The Crux by Richard Rumelt.

B2B 114

B2B Trends SaaS Venture Capital 114

User Pilot

JANUARY 26, 2023

How do you measure customer loyalty? Building loyalty is essential to retain customers, drive word-of-mouth, and nurture product growth. But since loyalty is more of a concept rather than a number, it might be confusing to think about ways to track it. Thankfully, there are metrics you can use to expand your field of view and estimate how loyal your customers are.

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SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Metrics Payment Methods 93

Infinicept

JANUARY 26, 2023

Our guest for this podcast is Revolv3 Chief Product Officer, Robert Podlesni. We discuss the importance of tokenization, recent rules changes at Mastercard and Visa, the opportunities, therein, and how Revolv3 is helping Infinicept customers benefit from it all. Read the full transcript below. Todd Ablowitz (00:09): Welcome to It Pays to Know, the Infinicept podcast where we dive deeply into.

Innovation 98

Innovation 98

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Payment Solutions

Predictable Revenue

JANUARY 23, 2023

Using pirate metrics to know when you’ve reached product-market-fit. These five key metrics can help you determine where you are on your journey and how to course correct if needed. The post What Does Product-Market Fit Feel Like? appeared first on Predictable Revenue.

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Product Marketing Marketing Metrics Revenue 239

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 22, 2023

The current wave of layoffs, a difficult component of the innovation boom/bust cycle, differs from the previous years’ dynamics. B2B companies have reduced headcount to a greater extent than at any time since 2020. In the last three years, B2C startups’ ratio of layoffs have dwarfed B2B layoffs. In 2020, B2C companies cut 8.8x the number of B2B employees. 3.8x in 2021, & 6.9x in 2022.

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B2C B2B Headcount Business Model 266

Andreessen Horowitz

JANUARY 24, 2023

Cyber incidents have reached a crisis level over the past decade. In 2021, the U.S. saw 1,862 data compromises , affecting nearly 300 million people (a nearly 100% increase from five years ago). Cybersecurity practitioners no longer wonder if they … The post Investing in Cygnvs appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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Investment Cybersecurity Data 137

Agile Payments

JANUARY 25, 2023

Authenticating ownership of a bank account is a crucial step in ensuring the security and integrity of financial transactions. It is a process of verifying that the person claiming to own a bank account is indeed the rightful owner. This can be done through a variety of means, including providing personal identification, answering security questions, or providing a signature.

Banking 88

Banking 88

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 26, 2023

Confluence and Jira are both project management tools offered by Atlassian. Both can help teams get organized, share knowledge, and complete complex. The post Confluence vs. Jira appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Management 349

Management 349

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ClinicSense is a SaaS platform that supports over 7,000 massage therapists who use it for appointment management, payments, scheduling, marketing activities and more. Despite having a relatively low payment failure rate, the company discovered that the failures disrupted the customer experience. This often led to churn as customers decided to cancel or abandon their account, preventing ClinicSense from realizing the full lifetime value (LTV) of its users.

Payments

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

During the Boom Times of late ’20-early ’22, we all often confused Taking Risks in hiring … with Just Plain Ignoring Flags. Great risks to take IMHE: Been a Director, but never VP. The best VPs of Sales I’ve hired were Directors of Sales before. Not ICs, not top reps. But folks that had built small teams themselves, and were ready to go to the next level.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Startup 261

Tom Tunguz

JANUARY 23, 2023

I’m watching public company earnings to identify early weaknesses in the software market. Yesterday, Microsoft announced earnings. The transcript highlights the major trends in software of 2023. Below, I’ve listed those trends with data & excerpts from the earnings call transcript. 1. Enterprises Have Slowed their Spending, Decelerating Further in December: Company Q-6 CAGR Q-5 CAGR Q-4 CAGR Q-3 CAGR Q-2 CAGR Q-1 CAGR Q-0 CAGR Guidance Microsoft Azure 50% 51% 46% 46% 40% 35% 31%

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Azure Underperforming Technical Team Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence 235

Clouded Judgement

JANUARY 27, 2023

Every week I’ll provide updates on the latest trends in cloud software companies. Follow along to stay up to date! Azure (Microsoft) Quarter The week the first of the cloud giants reported - Azure. Their results were quite interesting. Q4 ‘22 (I’m talking about calendar quarters here, not their fiscal quarters), came in at 38% growth YoY in constant currency.

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Cloud Azure Pricing Subscription 143

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 23, 2023

Most project management software casts a wide net, allowing teams to collaborate seamlessly on projects, even across diverse departments like IT, marketing, The post Pivotal Tracker Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Software Review 300

Software Review Software Management Marketing 300

Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

Revenue

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2023

So we took a look at ServiceNow a little ways back at $5B in ARR , but I thought it was worth another deep dive now for a very specific reason: Their very seasoned CEO has sees no real slowdown or downturn in their business. At $7 Billion in ARR, growing ~30% annually, quarter over quarter over quarter. “[We’re] not fighting those headwinds”: Given that customers sign 3+ year, $1m+ contracts, one wouldn’t expect any massive decline in revenue from any shorter-term macro

Azure 249

Azure Cloud Enterprise Subscription 249

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 25, 2023

Every SaaS business faces the same challenge: how to get new customers to realize the value their product can deliver, as quickly as possible. With that in mind, simple, effective onboarding is a must-have within any product, and a crucial element of customer adoption and retention. But it can be surprisingly difficult to effectively communicate the steps your customers need to take.

