The Latest from SaaStr: The Confusing and Confounding Advice on Capital Efficiency

THE LATEST FROM SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Friday, October 7, 2022 | Growth

So advice from VCs is an odd thing.  It’s almost always correct — but almost always biased.  Biased by the stage of VC.  Biased by the success of the VC.  And biased by the current state of the markets.  When the markets are strong, like 2021, VCs are all Go. Go. Go. 

And when they are tougher, like now, VCs preach capital efficiency. Because they have to.

Growth capital has almost entirely dried up, and follow-on rounds are much, much harder.  Founders, in many cases, have to make do with what they have.  Versus when in 2021, it seemed like everyone could raise a new round every 6-9 months.

DEAR SAASTR

By Jason Lemkin  · Friday, October 7, 2022 | Exit Strategy, Growth, Q&A

Acquisitions don’t happen out of the blue. They almost always take time. In my first start-up as a co-founder, it was a multi-year process. At my second, it was arguably a 5-year process. Of competing, getting to know and respect each other, seeing the market change and grow, customer adoption, etc.

The potential acquirer that just wants to kick the tires today may well turn out to be a real acquirer X months or years down the road.

NEW PODCAST + VIDEO

By Amelia Ibarra  · Friday, October , 2022 | Fundraising

The number of global venture capital (VC) investments dipped in 2022, thanks to ongoing geopolitical tensions, turbulence in global capital markets, supply chain issues, and increasing interest rates. This has caused VC investors to be increasingly wary.

With no end in sight to the economic uncertainty, VC investment could remain soft, with downward pressure on valuations resulting in decreasing levels of investment.

Founder and Managing Partner at Cowboy Ventures, Aileen Lee, discusses the state of the VC market in 2022 with Founder and CEO of SaaStr Jason Lemkin— discuss the change in VC activities and seed deals, the importance of the board in the success of a startup, profitability and much more.

SAASTR EVENTS

EARLY

By Jason Lemkin  · Thursday, October 6, 2022 |Growth

Even today, in 2022, so much of the Adobe Sign / EchoSign interface is slicker and easier to use than DocuSign.  It always has been.  The products were architected a certain way well over a decade ago, and while they’ve added a ton of features, their core UX has only changed so much. 

DocuSign still approaches things from a more feature-rich perspective.  And Adobe Sign / EchoSign is still easier to use.  Even today.  Even over a decade later.  At least for signers.

EVENTS

By Amelia Ibarra · Thursday, October 6, 2022 | Blog Posts

SaaStr events couldn’t happen without our partners, and we wanted to give a special shout-out to some of our newest sponsors for SaaStr Annual 2023. At the 9th ever SaaStr Annual, ~200 of the best and hottest companies on earth will go BIG as partners/sponsors. Join these incredible companies to experience all the value of SaaStr!

This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by Zip

Hear from Procurement Leaders at Gong and Zip about how they've optimized the B2B buying experience to help their business move with velocity while controlling rouge spent.

This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by Brex

Get corporate cards and spend management software in a single integrated solution that enables 100% compliance and 0 receipt chasing in 100+ countries.

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