Inside the Logan Bartlett Show, Investing Through Market Cycles + Bubbles, Dissecting VC Frameworks
Logan Bartlett is a Managing Director at Redpoint.
If you like startups and you listen to podcasts, you’re probably familiar with his podcast, the Logan Bartlett Show. We talk about how it first got started, plus all his tricks for growing the podcast, including his canonical episodes in 2022 that helped pop the web3 bubble.
We also talk market cycles and bubbles, and what Logan’s seeing in the data today, especially in AI, plus Logan’s philosophy’s on venture capital as an asset class, his favorite under the radar investors, and advice for his younger self.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:33) Not getting invited to Michael Rubin’s white party
(04:29) Meeting on Twitter during COVID
(11:09) How Logan and I benefited from Twitter
(16:55) Early days of the Logan Bartlett Show
(22:10) Why podcasts are so hard to grow, and how Logan did it
(24:50) Learning YouTube’s the best for podcast growth
(29:51) Inside Logan’s web3 episodes with Zach Weinberg
(32:07) Lessons from studying history and market cycles
(33:15) Producer Ben fact checking Logan's historical railroad statistics
(39:42) How to invest in and around bubbles
(51:00) Market data from Redpoint’s 2024 AGM update
(55:12) Differences between companies valued at 100x and 5x ARR
(1:00:04) The Barbell Theory of asset management and why Logan disagrees it will happen in VC
(1:09:40) Ways VCs can actually add value
(1:12:27) Redpoint’s founding story + greatest hits
(1:18:14) The most underrated investors and founders
(1:21:35) Advice for young people: pick a niche, go deep, stay focused
If you enjoy this conversation and you’re not already, make sure to like, comment, follow, and subscribe to my newsletter in the show notes to get future episodes in your inbox every week.
Referenced:
Clearspace https://www.getclearspace.com/
Acquired’s TikTok episode https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/tiktok
Gorilla Game https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Game-Picking-Winners-Technology/dp/0887309577
Redpoint’s AGM Update https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1T3kGf-n4cmd6_UqOQNb79ZXFL723b9HdZyTnk9sLOlM/edit
Where to find Logan:
Twitter: https://x.com/loganbartlett
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loganbartlett/
Where to find Turner:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/
Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/
SaaStr 746: What's Really Happening in Venture Capital Today with Redpoint Ventures Managing Director Logan Bartlett
SaaStr 746: What's Really Happening in Venture Capital Today with Redpoint Ventures Managing Director Logan Bartlett
There are a lot of haves and have-nots in the software industry today. Some companies have more people throwing money at them than they know what to do with, and others are struggling to raise any money at all.
Logan Bartlett, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, shares their yearly "State of the Market" report to understand what is and isn't happening in venture capital today. 2024 is the tale of two markets, so let's get into some of the data on today's episode.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SaaStr hosts the largest SaaS community events on the planet.
Join us in 2024 at:
SaaStr Annual: Sept. 10-12 in the SF Bay Area. Join 12,500 SaaS professionals, CEOs, revenue leaders and investors for the world's LARGEST SaaS community event of the year. Podcast listeners can grab a discount on tickets here: https://www.saastrannual2024.com/buy-tickets?promo=fave20
--------------
This episode is sponsored by Pendo, the all-in-one product experience platform.
Pendo helps your users do the things you really want them to do. You can try Pendo for free at Pendo.io/saastr and check out Mind The Product, the community for product people like… us.
20VC: Is Now Really the Best Time to Be Investing? WTF is Happening at Growth Stage Investing? Why VCs Have Gotten Lazy Over the Last 2 Years? Investing Lessons from Hitting with Braze and Missing with Snowflake with Logan Bartlett, Managing Director @ Re
Logan Bartlett is a Managing Director @ Redpoint, a firm with a portfolio including the likes of Stripe, Nubank, Twilio, Netflix, Snowflake and many more incredible names. As for Logan, at Redpoint he has led investments in the likes of Ramp, Monte Carlo, Cribl, Crossbeam and Acuity MD to name a few. Before joining Redpoint, Logan spent over 5 years with the team at Battery where he made investments in Pendo, Amplitude, Dataiku, Braze and Kustomer.
