Posted on

What Nutanix got right (and wrong) in its IPO roadshow

This post is by Ron Miller from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Back in 2016, Nutanix decided to take the big step of going public. Part of that process was creating a pitch deck and presenting it during its roadshow, a coming-out party when a company goes on tour prior to its IPO and pitches itself to investors of all stripes.

It’s a huge moment in the life of any company, and after talking to CEO Dheeraj Pandey and CFO Duston Williams, one we better understood. They spoke about how every detail helped define their company and demonstrate its long-term investment value to investors who might not have been entirely familiar with the startup or its technology. Pandey and Williams reported going through more than 100 versions of the deck before they finished the one they took on the road. Pandey said they had a data room checking every fact, every number — which they then checked yet again. In a Continue reading "What Nutanix got right (and wrong) in its IPO roadshow"
Posted on

As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow

This post is by Alex Wilhelm from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

SaaS stocks had a good run in late 2019. TechCrunch covered their ascent, a recovery from early-year doldrums and a summer slowdown. In 2020 so far, SaaS and cloud stocks have surged to all-time highs. The latest records are only a hair higher than what the same companies saw in July of last year, but they represent a return to form all the same. Given that public SaaS companies have now managed to crest their prior highs and have been rewarded for doing so with several days of flat trading, you might think that there isn’t much room left for them to rise. Not so, at least according to Atlassian . The well-known software company reported earnings after-hours yesterday and the market quickly pushed its shares up by more than Continue reading "As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow"
Posted on

As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow

This post is by Alex Wilhelm from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

SaaS stocks had a good run in late 2019. TechCrunch covered their ascent, a recovery from early-year doldrums and a summer slowdown. In 2020 so far, SaaS and cloud stocks have surged to all-time highs. The latest records are only a hair higher than what the same companies saw in July of last year, but they represent a return to form all the same. Given that public SaaS companies have now managed to crest their prior highs and have been rewarded for doing so with several days of flat trading, you might think that there isn’t much room left for them to rise. Not so, at least according to Atlassian . The well-known software company reported earnings after-hours yesterday and the market quickly pushed its shares up by more than Continue reading "As SaaS stocks set new records, Atlassian’s earnings show there’s still room to grow"
Posted on

Shared inbox startup Front raises $59 million round led by other tech CEOs

This post is by Romain Dillet from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Front is raising a $59 million Series C funding round. Interestingly, the startup hasn’t raised with a traditional VC firm leading the round. A handful of super business angels are investing directly in the productivity startup and leading the round.

Business angels include Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian President Jay Simons, Okta co-founder and COO Frederic Kerrest, Qualtrics co-founders Ryan Smith and Jared Smith and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Initialized Capital and Anthos Capital are participating in this round as well. While Front doesn’t share its valuation, the company says that the valuation has quadrupled compared to the previous funding round. Annual recurring venue has also quadrupled over the same period.
Front raises $66 million to replace Microsoft Outlook

The structure of this round is unusual, but it’s on purpose. Front, like many other startups, is trying to redefine the future of work.

Continue reading "Shared inbox startup Front raises $59 million round led by other tech CEOs"

Posted on

Cloudinary passes $60M ARR without VC money

This post is by Alex Wilhelm from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

Today we’re continuing our exploration of companies that have reached material scale, usually viewed through the lens of annual recurring revenue (ARR). We’ve looked at companies that have reached the $100 million ARR mark and a few that haven’t quite yet, but are on the way. Today, a special entry. We’re looking at a company that isn’t yet at the $100 million ARR mark. It’s 60% of the way there, but with a twist. The company is bootstrapped. Yep, from pre-life as a consultancy that built a product to fit its own needs, Cloudinary is cruising toward nine-figure recurring revenue and an IPO under its own steam.
Posted on

Public investors loved SaaS stocks in 2019, and startups should be thankful

This post is by Alex Wilhelm from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

Today, something short. Continuing our loose collection of looks back of the past year, it’s worth remembering two related facts. First, that this time last year SaaS stocks were getting beat up. And, second, that in the ensuing year they’ve risen mightily. If you are in a hurry, the gist of our point is that the recovery in value of SaaS stocks probably made a number of 2019 IPOs possible. And, given that SaaS shares have recovered well as a group, that the 2020 IPO season should be active as all heck, provided that things don’t change. Let’s not forget how slack the public markets were a year ago for a startup category vital to venture capital returns.

