The Latest from SaaStr: Seed Rounds Have Fallen 50% in Volume Since March

By Jason Lemkin · Friday, June 17, 2022 | Blog Posts

So no source of funding data is perfect.  Essentially every source lags, because deals are often reported far after they close.  Most unicorn press releases you see were closed months ago.

But AngelList’s data is probably as up-to-date as you can get.  The data is more recent than most sources, since it is self-reported by the investors in the round and on the AngelList platform.  Carta data may be even more up-to-date (since cap tables are updates as closing), but they are probably close.

What does the AngelList data show us at 6/16/22?

Read the full article: AngelList: Seed Rounds Have Fallen 50% in Volume Since March

By Amanda Beaty · Saturday, June 18, 2022 | Hiring, Leadership

To celebrate 10 years of SaaStr, we’re revisiting some classic podcast episodes. Up today: a 2016 interview with Harry Stebbings and Gusto Co-Founder and CEO Josh Reeves. At the time of this interview, Gusto had 350 employees serving 40,000 customers. Today, it’s grown to more than 2,000 employees serving over 200,000 businesses.

Six years ago, Josh shared his thoughts about business growth, creating solid company values, and optimizing the hiring process. Since then, Gusto’s growth has exploded –– as of its most recent funding round in 2021, Gusto raised $175 million in Series E, and now ahead of its IPO, they are valued at $9.5 billion.

Read the full article: How to Optimize Hiring & Create a Culture of Shared Values With Gusto Co-Founder & CEO Josh Reeves (Pod 565)

By Jason Lemkin · Friday, June 17, 2022 | Blog Posts

After a record-setting 2022 SaaStr Europa in Barcelona, we’re gearing up for the 8th SaaStr Annual!

SaaStr Annual Sep 13-15 2022 in the SF Bay Area, 10,000+ of us together, spread out across 40+ acres outdoors, festival-style again!

Take a look at just some of the epic speakers!

Read the full article: 100+ of the First Speakers at 2022 SaaStr Annual!!

By Jason Lemkin · Friday, June 17, 2022 | Marketing, Metrics

There are pros and cons to being cash-flow positive.  In an ideal world, you’d experience both hyper-growth, and free cash flow from almost Day 1.  If you’re Freemium and hit it big, fast, in fact, it can work that way.  See, e.g., Calendly, Zapier, Zoom, etc. Or you can just be super scrappy like ZoomInfo.

The reality is though, in SaaS, especially if you are primarily sales-driven, that’s often gonna be tough.  You’ll need some capital to get either off the ground, or to get the engine really humming, or both.

Then, past a certain point, you’ll probably be able to operate cash-flow positive or at least at a fairly low-stress burn rate.  Whether that’s good or bad, let’s talk about later.  But at least having the option is a good thing.

Read the full article: 7 Simple Steps to Getting to Cash-Flow Positive Faster (in SaaS)

By Jason Lemkin · Wednesday, June 16, 2022 | Fundraising

The best founders just know everything cold about their business.

Go in like you’ve lived it, learned it, and loved it the past X months and years.

Read the full article: How to Stand Out to VCs? Really, Really Know Your Sh*t

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