Why CEOs need to think more like athletes, with investor Byron Deeter
Byron Deeter has spent two decades at the epicenter of tech as an investor with Bessemer Venture Partners. His portfolio includes some of the most innovative companies in the world, from Anthropic to Waymo to Canva. He talks with host Jeff Berman about his advice for both founders and investors in this moment of AI transformation, why CEOs need to think more like athletes, and more.
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SaaStr 818: Anthropic, Cursor, Fal & Bessemer: The Realities of Scaling AI
SaaStr 818: Anthropic, Cursor, Fal & Bessemer: The Realities of Scaling AI
Join Talia Goldberg (Bessemer Venture Partners), Kelly Loftus (Anthropic), Jacob Jackson (Cursor), and Gorkem Yurtseven (FaL - Feautres and Labels) as they discuss the evolving landscape of AI, business models, metrics, and the future of generative media.
00:00 - Introduction & Panelist Bios 01:19 - How AI Companies Are Changing Metrics 02:20 - The New Economics: Margins, Growth, and Pricing 04:41 - Usage-Based Models & The Cost to Serve 06:31 - The Impact of Expensive Models on Margins 08:00 - Go-To-Market Team Structures at Anthropic 09:36 - Scaling Sales Teams & The Quota Debate 12:01 - Hiring and Team Building Tactics 14:47 - How AI Is Used Internally at These Companies 17:47 - Key Decisions & Pivots in Company Journeys 20:07 - Collaboration vs. Competition: Cursor & Anthropic 22:23 - Measuring Productivity Gains from AI 24:26 - The Metrics That Matter Most 27:16 - Final Thoughts & Audience Q&A
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If you're serious about B2B and AI, you need to be in London this December 2nd and 3rd. SaaStr AI London is bringing together more than 2,000 leaders and founders for two days of practical advice on scaling into the new year. We'll have speakers flying in from OpenAI, Wiz, Clay, Intercom, and all your favorite SaaS companies, including yours truly with Harry Stebbings for a live 20VC podcast. It'll be fun, and it's all in the heart of London. Don't miss out: get your tickets with my exclusive discount by going to podcast.saastrlondon.com --------------------- Hey everybody, the biggest B2B + AI event of the year will be back - SaaStr AI in the SF Bay Area, aka the SaaStr Annual, will be back in May 2026. With 68% VP-level and above, 36% CEOs and founders and a growing 25% AI-first professional, this is the very best of the best S-tier attendees and decision makers that come to SaaStr each year. But here's the reality, folks: the longer you wait, the higher ticket prices can get. Early bird tickets are available now, but once they're gone, you'll pay hundreds more so don't wait. Lock in your spot today by going to podcast podcast.saastrannual.com to get my exclusive discount SaaStr AI SF 2026. We'll see you there.
Betting on product to win in fantasy sports, with Underdog’s Jeremy Levine
As the NFL season kicks off this week, host Jeff Berman talks with a serial entrepreneur known for innovating in fantasy sports. Jeremy Levine is the founder and CEO of Underdog, a rapidly scaling unicorn. Levine reveals how a relentless focus on product helps his company break through entrenched competition.
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20VC: Do Margins Matter in AI? | Is Defensibility Gone For Good? | Is Vertical SaaS Dead in a World of AI | What SaaS Rules Are BS and No Longer Apply in a World of AI | The Future of Venture: Why Chanel vs Walmart is BS with Byron Deeter
Byron Deeter is a Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and one of the most renowned SaaS investors. Byron has led 19 unicorn investments, including IPO successes like ServiceTitan, Procore, Twilio, Box, Gainsight, Intercom, DocuSign, SendGrid. His portfolio includes eight companies that have gone public. Insane.
Agenda:
00:00 – Why are the stakes in AI higher than ever before?
05:20 – Is defensibility in AI gone for good?
07:40 – Do margins even matter when backing the next Anthropic or Perplexity?
09:50 – How does Byron think about future dilution when investing in AI today?
12:10 – With 40% of venture money going to 10 deals, is there any point investing elsewhere?
13:40 – Is vertical SaaS dead? Is there any point when the large players can own it?
18:00 – Will AI shift from the tech budget to the human labor budget and unlock trillions?
21:10 – Are we entering the era of billion-dollar businesses built by 10 people?
25:20 – Is treble-treble-double-double now too slow for AI companies?
33:10 – In today's AI gold rush, is it better to scream the loudest or just build the best product?
41:10 – What specific growth rates are best in class, good and not good enough today?
55:00 – Is venture now just a game of scale — Chanel vs. Walmart?