Last year

We’re depending on Bessemer’s cloud index today, renamed the “BVP
Continue reading "Public investors loved SaaS stocks in 2019, and startups should be thankful"
Posted on

Top VCs, founders share how to build a successful SaaS company

This post is by Ron Miller from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Last week at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, we hosted a panel on the Extra Crunch stage on “How to build a billion-dollar SaaS company.” A better title probably would have been “How to build a successful SaaS company.”

We spoke to Whitney Bouck, COO at HelloSign; Jyoti Bansal, CEO and founder at Harness, and Neeraj Agrawal, a partner at Battery Ventures to get their view on how to move through the various stages to build that successful SaaS company. While there is no magic formula, we covered a lot of ground, including finding a product-market fit, generating early revenue, the importance of building a team, what to do when growth slows and finally, how to resolve the tension between growth and profitability.

Finding product-market fit

Neeraj Agrawal: When we’re talking to the market, what we’re really looking for is a repeatable pattern of use cases. So
48833421487 5933a39235 k
Continue reading "Top VCs, founders share how to build a successful SaaS company"
Posted on

Ten years after Adobe bought Omniture, the deal comes into clearer focus

This post is by Ron Miller from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Ten years ago this week, Adobe acquired Omniture for $1.8 billion. At the time, Adobe was a software company selling boxed software like Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop to creatives. Many people were baffled by the move, not realizing that purchasing a web analytics company was really the first volley in a full company transformation to the cloud and a shift in focus from consumer to enterprise.

It would take many years for the full vision to unfold, so you can forgive people for not recognizing the implications of the acquisition at the time, but CEO Shantanu Narayen seemed to give an inkling of what he had in mind. “This is a game-changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets,” he said in a statement after the acquisition became public. While most people thought Continue reading "Ten years after Adobe bought Omniture, the deal comes into clearer focus"
Posted on

Starboard Value takes 7.5% stake in Box

This post is by Ron Miller from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Starboard Value, LP revealed in an SEC Form 13D filing last week that it owns a 7.5% stake in Box, the cloud content management company.

It is probably not a coincidence that Starboard Value invests in companies whose stock has taken a bad turn. Box’s share price has been on a roller coaster ride in the years since 2015, when its stock was priced initially at $14.00/share but then surged to $23.23 on its opening day. In recent years, its share price has gone as high as $28.12, but the declines have been steep: its 52-week low is $12.46 per share. Screenshot 2019 09 03 17.22.05 “While we do not comment on interactions with our investors, Box is committed to maintaining an active and engaged dialogue with stockholders. The Board of Directors and management team are focused on delivering growth and profitability to drive long-term stockholder value as we Continue reading "Starboard Value takes 7.5% stake in Box"
Posted on

Marc Benioff will discuss building a socially responsible and successful startup at TechCrunch Disrupt

This post is by Ron Miller from SaaS – TechCrunch


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



Salesforce chairman, co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff took a lot of big chances when he launched the company 20 years ago. For starters, his was one of the earliest enterprise SaaS companies, but he wasn’t just developing a company on top of a new platform, he was building one from scratch with social responsibility built-in.

Fast-forward 20 years and that company is wildly successful. In its most recent earnings report, it announced a $4 billion quarter, putting it on a $16 billion run rate, and making it by far the most successful SaaS company ever. But at the heart of the company’s DNA is a charitable streak, and it’s not something they bolted on after getting successful. Even before the company had a working product, in the earliest planning documents, Salesforce wanted to be a different kind of company. Early on, it designed the 1-1-1 philanthropic model that set Continue reading "Marc Benioff will discuss building a socially responsible and successful startup at TechCrunch Disrupt"