9 Learnings from Zendesk and 10 Years of SaaS Investing
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Christoph JanzFollow
Sep. 25, 2018•0 likes•4,453 views
9 Learnings from Zendesk and 10 Years of SaaS Investing
Sep. 25, 2018•0 likes•4,453 views
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Slides from my presentation at Tech BBQ in Copenhagen 2018.
Christoph JanzFollow
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9 Learnings from Zendesk and 10 Years of SaaS Investing
- 1. God dag!
- 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
- 9. www.theangelvc.net @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
- 13. www.theangelvc.net @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.
- 16. www.theangelvc.net @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.
- 19. www.theangelvc.net @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
- 22. www.theangelvc.net @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
- 25. www.theangelvc.net @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.
- 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“
- 34. www.theangelvc.net @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,…
- 37. www.theangelvc.net @chrija Thank you! More SaaS learnings: www.saaslearnings.com www.theangelvc.net Questions? christoph@pointnine.vc
- 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
- 42. www.theangelvc.net @chrija Contracts Number of pages % of pages with a >0 chance of ever becoming relevant. 100% 0% 50% 1 200100 Legal fees ¤5k ¤100k