SaaStr 799: The Series A Landscape in 2025: Insights from Chemistry VC's Ethan Kurzweil
SaaStr 799: The Series A Landscape in 2025: Insights from Chemistry VC's Ethan Kurzweil
SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin and Ethan Kurzwiel, previously partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and now founding partner at Chemistry VC, took us through a deep dive of exactly where Series A funding is right now in 2025.
Current State of Early-Stage Venture Market The early-stage venture landscape has experienced significant shifts since the peaks of 2021. We're seeing:
Deal activity decline: From the highs of 2021 (around 3.5B raised in Q4 2021), we're seeing a return to baseline levels but still below pre-zero interest rate era volumes.
Longer funding timelines: Seed to Series A timelines have stretched from approximately 12 months to 25 months on average, requiring founders to plan for longer runways.
More capital into fewer deals: While total capital deployment is returning to pre-2021 levels, it's being concentrated in fewer companies, making the environment more binary and competitive.
Graduation rates plummeting: The percentage of seed companies successfully raising Series A has dropped significantly across all industries, creating a "crunch" for many startups.
Listen in for more!
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Alright everybody in SaaS, this is it.
The biggest, best, most action-packed SaaS + AI event of the year—SaaStr Annual 2025—is coming this May. Three full days. 10,000+ SaaS and AI leaders and more tactical, no-fluff content than you'll find anywhere else.
If you want to scale faster—$10M, $50M, $100M ARR and beyond—you need the right playbooks, the right connections and the right people in your corner. And SaaStr Annual is where it all happens.
We'll have 100's of Legendary speakers from companies like Snowflake, HubSpot, OpenAI, Canva, and more.
More networking than you can handle—meet your next investor, co-founder, or biggest deal.
A New AI Demo & Pitch Stage— with your chance to win up to $5M in funding!
So don't wait—grab your tickets now at SaaStrAnnual.com with my code jason100 to save $100 on tickets before prices go up. That's jason 100 at saastrannual.com
See you in May!
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Ethan Kurzweil on Venture Investing in the Post-ZIRP, AI Era
In the 2010s, we saw an incredible boom in the venture capital space, fueled in part by cheap capital as well as cheap compute. Fast forward to today, and many things look very different. We're not in the ZIRP era anymore. And computing power has become a scarce resource, particularly when it comes to AI. So how do things look different today from the perspective of a veteran venture capitalist? In this episode, recorded live in San Francisco in November, we speak to Ethan Kurzweil, a founder and managing partner at the new VC firm Chemistry. Ethan spent years at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he was involved in numerous software deals. He talks to us about his strategy for the new fund, the case for starting a small firm, what technologies excite him most right now, and the general landscape for seed-stage investing.
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SaaStr 764: State of the Cloud 2024: The Cloud AI Era with Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthropic, Jasper, Abridge and EvenUp
SaaStr 764: State of the Cloud 2024: The Cloud AI Era with Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthropic, Jasper, Abridge and EvenUp
Bessemer Venture Partners is committing $1 billion in capital to back AI-native companies and founders at the bleeding edge.
Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners speaks with Julia Chapin, COO at Abridge, Kate Jensen, Head of Revenue at Anthropic, Rami Karabibar, CEO and founder at EvenUp, and Timothy Young, CEO at Jasper, on the impacts of AI on the State of the Cloud.
The discussion delves into the integration of AI into SaaS, marketing, healthcare, and legal industries, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities of implementing AI solutions. Key topics include building defensible business models, embracing multimodal capabilities, and strategizing change management for successful AI adoption.
Gain valuable insights into the importance of trust, partnerships, and user-centric applications in leveraging AI for sustainable business growth.
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SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.
Hey everybody - thanks to the 10,000 of you who came out to SaaStr Annual. We had a blast and big news -- we'll be back in MAY of 2025. That's right, the SaaStr Annual will be a bit earlier next year, May 13-15 2025. We'll still be back in the same venue, in the SF bay area at the 40+ acre sprawling san mateo county events center. Grab your tickets at saastrannual.com with code jason50 for an extra discount on our very best pricing.
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This episode is sponsored by: remote.com
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This episode is sponsored by: Anrok
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EP 100: Jeremy Levine (Partner, Bessemer) Reflects on His Best and Worst Investments
After 23+ years in venture capital, Jeremy Levine has thrived in many eras, taking risks on now-iconic companies like LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, Pinterest, and more. In our discussion, Jeremy shared stories behind these investments and the mindsets he’s developed along the way. We also explored how the VC landscape has evolved over the last 20 years and where the industry may head next. Plus, Jeremy shares insights from his journey into VC, along with foundational advice and principles that anyone aspiring to succeed in the industry may find valuable. Overall, an in-depth discussion for anyone who wants to nerd out on venture capital with us.
