Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 10, 2020

Each quarter, a group of analysts, including me, publish analysis on the trends in the venture capital market. There’s a risk to those assessments: the data is incomplete since not all rounds founders close within a quarter are reported in that quarter. I was curious about how much variance exists in the data.

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Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

Amy Cortese published “Venture Capital, Withering & Dying” in the New York Times on Oct 21, 2001. Venture capital funds lost 18.2 percent, on average, for the 12 months ended June 30, according to Venture Economics, while Internet-specific funds were down 27.7 This is a natural part of the cycle.

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SaaStr

MARCH 17, 2025

But just how much of venture capital overall is going to … the top names? In 2024, 31% of all VC capital went into just 20 deals. From 2020-2022, the top 20 deals were just 6%-8% of all VC capital. GBGH is back — with vengence — in venture capital.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 29, 2023

If I had to summarize venture capital today, it would be like this: There is Very Little Oxygen Today Above $200m Valuations What do I mean? It’s still a weird world in venture: Firms are both shutting down and raising new funds. More entrepreneurs are doing direct investing themselves than ever. But Series D? -41%.

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SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2021

Q: What are the pros and cons of working in the venture capital space, and why? I’ll list the pros and cons, but before we get there, it’s important to note a few things: Venture Capital is a tiny industry. There are very limited promotion paths in venture. Whatever you do, don’t romanticize it.

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

More here from Carta: The post Just Being Pretty Good at Venture Capital Isn’t Good Enough appeared first on SaaStr. The median 2017 fund is making money on paper, but not enough. And 2020 and 2021 funds look a little … rough right now. Maybe a lot rough.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2020

Q: How do Venture Capital Firms really feel about founder salaries? Let me add just one thought to the discussion on founder salaries, once you are venture-backed. The post One Simple Rule On How Much To Pay Yourself Once You Raise Venture Capital appeared first on SaaStr. 10k a year. 10k a month.

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SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Should We Go After Venture Capital, and When? There are only two reasons to raise Venture Capital: You need it. If the only way you can get to the next level is to raise capital, then do it. Venture capital is very expensive in the early days, in terms of dilution. Dear SaaStr: We Don’t Need It.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 5, 2024

Carta release its latest funding data the other data for 2024 Year-To-Date here : What you can see is that large, hot AI later stage deals overall are indeed driving venture capital deployments up ~ +17% the year. But that’s for late-stage capital. So it’s interesting how folks craft headlines from data.

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SaaStr

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

The post Going Big in Venture Capital appeared first on SaaStr. Means Losing Biggish a few times, at least. Something to keep in mind based on who you take money from. Make it match your ambitions, your upside goals, and your downside tolerance.

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SaaStr

JULY 5, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Is Late-Stage Venture Capital More Stressful than Early-Stage Venture Capital? A deep dive on why late stage is harder than you might think here: The post Dear SaaStr: Is Late-Stage Venture Capital More Stressful than Early-Stage Venture Capital? appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

NOVEMBER 11, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Are the Best Arguments Against Raising Venture Capital? The post Dear SaaStr: What Are the Best Arguments Against Raising Venture Capital? TIRED: “We’re raising a small $3m round before we do a Big $20m Series A later this year” WIRED: “We’re raising $3m to build a $100m+ business.

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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. The post What’s Really Happening in Venture Capital Today with Redpoint Ventures Managing Director Logan Bartlett appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Question #1: As a bootstrapped company at $35M ARR with 60% gross margins but slower growth (<40%), should we raise venture funding? For companies in this position or similar, Jason suggests looking at private equity rather than venture capital: “You’re in a weird world where you’re basically unfundable by VCs.

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SaaStr

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Dear SaaStr: Is 5 Co-founders Too Many When Raising Venture Capital? My first venture investment was Pipedrive, it had 5 co-founders and sold for $1.5 Venture capital is a business of outliers, but it also involved a lot of pattern-matching, for better or worse. Yes, it can work. 5 scares most investors off.

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Tom Tunguz

JULY 17, 2022

I wish I had a chart of the bid/ask spread in venture capital today. The bid/ask spread in VC is the difference between the post-money valuation between a VC (the bidder) & a company (seller). In the past few years, the spread has been tight. The market is liquid. Many startups sell shares to buyers at mutually attractive prices.

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SaaStr

AUGUST 1, 2021

Q: Dear SaaStr: What Happens and Changes After You Raise Venture Capital for the First Time? A few thoughts if you haven’t raised venture capital before: 1. The post Dear SaaStr: What Happens After You Raise Venture Capital for the First Time? Remember you have to prove yourself, still.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2024

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. The more subtle point is that after 8 or 10 million, you could, (a lot of times)raise the capital, but you don’t have to anymore. It is a niche asset class.

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SaaStr

MAY 27, 2023

Dear SaaStr: When is a Startup Ready to Raise Venture Capital These Days? Churn too high Burn too high Competitors growing faster Already raised “too much” capital The post Dear SaaStr: When is a Startup Ready to Raise Venture Capital These Days? A lot harder. appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2024

That will weigh across venture. falling image from here ) The post Why 2024 May Be Tougher on Venture Capital Than 2023 appeared first on SaaStr. The bottom line is there likely is at least another full year of working through the excesses of 2021. No matter what some AI headlines suggest.

