SaaStr

APRIL 1, 2023

So everyone is now paying the price for lowering the bar in the Boom Times of mid ‘20 to early ‘22. And now we’re paying the price. The same things happened in VC and investing. I did some of this myself, both on people and investments. Better to do with fewer people, fewer investments, fewer initiatives.

Sales Hiring 317

Sales Hiring Investment Leadership Startup 317

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

But it’s clear that it’s still in the investing phase, and increasing spend in sales & marketing. But SMBs in the middle have become more cost and price-sensitive. #10. Outside of a pre-IPO phase, Klaviyo has been cash-flow positive or close for most of its history. Just not as quickly as overall revenue growth. #4.

Scale 307

Scale SMB Scaling Enterprise 307

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

We’re obviously written up a lot about Fundraising and Investing here on SaaStr.com, but time and time again, SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin has seen so many Founders sign a bad term sheet based on gut instinct, VC celebrity or vibes, and while that may be fine, it’s not enough.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Software Review Investment Startup 317

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

SaaS pricing isn’t static – it’s a living strategy that grows with your company. In this article we dive into a playbook for pricing across different stages of company growth, inspired by Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm. Tiered pricing models emerge to address these differences.

Pricing 113

Pricing Scale SaaS Technical Review 113

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2024

Having been through 4 acquisitions in different forms (founder, exec, etc), it’s a lot like a venture capital investment. A ton of time is invested negotiating price, and then way, way too much time on inconsequential legal terms, and then … it closes. Not really.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Acquisition Investment Pricing 265

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2024

3 Came from the Investment Bank They Hired. In my experience, hiring an investment bank to help you in any acquisition > $100m or so is critical. But Andy got 3 other firm offers through the bank he hired — along with a price more than $10m higher. They Ran a Crisp, Tight Process And Got 4 Offers to Buy Them.

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Banking Sales SaaS 300

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 26, 2022

A former venture capitalist, Mark Leonard started Constellation in 1995 with $15m of outside investment & a goal of buying vertical software companies with a moat & good unit economics. Price Increases. New bookings added 10% ; price increases 5%. Growth Source. Acquisition. New Bookings. Contraction. -3%. Net Growth.

Software Review 295

Software Review Investment Software Acquisition 295

Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 7, 2022

But no relationship exists between the Nasdaq’s price level & multiples. The data suggests the market has attained a pricing floor. I can’t ascertain how record fundraising inflows into private equity funds might bolster these prices, but the billions burning holes in PE wallets must impel some activity.

Acquisition 324

Acquisition Pricing Startup Software 324

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

GTMfund’s 3 Areas of Focus for Investing Thanksgiving weekend is always a period of reflection and gratitude. Reflection across go-to-market trends, but also on the investment front (not to mention community !). A common misconception is that the name is representative of the type of software we invest in.

Investment 113

Investment Technical Review Development Team Review Scale 113

SaaStr

DECEMBER 17, 2024

And as stock prices rip higher, growth VC floods back in. But overall, the growth investments weren’t big wins. 2021 prices were certainly inflated in many cases from valuations today. So SaaS is back. Top SaaS stocks are on fire the past few months, and the SaaS downturn in B2B2B appears to be behind us. At least at IPO.

SaaS 265

SaaS AI Pricing Metrics 265

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 28, 2024

I try to look at two things in Vertical SaaS startups, at least when investing : Will everyone in the vertical / industry use it? The good news is, you can support these price points effectively with a very efficient inbound sales team, and/or a mix of self-serve and sales-led. At two different price points. That’s the question.

Payment Solutions 265

Payment Solutions Inbound Sales Team Marketing Scale 265

SaaStr

DECEMBER 26, 2024

I havent done that, but Ive done handshake deals in one day in maybe 50% of my investments (i.e, Not literally months to do the homework that doesnt take long but sometimes months to see enough progress for the investment to make sense to me, to connect enough dots. Yes, term sheets get done in one day.

Investment 246

Investment Pricing Leadership 246

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2024

Dear SaaStr: How Can I Convince My Investor We’ll Double Their Investment By The Next Round? If you are a VC / private investor, there’s a key meta question: why invest now ? Because, at the same price … later is always better. This is really the reason most very early-stage investments get done.