(00:00) Intro
(01:03) Exploring the Personal Motivations Behind Venture Capital
(01:41) The Impact of Technology on Venture Capital
(03:11) The Reality of Venture Capital Impact
(06:45) The Ideal Venture Investment: The Donut Company Metaphor
(07:30) Operator vs. Career Investor: The Best Venture Capitalists
(09:57) The Dynamics of Choosing a Venture Investor
(14:03) The Unique Paths to Success in Venture Capital
(17:04) Authenticity and Adaptability in Venture Capital
(26:33) Navigating the Complexities of Venture Capital Careers
(34:11) Jeremy Levine's Journey to Bessemer Venture Partners
(40:00) Navigating the Venture Capital Landscape: Insights and Strategies
(40:30) The Competitive Edge in Early 2000s Venture Capital
(43:26) Reflections on Career Paths and the Role of Serendipity
(47:04) The Intricacies of Decision Making in Venture Capital
(52:37) Evaluating Investment Opportunities: The Price Sensitivity Debate
(55:22) Learning from Success and Failure: The Jet.com Story
(01:08:26) The Evolution of Successful Entrepreneurs: Insights from Shopify and Yelp
(01:16:22) The Strategic Advantage of Repeat Entrepreneurs in the Startup Ecosystem
(01:19:38) Navigating Market Dynamics: Insights and Analogies
(01:20:09) The Evolution of a Venture Capitalist: From Ideas to Impact
(01:21:22) Pioneering User-Generated Content: A Venture Success Story
(01:23:36) Exploring E-Commerce and the Power of Advertising
(01:24:59) Innovative Investment Strategies: SaaS and Payment Processing
(01:34:53) Bessemer's Legacy and Venture Capital Evolution
(01:39:57) Expanding Horizons: Bessemer's Global and Diverse Investment Approach
(01:52:35) Cultivating Talent and Embracing Industry Dynamics
(02:02:36) Navigating Budgets and Investment Strategies in Venture Capital
(02:03:55) The Importance of Accountability and Decision-Making Records
(02:05:46) Investment Memo Strategies: Beyond Templates
(02:08:43) The Dynamics of Voting and Decision Making in VC Firms
(02:16:19) The Evolution of Venture Capital: Trends and Predictions
(02:21:13) Building a Successful Venture Capital Firm: Culture and Operations
(02:29:57) Mentorship and Individual Growth in Venture Capital
(02:39:40) Navigating the AI Investment Landscape
(02:41:36) The Debate on Announcing Funding Rounds
(02:44:20) Closing Remarks
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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20VC: Why Small Markets are Better Than Big Markets, The Biggest Delusion of Early Stage VC, Why AI Investing is like a Horserace and Why The Most Ambitious Companies Growing the Fastest are not the Best Investments with Adam Fisher, Partner @ Bessemer
Adam Fisher is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners and one of the most successful investors in Israel over the last two decades with seed investments in Fiverr, Wix, Melio, HiBob and more. Adam has now made over 60 investments and has had an incredible 23 successful exits. Adam has now been in venture for over 27 years having started his career at Jerusalem Venture Partners in 1996.
In Today's Episode with Adam Fisher We Discuss:
1. Lessons from 27 Years in Venture Capital:
How did Adam first make his way into the world of venture straight out of college?
Does Adam agree with Doug Leone that VC has changed from a "boutique, high margin business to a commoditized, low margin industry"?
What does Adam know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture?
2. How to Pick Winners: 23 Exits in 60 Investments:
To what extent does Adam think pattern recognition is a good thing? When is it bad?
Does Adam prefer to invest in outsider founders approaching a problem with fresh eyes or insider founders who know the problem back to front?
Why does Adam believe that "category creation is BS"?
Why does Adam not like to invest in big, hugely ambitious markets? Why are smaller markets best?
3. The Deal: Mastering the Art of Negotiation and the Deal:
How does Adam reflect on his own relationship to price?
When doing an investment, does Adam think about who would do the next round?
How important is ownership to Adam? Does he want it all on first check?
Why does Adam not like to invest in hot AI rounds?
What have been Adam's single biggest investing mistakes? How did it change his approach?
4. Mastering the Art of Portfolio Management:
Why does Adam believe that it is impossible to know which of your portfolio will be the breakout winners early on?
How does Adam approach reserve allocations with this in mind?
How does Adam know when is the right time to sell a position?
What does Adam believe was the biggest sin of the zero interest rate environment period?
SaaStr 688: The State of the Cloud 2023 with Bessemer Venture Partners
Discover Bessemer Venture Partners's annual State of the Cloud report, going through trends, benchmarks, and metrics that underpin the Cloud economy.
