4 hours agoLearning from Yahoo’s mistakesNicholas Carlson wrote a fantastic book about Yahoo entitled “Marissa Mayer and The Fight to Save Yahoo.” Below I have paraphrased what I found to be valuable sections, verbatim; the full book is definitely worth the read. Allow employs to give feedback, anonymously. The questions were submitted during the week…Venture Capital9 min readVenture Capital9 min read
4 days agoAverage contract value in SaaSAverage Contract Value is an important metric in SaaS. If it’s trending up and to the right, it’s a sign that customers are upgrading more than they’re downgrading, the base is getting more “enterprisey”, and you’re really focusing on the ideal customer. However, the last 73 SaaS companies to IPO…Venture Capital3 min readVenture Capital3 min read
6 days agoThe 12 commandments of customer successWe’ve had the good fortune of learning from and investing in SaaS businesses with excellent customer retention and upsells. Below are some of the key learnings we’ve gathered over time. The Customer Success Team is not the only group in charge of customer success. Preventing churn is everybody’s job, so…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Jan 23What big VC look for in a CEORecently, we got a hold of an investor letter from one of New York’s finest late stage venture funds. The letter shared insights into what the fund looks for in a management team, which resonated with us. Below we share these points, verbatim. We like CEOs that are patient with…Venture Capital2 min readVenture Capital2 min read
Jan 19Layoffs at a startup done rightAt some point you may have to lay off a chunk of your team to reduce burn, especially now. Large layoffs at a startup are particularly challenging because the team is small, everyone works in the same office or at least closely, and the impact to the culture can be…Venture Capital3 min readVenture Capital3 min read
Jan 17Pulling off the acquihireWe just watched a company go through a very intense, distressed M&A process that fell apart in the final hour. It was an acqui-hire which has its own nuances relative to traditional M&A. Below are some tips to pulling off your own acqui-hire should it come to that. Protect your…Venture Capital3 min readVenture Capital3 min read
Jan 16Q4 Consumer Tech MultiplesBelow are revenue multiples for publicly traded consumer tech companies (B2C). Industries and therefore multiples vary widely. If you’re looking for data on SaaS multiples, that blog came out a week ago.Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Jan 13The state of Software Venture CapitalFrom time to time, we’ll share our views of what we’re seeing in the market for software venture capital. Below is the latest. The bid-ask spread is very wide. The “bid-ask” is as wide as we’ve ever seen it. The bid is what venture funds are willing to pay for…Software3 min readSoftware3 min read
Jan 12Learnings from the best VC ever — BenchmarkeBoys by Randall Stross is a classic. It chronicles the early days of one of the finest venture funds ever: Benchmark. Below are some of the excerpts I found most valuable. “When Benchmark invested $6.7mm in eBay in 1997, the auction company’s valuation was put at $20 million. By the…Venture Capital8 min readVenture Capital8 min read
Jan 10SaaS Profitability vs Cash Efficient GrowthRight now there is an extreme focus on profitability in SaaS, but perhaps we’re overdoing it. The real focus should be on cash efficient growth. Cash efficient SaaS companies that retain the customer scale really nicely and build a lot of value. The math below shows good SaaS gets more…Venture Capital3 min readVenture Capital3 min read
