[premoney sf 2016] jason lemkin > the super, way early indicators they presage hyper-growth saas...
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The Super, Way Early Indicators They Presage Hyper-Growth SaaS Companies
Jason M. LemkinSaaStr + Fund
@jasonlk / @saastr
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SaaStr: A Curious Mix of Media, Events, Venture
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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Venture
Angel / BOD / Advisor
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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Prefer — “Later Seed”
But done pre-product & pre-revenue,
all way to $29.9m post
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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Investment Criteria:
• Founder Better Than Me / I Was (Adjusted for Time)
• Potential for Superior Unit Economics • > $15/user/mo (ideally, much more) • > $20k ACV for SMB • > $50k ACV for SME • > $250k ACV for Enterprise
• Can Be “Hot” By Series A (But Probably Not Today)
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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SubMetrics• Is 1 or 2 = 10-20 = 100-200? Or Just Anomaly?
• Lead Velocity and Pre-Lead Velocity? • Any Leads At All? Why? • If Outbound — Why Is This Working? • Unusual Customers (outside of tech, YC, etc.)
• One Big Customer
• Can a VPS + VPM Tilt Curve?
• Is CEO (now) 110% Committed to Sales?
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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Traction >ISN’T< Enough. Signs of “Suboptimality"
• Feel Sales is “Too Expensive”
• Numbers are really wrong. Not GAAP wrong, but really wrong. These ones >never< work out.
• CEO won’t move to SF Bay Area and customers are here. Don’t have to. But if won’t …
• CEO is Tired. It’s too hard & too long in SaaS.
• You wouldn’t work for them. Too much x-functional recruiting.
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk
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THANK YOU!
Jason M. Lemkin @jasonlk