Presented by:
Mary D'Onofrio, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners
Janelle Teng, VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners
Caty Rea, VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners
The past twelve months have been relatively turbulent for Cloud founders. SVB collapsed, market multiples are down, yet the IPO window is re-opening, and we have a platform shift to AI that's exciting everybody.
What does this mean for Cloud companies?
Let's find out.
SaaStr 664: What You Need to Change at $10M to Scale to $100M with Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
Building a company for $0-$1M in revenue differs wildly from $1-10M ARR. And scaling from $10M to $100M is wildly different still.
Sameer Dholakia, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners with decades of operational experience, shares what you need to change as you scale from $10M to $100M ARR.
The short answer is almost everything.
Keep an open mind as you move into the next chapter of your company.
"Everything that got you to where you are isn't going to get you where you want to be," says Dholakia.
Watch the full video, including Q&A: https://youtu.be/ucgtUQiyEJE
Sameer's slides: https://www.slideshare.net/saastr/sameer-dholakia-saastr-workshop-wednesdays
*****
SaaStr Europa is back! And this time, we're heading to London for 2 fun-filled days of content, networking, and SaaS. Join us June 6th and 7th for SaaStr Europa 2023. Use code FAVE100 for $100 off tickets at saastrlondon.com.
*****
Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software.
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Bessemer Venture Partners - Building a VC Firm that Lasts Centuries - [Invest Like the Best, EP.327]
My guests this week are Jeremy Levine, Kent Bennett, and Brian Feinstein. They are partners at one of the oldest and most storied venture firms in the world, Bessemer Venture Partners. Our conversation is split into two parts. First, we explore Bessemer itself. It’s over 100 years old and has a unique operating model with lessons for every investment firm in the market. We then discuss Jeremy, Kent, and Brian’s investing styles and outlook. What they look for in businesses, their thoughts on various sectors like vertical market software, and we close with a discussion about AI and defensibility. Please enjoy this great conversation.
Listen to Founders Podcast
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
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Show Notes
(00:03:14) - (First question) - The unique history of Bessemer and how the firm stays current
(00:08:55) - The role of heritage and cooperative partnership in Bessemer’s model
(00:14:36) - How giving each partner autonomy and commissions can lead to better personal and company outcomes
(00:17:18) - The extent of freedom a partner has in terms of the style of investments made
(00:20:38) - Retro-analyzing the effectiveness of their investment roadmaps and core insights
(00:25:10) - What conflict typically looks like in partners’ conversations and how they resolve it
(00:27:06) - How they enable their junior staff using apprenticeship and open dialogue
(00:31:31) - Their different taste in investment targets
(00:35:11) - How they each evaluate companies based on their unique interests
(00:42:32) - Their thoughts on valuations and how they have dealt with with run-ups in the tech market
(00:45:46) - What they anticipate in the future of early-stage investing
(00:49:43) - The significance of Centaur companies that have hit $100-million in revenue
(00:52:38) - The success of Bessemer’s writing and online content
(00:55:13) - Where the vertical market software industry is in its life cycle
(00:59:12) - How the next wave of innovation may revolutionize software or even depart from it
(01:02:33) - Advice they give to companies looking to prepare for future shifts in tech and AI
(01:04:46) - What excites them and what scares them within the development of LLMs
(01:08:18) - Defensibility of an LLM-based company, given the high level of competition
(01:10:39) - How their firm deals with terminating partners if and when they aren’t a good fit
(01:14:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for each of them
Who captures the most value after the SaaS-acre? Enterprises or Startups?
Alex invited Janelle Teng from Bessemer Venture Partners on the program to riff with us on the state of the cloud.
That's also the title of Bessemer's latest data dump concerning cloud stocks, startups, AI, and more. Teng, a co-author on the report, walked through some of key bits with us to better explain her firm's perspective, and to answer our critical commentary regarding Figma and why startups should always kill Goliath, instead of joining him for a round of grapes and lounging.
You can find the report that we chatted about here, and our early notes thereof here. Finally, a rundown of topics:
Is the valuation massacre that startups have survived since late 2021 finally over?
Why is investor preference swinging back towards growth from profitability?
What is the state of runway at late-stage startups?
Is the M&A pause nearly over?
And, naturally, AI and SaaS and where VCs see the pair heading!
See you at Early Stage tomorrow!
