Why Later Stage Valuations Have Fallen; Plus Weekly SaaS News and Updates

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Hey SaaStr Community,

Fenwick, one of the bigger Silicon Valley / tech law firms put out its quarterly report on the venture market, sourced from 194 deals that actually closed in Q2’22, and I found the way the data was presented super helpful given all the drama in the venture markets, on Twitter, etc.

Fenwick: Down Rounds Aren’t Really Happening Much. But Later Stage Prices Have Fallen Quite a Bit.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot tougher out there in venture land than it was in 2021. Post-seed and Series A rounds are a lot harder to get, crazy valuations, to some extent, have gone on pause, and everything has slowed way down.

But it’s not quite as bad in my experience as it may look on social media. And the data from Fenwick confirms that.

LET'S LOOK AT THE DATA

5 Interesting Learnings from Toast at Almost $800,000,000 in ARR

So we took a look at Toast just after it IPO’d. Times were good then, and Toast was worth $24B.

Fast forward to today. and there’s not much to criticize Toast for. They dominate a large market, and are growing almost 60% at $800m in ARR! And yet, the markets are tough today, and Toast is now worth less than $10 Billion, despite executing admirably. Of course, their margins are lower than a pure software play.

THE LEARNINGS

Two Strategies for Event Sponsorships: Everywhere. Or Just the Biggest and Best.

Way back in the early days of Adobe Sign / EchoSign, my co-founder was a digital marketing genius — but was opposed to events. They don’t work, he’d say. They take too long to deliver ROI, he’d say. They’re a distraction, he’d say.

And then, a few months later, he came to me and said we had to get a booth at Dreamforce.

So which was it, I said? You gotta be at the biggest and best one in each industry, he said. The exception that makes the rule, in his mind. And he wasn’t wrong. It worked out great for us.

Well, as the years have gone by, and I’ve talked to 100+ CMOs and more that have sponsored or partnered with SaaStr, I’ve basically learned there are 3 strategies for industry events.

THE STRATEGIES

This edition of the SaaStr weekly is sponsored in part by DuploCloud

saastr annual 2022 l sept 13-15 2022 l san mateo county events center

SaaStr Annual starts in just 16 days!

OK we're down the final moments now before SaaStr Annual 2022 officially starts.

We'll be taking over the San Francisco Bay Area, Sept 13-15th at the San Mateo County Events Center.

7,865 SaaS executives, investors, and professionals are already registered. There will be 10,000 by the time Annual starts.

Book your ticket now before we sell out.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS TODAY

Q&A: What Do You Do To Stop Customers From Abusing Free Trials, Sharing Accounts, etc.?

When you are fighting literally for every dollar, this will irk you. It will get everyone’s dander up.

But as you scale past a few million in ARR, you’ll learn it doesn't matter.

THE ANSWER

The Answers to Scaling, Hiring, and Everything Else: A SaaStr Europa AMA with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin

As SaaStr Europa 2022 drew to a close, attendees took one more opportunity to ask Jason questions about topics like how to navigate the current market, the future of work, playing in a crowded space, and hiring your first VP of Sales.

Podcast episode 585 is an excerpt from the AMA, and you'll find the full video and a transcript on the blog.

WATCH NOW

This edition of the SaaStr weekly is sponsored in part by Laika

WHO'S HIRING

Hot Jobs Hiring Now

UserGems is looking for a Senior Product Manager to own the vision, strategy and roadmap for one of our key products. In close collaboration with the leadership team, you'll drive the development of additional features, analyze consumer needs & current market trends and work with engineering teams to deliver with quick time-to-market.
Outreach is seeking a Senior Event Marketing Manager to be focused on developing innovative in-person and virtual experiences for our customers and prospects, building our brand affinity and impacting pipeline and revenue.