1. God dag!

2. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija

5. We are
here

6. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
2008
Christoph’s
SaaS knowledge
S - a - a - … what?!

7. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
9 Learnings from
10 Years of SaaS Investing
Zendesk and

8. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
1. Fundraising

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@chrija
You get a
Term Sheet
nobody wants
to invest
everybody wants
to invest
Time
Investor interest

10. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
nobody wants
to invest
everybody wants
to invest
Time
Investor interest
Seed
Series A
with CRV
Series B with
Benchmark
You get a
Term Sheet

11. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #1
Create a killer deck
Be on top of your KPIs
Run a process

12. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
2. Power Law

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@chrija
Power Law
Company rank
Return
How you think
What it really
looks like
301 15
Power Law looks like

14. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #2
VCs only invest in companies
with homerun potential.
If you’re not trying to build a
$100M+ ARR company, don’t
try to raise VC.

15. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
3. Product/Market Fit

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@chrija
Time
PMF
How you
get to PMF
How it’s probably
gonna look like
think you’ll
Getting to PMF

17. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #3
The road to PMF can
be long and bumpy.
Don’t try to scale
before you have PMF.

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@chrija
4. Pricing

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@chrija
SMB vs. Enterprise Pricing
How you should
be pricing
SMBs Enterprises
Your pricing
Price
SMBs Enterprises

20. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #4
Ask enterprise
customers for more $$$.
Increase the spread
between your entry plan
and your higher tiers.

21. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
5. Scaling paid acquisition

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@chrija
Scaling paid marketing
Marketing spend
CACs
Your projections
Your actuals

23. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #5
Don’t assume that PPC will scale.
Invest in product and content.
NPS matters.
If ARPA big enough, try
outbound sales.

24. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
6. Hiring a VP of Sales

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@chrija
„The 48 Types of VP Sales“
YOU

26. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #6
Your 1st VP of Sales is
probably you.
Then, find one who can get
you to $10-20M ARR.
Always hire for the right stage.

27. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
7. Getting to $100M in ARR

28. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Which animal are you hunting?
ARPA
(in $ per year)
# of customers
(in 1,000s)
10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
10
1
100
1,000
10,000

29. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #7
Know what animal(s)
you’re hunting.
Align your CACs (and
CoGS!) with your ARPA.

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@chrija
8. Startup graveyard

31. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Escaping startup graveyard
CACs
LTV

32. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Learning #8
Align your CACs with
your ARPA.
(yeah, sorry, I said this already, but this is
important)

33. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
9. „Team vs. Market“

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@chrija
„Team vs. Market“
Companies with
good teams
Companies with
excellent teams
Companies with
good markets
Companies with
excellent markets

35. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
„Team vs. Market“
Companies with
excellent teams
Companies with
excellent markets
Companies with
good teams
Companies with
good markets

36. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
„Team vs. Market“
Companies with
excellent teams
Companies with
excellent markets
Luck, timing,…

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@chrija
Thank you!
More SaaS learnings:
www.saaslearnings.com
www.theangelvc.net
Questions?
christoph@pointnine.vc

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@chrija
Bonus slides

39. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
When corporates discover „entrepreneurship“
We need more innovation!
Let’s start a
Corporate VC.
Let’s spin-off the VC.
oops, we’re not attracting the
best and the brightest.
Let’s start an incubator.
Let’s do an
„intrapreneur program“
oops, we’re not attracting the
best and the brightest.
oops, we’re not attracting the
best and the brightest.

40. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Should I go through an accelerator?
Is it YC? YES
No
Go for it!
Do they
want
> 6%?
YES RUN AWAY!!!
No
Think
about it

41. www.theangelvc.net
@chrija
Finding good engineers
engineers looking
for a new job
open positions

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@chrija
Contracts
Number of pages
% of pages with a
>0 chance of ever
becoming relevant.
100%
0%
50%
1 200100
Legal fees
¤5k
¤100k