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us onApple Podcasts,Overcast, Spotifyand all the casts. TechCrunch also has agreat show on crypto, ashow that interviews founders, one thatdetails how our stories come together and more!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SaaStr 605: Increasing Runway Without Sacrificing Growth with Norwest Venture Partners' Sean Jacobsohn & Scott Beechuk and Andreessen Horowitz GP Kristina Shen
Top of mind for many startups during a downturn is the question, "How do we balance investment in growing our business while maintaining a modest burn to extend our time to next funding?" In this session we will explore some creative techniques to grow your business with efficiency. Hear from three VC partners with experience successfully co-founding, leading, and growing startups during previous market downturns
Full video: https://youtu.be/hQ-lDnEMCgo
Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software.
Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform
Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976
Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/
Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh
Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8
SaaStr 593: State of the Cloud 2022: The Centaur Report with Bessemer Venture Partners Sameer Dholakia, Mary D'Onofrio, and Elliott Robinson
Bessemer Venture Partners unpacks the most important trends of the cloud economy, and explores the new milestone entrepreneurs need to value above all else—reaching Centaur status, or $100M in ARR—and the paths to get there. Releasing insights for founders with big ambitions, Sameer Dholakia, Elliott Robinson, and Mary D'Onofrio share the insights from cloud benchmark data and dive into the strategies that three Centaur companies took to scale their cloud businesses to $100M ARR.
Full video: https://youtu.be/pUKwyAxwAqI
Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software.
Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform
Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976
Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/
Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh
Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8
Is today's market sad or sane?
This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex brought on Bessemer partner Mary D'Onofrio to chat about the public market slump, but more importantly, its trickle down impact on private companies. Our big question was a broad and important one, built off of our most recent three views column for TechCrunch+.
How is this change in market conditions going to affect startups?
As a trio, we chatted about the obvious and non-obvious impact on startups as companies like Peloton, Netflix and indexes like the BVP Nasdaq Cloud Index, flash warning signs. We asked questions like what is ahead for startups that raised at premium valuations during the market peak and how the exit market may shape up in the coming quarters. D'Onofrio gave two particularly hot takes on the future of due diligence and the nearly-shuttered IPO window, so make sure to tune in.
We don't do too many guests on the show these days due in part to our all-virtual recording setup thanks to COVID. But D'Onofrio was a blast to have on, so we'll be asking her back before too long. Enjoy!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SaaStr 485: Hyperscaling Post-IPO with PagerDuty's CEO, Jennifer Tejada
PagerDuty's CEO, Jennifer Tejada, and Sameer Dholakia, former CEO of SendGrid and current PagerDuty Board Member share what fellow founders can learn from PagerDuty's post-IPO reality, and the realities of operating as a public company, two years later.
Blog post and video: https://www.saastr.com/hyperscaling-post-ipo-with-pagerdutys-ceo-jennifer-tejada-podcast-485/
Sponsors:
https://shortcut.com/saastr
https://www.litmus.com/saastr/
https://www.ontheclock.com/
SaaStr 484: The State of the Cloud 2021, How to Build a Cloud Unicorn with Bessemer Venture Partners
BVP partners Byron Deeter, Mary D'Onofrio, and Elliott Robinson share a state of the cloud economy, tactical lessons and case studies for early-stage founders, private market analysis, alongside key predictions and trends driving innovation in SaaS around the globe.
Full video: https://youtu.be/HZDOQAGW6-E
Blog post: https://www.saastr.com/the-state-of-the-cloud-2021-how-to-build-a-cloud-unicorn-with-bessemer-venture-partners-podcast-484-and-video/
Sponsors:
https://www.invoca.com/
https://stripe.com/
https://www.ontheclock.com/
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Ethan started his career when the marquee tag was king and is bullish on its comeback.
His focus as an investor is on developer tools & infrastructure, open source software, space, and emerging compute.
We talk about his time as a Product Group Leader at Facebook, and his strong feelings on the state of DevOps.
You can find his investor profile here, his blog here, and on Twitter here.
Our lifeboat badge of the week goes to Denys Vuika, who answered the question: How do I configure Yarn as the default package manager for Angular CLI?
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
SaaStr 471: SaaStr CEO & Founder, Jason Lemkin and Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, Discuss Why The Cloud is On Fire in 2021
A great deep dive on why the Cloud is on fire right now, and what it means for founders. Learn more at TheCloud100.com, a free digital event with the Top 100 private Cloud and SaaS companies on Aug 10!!
Video + notes: https://www.saastr.com/25-of-the-cloud-100-is-growing-100-at-100m-arr-woah/
20VC: The Twilio Memo: Bessemer's Byron Deeter on How a $125K Initial Check Became Bessemer's Largest Position, What The Influx of Late-Stage Capital Means For Venture Today & Why The Incumbent Advantage Is Now An Incumbent Disadvantage
Byron Deeter is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners and one of the world's leading investors in SaaS and cloud. To date, nineteen of Byron's investments are valued above $1 billion, including ten IPOs and counting. Some of the incredible companies within Byron's portfolio include Twilio, ServiceTitan, Hashicorp, Canva, Intercom, DocuSign, SendGrid, the list goes on. Prior to joining the world of venture, Byron was an entrepreneur, raising a Series A from Bessemer and scaling the company to be one of the first global SaaS companies, reaching profitability and successfully selling to IBM.