Investment 290

Investment Pricing 290

SaaStr

MARCH 24, 2025

And while the Wiz deal hasn’t closed yet, seeing a record M&A deal price fuels more VC investment. I asked founder Ryan Smith at SaaStr Annual what he thought of that record price? In part, because they see the absolute potential exit sizes just going up and up. “The next one will be even higher.

Acquisition 249

Acquisition Cloud Pricing Investment 249

SaaStr

AUGUST 12, 2022

Dear SaaStr: How Much Money Does a VC Make If Their Investment Sells for One Billion? Let’s say: The fund owns 10% at exit, with a blended entry price of ~$100m (fund invested early, but also did some pro-ratas) and thus a total blended investment across rounds of ~$10m. Often not as much as you’d think.

Investment 299

Investment Pricing Startup Sales 299

SaaStr

JULY 1, 2024

Generally speaking, there are two paradigms: Buy them out at Common Stock price (which is what they in fact own), based on the lastest option pricing. And they can figure out the price and discount. The post Dear SaaStr: If You Want to Buy Shares from a Founder That Has Left the Company, What Price Do You Use?

Pricing 299

Pricing Investment Leadership Strategy 299

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2024

With everything in AI moving so rapidly, what’s the best way to price Artificial Intelligence products or SaaS tools with custom AI features and integrations? So we asked the expert, Sandhya Hegde, General Partner at Unusual Ventures to share her best practices and trends for pricing and packaging AI products. Why is pricing so tricky?

AI 274

AI Artificial Intelligence Pricing SaaS 274

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Models built by OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have billions of dollars to invest in training these models, so you have more powerful engines under the hood at no cost to you. The price for inference has massively plummeted this year, so you have more powerful models to build into your application, and they cost less every time you use them.

AI 265

AI Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT Mobile 265

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2023

G2 had us back for another great deep dive on just where SaaS investing is there days, and it was a great panel: Accel Partner Arun Mathew Inspired Capital Founder & Managing Partner Alexa von Tobel Salesforce Ventures Managing Partner Paul Drews and Jason Lemkin! Low investment multiples pose a key challenge.

B2B 288

B2B Investment Venture Capital Scale 288

SaaStr

MARCH 18, 2025

The result was a 5x increase over initial projections – growing from an $8M revenue target to $40M actual results – driven by a belief that market demand justified the investment. This approach required immense trust from the CEO to invest millions ahead of proven results.

Scale 192

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Headcount 192

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2025

They often tell you to raise at the highest price irrespective of investor quality or ability to support the company later. But dilution is often the price of scaling. Series A and B investors want to control the ball and decide who invests more. If you invest at a $1B valuation, you worry about the downside.

Pricing 214

Pricing Investment Scaling Management 214

Clouded Judgement

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

The purpose of the detailed information is to help investors (both institutional and retail) make informed investment decisions. As far as an expected timeline - typically companies launch their roadshow ~2-3 weeks after filing their initial S-1 (the roadshow launches with an updated S-1 that contains a price range).

Benchmarks 299

Benchmarks Payments Payment Services SaaS Payments 299

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2024

Engineering resources: With thousands of engineers, companies like HubSpot can make substantial AI investments when they choose to 3. The Future of AI in Customer Support While many vendors are achieving similar baseline results with AI customer support, Brian believes we’re still early in unlocking its full potential.

AI 291

AI Marketing SaaS Interviewing 291

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Walker Research found in 2024 that the customer experience is now equal to price and product regarding key brand differentiators. Organizations that invest heavily in customer success earlier see much higher customer retention and loyalty than the competition. For example, say your company is going upmarket to Enterprise.

Customer Success 291

Customer Success Scaling Social Media Enterprise readiness 291

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 2, 2025

Their platform helps restaurant owners, who typically earn less than $50,000 annually in profit, create professional online presences without significant investment in time or resources. Restaurant Industry Solutions Owner.com has developed an AI website generator that implements industry best practices automatically.

AI 228

AI Technical Review Artificial Intelligence Systems Review 228

SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2025

Founded 2008 * Raises ~$53m in VC * Sells 17 years later for $53m * Only $20m of that cash * 2x ARR price * 1x What Raised Just plain tough. Thats just how investing work. I used to sort of think that way. But the reality is, VCs only make real money if founders make a ton of money. The stakes go way up. So who makes what here?