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Onboarding Engagement Retention Engineering 129

Sparktoro

JANUARY 22, 2023

Hiring managers, executives, CEOs—especially those in tech—are proud to say that we only consider applicants with an unrelenting drive for success and a track record of impressive accomplishments.

Management 144

Management 144

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 27, 2023

Toggl is a time-tracking software with project management elements, including team timelines, flexible tasks, and client collaboration. With additional products in planning. The post Toggl Plan Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Software Review 305

Software Review Software Management 305

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Enterprise

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Long is a Venture Round Supposed to Last? I think like many venture axioms, founders get often get bad advice here out of good solid rules. Until 2002, the rule was “18-24 months” Then, during the boom times, most VCs stopped caring how long the round would last. The next round seemed to come so fast and furious. And now in tougher times, so many folks have to stretch the round … often indefinitely.

Investment 238

Investment Metrics Leadership 238

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 25, 2023

Product-led growth (PLG) has been embraced by SaaS companies of all sizes as a scalable approach to growing a business, but it is especially appealing in times of economic uncertainty and soaring acquisition costs like we’re experiencing today. After all, if you can leverage your product to drive your organization’s growth, there’s no need to rely on an army of marketing and salespeople.

Sales Hiring 118

Sales Hiring Scale B2B Acquisition 118

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 23, 2023

Social media is always evolving – as should your strategies for creating content. While you may have tried and tested methods when it comes to your social media posts, testing out something different is a great way to stay on top of trends and potentially grow your following. Here are four examples from small businesses and content creators who’re implementing new social media strategies in 2023.

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Social Media Strategy Business Compensation 138

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 26, 2023

There are many cloud-based project management software packages available, and Asana and Basecamp are two of the industry leaders. Asana keeps things. The post Asana vs. Basecamp appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Cloud 304

Cloud Software Management 304

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Payment Solutions

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2023

Layoffs are brutal. In fact, I don’t think they generally ever should ever happen in SaaS. Why not? The simple fact is if you have 110%, 120%+ NRR … then you >know< You know then next 6-8 months, within a range. You should plan to that model. Many of us got into trouble by not just hiring to the plan our “last 4 months” average growth model told us to hire to.

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Startup SaaS 222

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 24, 2023

At Intercom, we’ve reinvented different parts of our product many times over the years – most recently, our Messenger. This evolution always starts with one thing: a clear product vision. All products follow the same life cycle: development, growth, maturity, decline. An inevitable slide into decline sounds ominous. And, when products are in this phase, users can feel it: it’s the slow, clunky, dated experience you get when using previous-generation tech.

Leadership 118

Leadership Branding Engagement Interviewing 118

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 27, 2023

Empathy is a powerful way to build trust, but leaning in too far can also backfire. Something I’ve come to wonder after 3.5 years at Buffer as a Customer Advocate is how can we use empathy effectively to enhance the customer support experience? "The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communica

Customer Support 136

Customer Support Technical Review Technology Communication 136

The Daily Egg

JANUARY 27, 2023

Kanbanize uses visually organized Kanban boards to smooth and automate workflows, track metrics, and help project managers and team members adhere to. The post Kanbanize Review appeared first on The Daily Egg.

Metrics 302

Metrics Management 302

Speaker: Jay Allardyce, Deepak Vittal, and Terrence Sheflin

As we look ahead to 2025, business intelligence and data analytics are set to play pivotal roles in shaping success. Organizations are already starting to face a host of transformative trends as the year comes to a close, including the integration of AI in data analytics, an increased emphasis on real-time data insights, and the growing importance of user experience in BI solutions.

Trends

SaaStr

JANUARY 24, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Do You Know If Your Startup Idea Already Exists? Well, of course it already exists. Your really think you’re the only person on the entire planet that has tried to do this? It’s the Fermi Paradox of Start-ups. Of course they have. But — it doesn’t mean it matters. Not if they aren’t at scale, or at least getting there, yet.

Startup 215

Startup Scaling SaaS Data 215

IT World

JANUARY 25, 2023

Two-thirds of employees would use a Mac at work if given the choice, and companies that fail to offer hardware options to their employees are making a mistake. That’s one of the inferences I see reprised in a report exploring Cisco’s approach to Mac deployment across its business that crossed my desk last week. Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin looked at Cisco’s Mac enterprise team, now led by former IBM CIO Fletcher Previn.

Enterprise 134

Enterprise Strategy Business 134

Kellblog

JANUARY 25, 2023

Just a quick post to highlight my recent appearance on the AI and the Future of Work podcast hosted by my friend Dan Turchin. I joined Dan to discuss my work-in-process 2023 predictions post (which I really need to get finished in the next week). We start out by reviewing a few of my 2022 predictions , where Dan takes a somewhat European angle in his questioning given my work with Balderton Capital.

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AI Venture Capital Startup Strategy 123