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In Today's Episode with Byron Deeter You Will Learn:
1.) How Deven made his way into the world of venture and how that led to his becoming a Managing Director @ Insight, way back in 2000?
2.) The Market: Many people passed on Twilio, what did Byron see that others did not? Did Byron have concerns around the TAM? What made Byron feel comfortable they were not too early? How did Byron assess whether customers would churn off Twilio when they scaled to a size they could build their own infrastructure? How does Byron advise founders on this challenge today?
3.) The Team: What did Byron find some compelling about Jeff so early on? Jeff has been an incredible CEO from pre-seed to post-IPO, what has enabled Jeff specifically to scale with the company so successfully? What does Byron do to build the trust and rapport with founders that he does? What works? What does not work? How does that look today with Zoom?
4.) The Incumbents & Competition: Why does Byron believe the incumbent advantage is actually an incumbent disadvantage? What specifically has Byron found underwhelming about how the incumbents have tried to respond? In what tangible and specific way are startups better placed to win than incumbents? How does Byron advise founders to assess other startup competitors?
5.) The Funding: Twilio is Bessemer's single largest position ever, how does Byron know when is the right time to double down on an investment? What signals does he look for? Has this changed with the massive price inflation we have seen over the last year? How does Byron analyse the influx of new capital? Where is it good? What are the challenges to it?
Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Byron Deeter
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As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
20VC: The Pinterest Memo: Bessemer's Jeremy Levine on The Secret To Success within User Generated Content Plays, Where Most Investors Make Mistakes When Analysing Consumer Social and How The Pinterest Deal Wouldn't Have Happened without a Diverse Partners
Jeremy Levine is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the leading venture firms of the last 2 decades with a portfolio including the likes of Pinterest, Shopify, LinkedIn, Yelp, Twilio and many more. As for Jeremy, five of his early-stage investments—LinkedIn, MindBody, Pinterest, Shopify and Yelp—grew into billion-dollar publicly traded companies. As a result of his incredible portfolio, he has featured on the Forbes Midas List for several years running.
In Today's Episode with Jeremy Levine You Will Learn:
1.) How Jeremy came to make one great decision and make one big mistake all in one rainy afternoon in Palo Alto? What was the story behind meeting the Pinterest team for the first time? Who was there? How did it go down?
2.) Market: How did Jeremy analyse the market at the time of the investment? What had been some core lessons Jeremy had learned on what made successful user-generated content plays? Where was Jeremy wrong in how he analysed the market? In what way is Jeremy surprised with how the market evolved? How does Jeremy analyse market timing today?
3.) Team: Jeremy has previously called Ben Silberman a "product visionary", what made Jeremy say this about Ben? How did Jeremy get over the concern of many VCs that Pinterest did not have a technical co-founder? Having seen Ben change over the last decade, what have been the biggest changes in Ben's leadership style over the last 10 years?
4.) Traction: When evaluating traction, where does Jeremy think so many investors make mistakes today? How should founders determine what is their core North Star metric? What gave Jeremy the confidence Pinterest could "cross the chasm"? How did the early Pinterest cohorts look both from usage and retention? What elements surprised and impressed?
5.) Pre + Post Mortem: What did Jeremy see as the likely reasons why Pinterest would not work? How did Jeremy think through what it took for UGC platforms to monetise at the time? Where was he wrong here? What did Jeremy see as the upside? What did he believe Pinterest could be if all the stars aligned?
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
SaaStr 436: The 2021 State of the Cloud with Bessemer Venture Partners
In today's SaaStr podcast the team at Bessemer Venture Partners unveils the 2021 state of the cloud. Listen in as Byron Deeter, Elliott Robinson and Mary D'Onofrio share the latest trends and predictions for the cloud marketplace.
Video + blog post: https://www.saastr.com/state-of-the-cloud-2021-with-bessemer-venture-partners/
SaaStr 373: The State of the Cloud 2020, The COVID Beneficiaries Edition with Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson of Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer's 5th Annual State of the Cloud Report returns for a definitive look at the cloud industry today. Byron Deeter and Elliott Robinson, partners at Bessemer Venture Partners, offer macro trends in the public and private cloud markets, strategic advice to cloud founders, and insights into why entrepreneurs should feel auspicious about the future.