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SaaStr

MAY 9, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What is the Highest Position in a Venture Capital Firm? partnership image from here ) The post Dear SaaStr: What Is The Highest Position in a Venture Capital Firm? The “Managing General Partner” or “Managing Director” or a similar title. In tiny VC firms, 2 partners may truly be equal and both run the place.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Did You Learn From Your Worst Venture Capital Investment? A related post here: 10 of My Top Seed Investing Mistakes The post Dear SaaStr: What Did You Learn From Your Worst Venture Capital Investment? History doesn’t repeat. But it definitely rhymes. appeared first on SaaStr.

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SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2024

This creates a much harder capital markets environment. US venture funding went from 8 to 300 over 15 years. It’s now falling to 150 because 81% percent of the dollars invested in venture capital at the height of the boom came from non-traditional venture capital firms which are all very likely to leave investing.

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SaaStr

AUGUST 27, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How are Funds Invested by Venture Capital Firms? The post Dear SaaStr: How are Funds Invested by Venture Capital Firms? It varies of course, but roughly for bigger funds: Funds tend to invest in 20–40 startups over 2–4 years. Big and tiny funds may do more, but in general, this is the sweet spot.

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SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Important if you have a lot of venture capital, but again, not so much if you have a modest amount of funding. Measure for sure, but what really matters in the early days is keeping the burn rate down. That summarizes a lot of CAC and CLTV in the early days. Your Burn Mutliple ? That your burn is modest. More here.

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Metrics Venture Capital SaaS Churn 283

SaaStr

AUGUST 19, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are The Top Challenges of Venture Capital Firms? The post Dear SaaStr: What are The Top Challenges of Venture Capital Firms? Generally there are three major challenges. The first one is non-obvious. Challenge #1: Raising Another Fund. While Sequoia, Benchmark, Founders Fund, etc.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2024

How Would a Person Start a Venture Capital Fund? #8. The Thing Is, Maybe 10%-15% of Venture-Backed Startups Are Still Running the 2021 Playbook. The Actual, Real Dilution from Series A, B, C and D Rounds #6. What Are The Odds You Get Acquired Within 5 Years for a Good Price? Around 1%-1.5% #7.

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Customer Success 257

SaaStr

AUGUST 2, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What Is The Job of a Venture Capital Fund Manager? Net net, this means returning at least 3x the capital they are given to invest. The post Dear SaaStr: What Is The Job of a Venture Capital Fund Manager? Ultimately, the job is to beat Nasdaq by at least 20%. Now what does the job look like?

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SaaStr

JUNE 22, 2023

Dear SaaStr: How Many Good Months Do I Need in a Row to Raise Venture Capital? The post Dear SaaStr: How Many Good Months Do I Need in a Row to Raise Venture Capital? Ideally, at least 4 good months in a row before you try to raise a Seed / Late Seed Round. And at least 2 good quarters for a Series A round.

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SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2024

Having been through 4 acquisitions in different forms (founder, exec, etc), it’s a lot like a venture capital investment. Dear SaaStr: What Really Happens When a Company Buys Another One? The real work starts. Usually, there isn’t actually a ton of time to really get to know each other first. Not really.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 3, 2022

G2 put on its big annual digital event, G2 Reach , this week and we were lucky enough to host what ended up being a simply amazing session on the real state of venture capital right now. But it’s one of the deepest and most on-point dives on venture today I’ve seen in a while. (@jasonlk) December 2, 2022.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 1, 2025

When a start-up raises a ton of capital, misses all the milestones, and is in danger of running out. Still, bear in mind, the more you raise in venture capital, the more the stakes go up. Thats when its most common today.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 25, 2025

Marketing automation vendor Act-On acquired for $53 million [link] — Jason SaaStr 2025 is May 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) January 25, 2025 So a lot of folks somehow think venture capital is bad, that it throws founders under the bus. I used to sort of think that way. Thats just how investing work.

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Tom Tunguz

AUGUST 6, 2023

What will a venture capital turnaround feel like? In 2008, I had just become a venture capitalist. Will it be gradual or sudden? What will change the sentiment in the market? Three months later, Lehman fell & the Global Financial Crisis started.

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SaaStr

DECEMBER 6, 2024

Even after raising $20m, $50, $200m+ in venture capital. SaaStr 2025 is May 13-15 Lemkin (@jasonlk) November 11, 2024 So theres a quiet trend Ive observed for a while but didnt want to call a trend. Didnt want to see it as a new thing. But I think it is. Its the founder CEO quitting. I guess its not totally new. This stuff is hard.

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SaaStr

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

. > Or put differently, the economics with your investors get challenging if, as a rule, you sell for less than 8-10x the amount of capital you’ve raised. << Then, raise enough to build a strong enough team and product to be perceived as a pre-winner.

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SaaStr

JANUARY 19, 2025

. #2: Adding AI to SaaS: Inside the AI Product Strategies of Figma, Cloudflare, GitHub and Ramp #3: Crunchbase: 50% of VC Capital Went to SF Bay Last Year, Q4 Roared Back for Venture Capital #4: 8 Quick Ways to Get More High Quality Leads. Right Now. #5: 5: Doing 5, 6 or 7 Figure Deals?

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