Venture Capital 239

Venture Capital Investment Retention Pricing 239

SaaStr

MARCH 29, 2024

I’d actually invested in the #1 in the space, which today is at $200m+ ARR. The post Can You Still Get Acquired for a Decent Price if Growth Has Slowed or Even Stopped? So this CEO really wanted to buy a startup at around $10m ARR, that actually wasn’t remotely close to #1 in the space, and wasn’t growing anymore.

Pricing 299

Pricing Scale Startup Acquisition 299

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

These early conversations helped shape Databricks product, pricing, and go-to-market strategy. Pricing: Keep It Simple (At First) Databricks started with a simple, consumption-based pricing model. So having a consumption-based pricing model makes a ton of sense. Keep pricing simple and optimize packaging.

Scale 183

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Revenue 183

SaaStr

MARCH 10, 2025

Billion, a 20x-25x ARR exit and a huge, huge price in absolute terms. Would you want to invest and take a huge amount of not just financial but career risk for the individual investor and 4 years later just get your money back with a 0% gain? So the headline is incredibly impressive. Its ServiceNows largest acquisition ever.

AI 192

AI Acquisition B2B SaaS 192

SaaStr

JANUARY 23, 2025

You need to: Engage with procurement early – don’t treat them as a rubber stamp Build relationships with 20+ key accounts in year one Get executive sponsorship on both sides Never negotiate price with the business buyer Document clear ROI and business cases Remember: The actual buyer is often not the end user.

Enterprise 244

Enterprise Sales Hiring Scale Outsourced Development 244

FastSpring

OCTOBER 11, 2024

If you’re selling software at the same price into both the U.S. and EU customer data to set “one-size-fits-all” global pricing. Those pricing models may not hold up globally given the different regional customer trends. Specifically, if you have set your monthly subscription pricing for all markets based on EU and U.S.

Merchant Services 159

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Benchmarks Subscription 159

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 21, 2025

Price undisclosed but sounds like >$300m DataStax acquired by IBM. Price undisclosed but sounds like >$1B M&A has followed an interesting arc over the last ~20 years. This is for information purposes and should not be construed as an investment recommendation. Moveworks acquired by ServiceNow for $2.9B

Cloud 188

Cloud Pricing Subscription Payment Features 188

Blulogix

DECEMBER 5, 2024

By BluLogix Team Navigating Complex Pricing Models in the Subscription Economy Introduction In the subscription economy, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) must adapt to increasingly complex pricing models to meet the evolving needs of their customers. Gone are the days of simple, one-size-fits-all pricing.

Payment Features 59

Payment Features Subscription Pricing Technical Review 59

Tom Tunguz

MAY 23, 2021

While not as hyperbolic an inflation rate as copper or lumber, the price trajectory of early stage cloud startups does result from a similar supply demand/imbalance. 3 of the years saw declining prices. Perhaps these prices are tied to blockbuster IPO markets. Investment processes last a few days. 2012: Facebook.

Software Review 364

Software Review Venture Capital Cloud Pricing 364

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

PitchBook surmises non-traditional VC (aka hot money) comprises 78% of venture dollars invested in 2021. The surge of hedge fund capital into Series C-E investing boosted median pre-money valuations 150% in 2021. Last year, early stage prices expanded by half without the benefit of hedge-fund money.

Finance 363

Finance Pricing Investment Startup 363

SaaStr

JUNE 29, 2023

As buyers grapple with expanding technology, higher prices, and a need for efficiency, SaaS companies need to deliver what their audience is looking for to win in the market. AI-Powered Tools: AI-related purchases in Q1: Made up 41% of new investments in Q1. But there is even more nuance to the reason behind the price hike.

VP of Engineering 299

VP of Engineering Trends Cybersecurity Sales Hiring 299

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

To me, the most jarring statistic was this one: 80% of IPOs since 2020 are trading below their IPO price, or “broken ”: So what, you might think? Most VC investments do need to make money. There, even if most “logos” don’t make money, most of the dollars invested do need to make money. Buyer beware? Not all, but most.

Pricing 313

Pricing Startup Investment Data 313