This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Annual @ Home.
Full video: https://youtu.be/WrGhD0qaIow
Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-the-week-with-byron-deeter-elliott-robinson-henry-schuck-and-jason-lemkin/
SaaStr 324: SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and Bessemer Venture Partners' Partner Byron Deeter on The Current State of Venture Capital & Cloud
Join SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin and Bessemer Venture Partners Partner Byron Deeter for a deep dive on what's going on in Venture Capital and Cloud.
This podcast is an excerpt from Jason and Byron's webinar "Bridging the Gap: The Current State of Venture Capital and Cloud." You can find the full webinar on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/UDfIC5prskA
E38: “Angel” Podcast: David Cowan, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners shares insights on owning up to his anti-portfolio, understanding sunk cost, top traits for becoming a VC & best Founders & CEOs he’s ever worked with
0:53 Jason intros Bessemer's David Cowan
1:54 David explains how he got his start in Venture capital in 1992
4:22 What does Bessemer look for in a potential investor today? How has VC hiring and demographics have changed over time?
8:10 David gives an anecdote about understanding "sunk cost"
14:12 David explains how and why Bessemer started owning their anti-portfolio
16:03 Stories on passing on Facebook, Tesla, Google, PayPal, Napster & Youtube
19:13 What made Youtube standout from Napster from a regulatory perspective
24:05 David describes hearing the Twitch pitch for the first time
26:00 Consumer vs. Enterprise investing
29:42 Sales-driven culture
33:31 When is the right time to sell a company?
41:15 Anti-tech backlash... is it justified?
47:38 Who is the best Founder & CEO David has ever worked with?
52:10 Meeting Wade Foster and investing in Zapier
55:29 Are growth & product people making the best VCs today?
58:53 Thoughts on Quantum Computing
1:02:19 How is David investing in Robotics?
1:09:58 Jason ends the show by showing the trailer to David's Silicon Valley mockumentary "Bubbleproof"
SaaStr 306: Bessemer Ventures Partner Alex Ferrara on State of the Cloud 2019: Europa Edition
Join Bessemer Venture Partners' Alex Ferrara as he takes a look at trends and predictions for the cloud industry in 2019. One of the most popular sessions from SaaStr Annual, this presentation will provide an in-depth look at the cloud computing industry across Europe and globally.
Find the video and full transcript on our blog.
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20VC: Bessemer's Byron Deeter On Lessons From Investing in 14 $Bn Companies, What The Heck Is Going On In Cloud Today and Why Cloud IPO Floodgates Are About To Burst Open
Byron Deeter is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners where he has established himself as one of the leading investors in SaaS and Cloud authoring the iconic laws on the state of cloud computing. In terms of track record, fourteen of Byron's investments are valued above one $1 billion, including eight IPOs and counting. Byron's investments include the likes of Twilio, Intercom, SendGrid, Gainsight, Box, DocuSign and many more. Prior to the world of venture, Byron was a Bessemer Founder raising his Series A from them back in 2000 with Trigo Technologies. The company rapidly scaled to profitability and was acquired by IBM.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Byron made his way into the world of venture from founding Trigo Technologies and selling to IBM in 2005? How have seeing multiple booms and busts impacted Byron's investment mentality today?
2.) What the heck is going on in cloud today? Is Byron concerned by the very rich multiples being paid in the ecosystem today? How does Byron think about how public market performance impacts his day to day role investing? Why does Byron believe that the floodgate for cloud IPOs is about to burst open?
3.) Having seen so many cloud IPOs, what should founders take from the lessons of those that have already been so successful? With 14 $Bn companies, what does Byron attribute his investing success to today? How does Byron think about what he wants to invest in today? Are we in an entirely new wave of cloud?
4.) As a former founder, how does Byron think that he engages differently with founders than more financial backgrounded VCs? What can board members really do to build that trusted relationship with the founder in the early days? Is it good for founders and board members to be friends? Is there a line of professionalism that has to be drawn?
5.) How has Byron seen his style of board membership change over the last decade? What would his advice be to someone who has just gained their first institutional board seat? What does Byron believe makes the best board members? What founder he has worked with most excels when it comes to board management? What made them so extraordinary?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Byron's Fave Book: AI Superpowers, Legacy
Byron's Most Recent Investment: ScaleFactor
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Byron on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
SaaStr 218: Twilio Founder, Jeff Lawson & SendGrid CEO, Sameer Dholakia on Why Developer First Is A Maturation In The Supply Chain Of Software & Why With Software Innovation Costs Being Lower Than Ever, Operators Must Maximise The Number of "At Bat" Oppor
Jeff Lawson is the Founder & CEO @ Twilio, the company building the future of communications allowing you to engage customers like never before on voice, SMS, WhatsApp or Video. Prior to their IPO in 2016, Twilio had raised over $250m in VC funding from some of the best in venture including USV, Bessemer, Salesforce and Techstars just to name a few. As for Jeff, prior to founding Twilio, Jeff was the Founder & CTO @ Nine Star Inc and enjoyed a spell at Amazon as a Technical Product Manager.