In Today's Episode with Logan Bartlett We Discuss:
1.) Entry into Venture:
How Logan made his way into the world of venture joining Battery Ventures?
What are 1-2 of Logan's biggest takeaways from his time with Battery?
What does Logan know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture?
2.) The Venture Landscape Today:
Is now really the best time to be investing? How does Logan compare today to prior vintages? How does this differ when comparing consumer to B2B?
How does Logan analyze the state of the growth market? Is anyone really doing deals today? If so, what is the discount on price vs last year?
How do the public markets impact the later stage financings which have disappeared in the last 3 months? How do the later stage financings impact the early stage?
Does Logan agree that "venture has never been less collaborative as it is today"?
3.) The Role of the Venture Investor:
Why does Logan believe that VCs have gotten lazy over the last 2 years? Does Logan believe we will see even more GPs at the top retire in the downturn?
How does Logan analyse his role as a board member today? How has his style changed over time?
What is the single best board Logan is on? Why that one? Who is the best board member Logan works with? What makes this board member so good?
How does Logan assess the importance of personal brand in venture today? Why does Logan believe no company should hire PR firms from the early days?
4.) Investing Style and Lessons:
What has been Logan's single biggest hit as an investor? How did seeing that impact his mindset?
What has been Logan's biggest miss? How did not doing the investment change how he thinks about making new investments today?
How does Logan assess his own relationship to price? How has it changed over time?
As a growth investor today, how important is ownership? How does this change with stage?
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Logan's Favourite Book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Logan's Most Recent Investment: AcuityMD
(TWTR SPC) Techpocalypse Now! W/ @EricNewcomer @loganbartlett & @alexrkonrad
Techpocalypse Now! W/ @EricNewcomer @loganbartlett & @alexrkonrad
How bad is it? How bad can it get? How do we get out of this?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20VC: The Rise Of The Celebrity VC & The Pros and Cons Of Staying Private with Logan Bartlett @ Battery Ventures
Logan Bartlett is an investor @ Battery Ventures, where he focuses on growth investments for B2B software companies. He is currently involved in Battery’s investment in Pendo and StreamSets. Before joining Battery, Logan was in investment banking with Spurrier Capital Partners, a boutique merchant bank focused on the technology sector. There, he sourced application-software deals with a focused on the marketing-automation sector as well as sales force automation, human-capital management, work management/collaboration, front-office analytics and data-services companies. Prior to that, Logan served as an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank focusing on financial technology. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Logan made his way into the wonderful world of venture capital?
2.) So as young chap entering the industry, I would love to hear how you have gone abut trying to build your brand and identity? What are the key personal marketing strategies for you? How important do you think the brand of the VC is? How do you address the juxtaposition of branding and marketing yourself and battery?
3.) How does Logan approach the deal sourcing aspect of the job? What is his approach to this vital thesis?
3.) Moving to more financial matters I want to address both the seed end and the later stage end of the market today. So starting with the seed funding environment, in recent years we have seen a massive drop in the cost of company creation in conjunction with a large rise in seed funding,. What is the effect of this for you as a Series A-B investor, potentially located in what some may call the funding gap?
4.) You are very much located in the B2B space, d I am intrigued wht kind of ARR do you look for at the stage you are investing and what price point per customer do you believe allows for that ARR metric to be hit within a reasonably short amount of time?
5.) Moving to the later stages of the market I have seen in a slide of yours from the past that you stated that more institutional investors have made their way into the private markets and startups are staying private longer. You followed up by staying that this is a win win for all? Why do you think that is? Does it not mean later stage VCs are priced out of rounds due to the inflow of public money? Does it not mean later stage startups attain inflated valuation that will only lead to a down round at follow on or IPO?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Logan's Fave Book: Gang Leader For A Day
Logan's Fave Blog Or Newsletter: Dan Primack: Term Sheet
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Logan on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here! The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!
.jpg?width=400){kind=small}