Sameer Dholakia is the CEO @ SendGrid, the category leader in email delivery, reaching half of the world's digital users every 3 months. Last year Twilio acquired SendGrid bringing email into one seamless customer engagement platform. As for Sameer, prior to joining SendGrid, he spent 4 years at Citrix, where he drove the company's product strategy for cloud infrastructure and server virtualization. Sameer joined the company in 2010, when Citrix acquired VMLogix, where he served as CEO and doubled revenues during each year of his tenure. Before that, he worked for 12 years at Trilogy, where he held key leadership roles helping the company grow from a start-up to a $300 million business.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
How Jeff came to found Twilio and what was that a-ha moment for him? How did Sameer enter the world of SaaS and come to be CEO @ SendGrid?
How did Jeff and Sameer assess the culture fit between the 2 companies when deciding whether or not to join forces? How did they formulate and approach creating a new set of values with the 2 companies coming together? How do they distinguish between culture and values? How can leaders both be authoritative and vulnerable simultaneously?
What does Jeff mean when he says, "the developer first approach is a maturation of the supply chain of software"? How has Jeff seen his original thesis for "developer first" evolve and change with time? What does truly special customer experience look like in the developer first model?
In terms of product strategy, how do Jeff and Sameer approach when is the right time to release a second product? What does Jeff mean when he says, "you have to maximise the number of at bat opportunities you have"? Why does Sameer think that SendGrid waited too long to release additional product lines? What were his core learnings from that?
How do Jeff and Sameer think about what what truly special leadership looks like today? How do they approach speaking so that people will remember? What are some of their biggest tips to aspiring entrepreneurs with regards to that and team empowerment? Why do both Jeff and Sameer believe that so much of the management wisdom today is outdated?
60 Second SaaStr:
What do Jeff and Sameer know now that they wish they had known at the beginning?
The book they have gifted most often and why?
What does it take to truly be a great board member?
What do the next 5 years look like for Twilio? How big could it get?
Read the full transcript on our blog.
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
SaaStr
Jeff Lawson
Sameer Dholakia
SaaStr 176: What SaaS Startups Need To Raise A Series A Today, Why We Need A New Framework To Think About SaaS Multiples and How "The Rule of 40" Changes with Scale with Kristina Shen, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners
Kristina Shen is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the world's leading venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Pinterest, Skype, Box, LinkedIn, Yelp and many more incredible companies. As for Kristina, she serves on the boards of DoubleDutch, Glint, Retail Solutions and Zoosk and is also a board observer with RainforestQA, Vidyard, Gainsight and ServiceTitan. Kristina is also one of the best data gurus as the co-author of Bessemer's State of the Cloud 2016 and 2017 and Bessemer 10 Laws of Cloud, which captures the top trends among leading public and private cloud computing and enterprise mobile companies. Due to Kristina's success she has been named to both Forbes and Business Insider's 30 Under 30 in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
How Kristina made her way into the world of cloud investing and came to be the data guru for much of the cloud landscape?
What does Kristina fundamentally mean when she states the key question is, is there velocity in this SaaS business? Is velocity just about revenue or ARR growth? How can startups present real velocity with their sales funnel? How can startups present further velocity through their SQL process?
Why does Kristina believe that "private SaaS multiples are not expensive and we need a new framework"? What makes the existing framework inaccurate? What does this mean for the way Kristina assess ARR multiple and growth rates? How does this framework alter Kristina's perception of the often hailed "Rule of 40"? How does it change with scaling?
What are the core elements Series A SaaS investors focus on today? With regards to revenue benchmarks for the A round, where do they need you to be both on the low and high end? Where do Series A investors expect startups to be for y/y ARR growth?
What core metrics are required to successfully raise your Series B in SaaS today? What does Kristina think is the fundamental difference between Series A and B today in SaaS? What can founders do to show repeatability and reliability of revenue streams as they move into the B round?
60 Second SaaStr?
What does Kristina know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?
Questions from Jeremy Levine: What would Kristina like her legacy to be as an investor in 20 years time?
What keeps Kristina up at night?
Is it worse to see an amazing deal and pass on it or to have never seen it at all?
Read the full transcript on our blog.
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
SaaStr
Kristina Shen