Stay ConnectedThe Metrics Brothers is hosted by Dave “CAC” Kellogg and Ray “Growth” Rike. The Metrics Brothers provides unique insights, strategies, tactics, and metrics that are relevant to AI-Native software and SaaS companies.
Each 25-30 minute episode will cover a topic critical to leading a B2B software company, and chock-full of practical advice that can be introduced and applied in most Native-AI, Agentic AI, and B2B software and SaaS companies.
Go-to-Market continues to be a trending topic for the majority of B2B SaaS companies being challenged to optimize efficient revenue growth. ICONIQ recently published a report entitled "State of GTM Benchmarks" and Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the report's findings and what the benchmarks mean to both operators and investors.
Key GTM benchmarks covered during today's episode include:
If you are a B2B SaaS CEO, CFO or GTM executive this episode is full of interesting insights based upon the most recent GTM benchmarks.
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The SaaS Mendoza line highlights the slope of the long term growth rate that investors expect and operators should target on a path to IPO. Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike break down the updated expectations.
Veteran software VC, Rory O’Driscoll of Scale Venture Partners proposed a theory to identify the growth rate below which a company may not be on the VC-to-IPO trajectory.
In 2018, Rory started with an analysis of SaaS companies at the time of IPO. In 2018, SaaS companies going public had a minimum run rate ARR of $100M and at least a 25% forward growth rate. He then examined growth rates over time and observed that the growth persistence - which represents the rate of growth decay year over year, that public SaaS companies grew at 80-85% of their previous year’s growth. This metric is commonly known as "Growth Endurance".
Dave and Ray discuss the new reality of the SaaS Mendoza line, with the most recent data in 2023-2024 suggesting that a SaaS company must have at least $400M - $500M" in revenue before they can IPO as evidenced by the recent Klaviyo, OneStream and Rubrik initial pubic offerings.
CAC and Growth highlight other common "growth expectation" models including the T2D3 (Triple, Triple, Double, Double Double) and 56789 models.
If you are evaluating what it takes for early stage company to attract new investors as your growth on a path to IPO - this conversation is full of great insights and perspective on investor expectations.
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Go-to-Market trouble shooting is a very common activity in 2024 as B2B SaaS companies continue to face growth and especially efficient revenue growth challenges. In this episode Dave "CAC" Kellogg shares his top-down GTM trouble shooting method which boils down into two primary categories:
Dave and Ray dive into the details on the key metrics to evaluate and what they tell a SaaS GTM operator about the current state of their GTM performance. Key insights are provided across multiple topics including:
CAC also provides his most basic insight into the top two questions a CEO should be asking which are:
If you are a CEO, CFO or GTM leader in B2B SaaS and are responsible for GTM performance and/or evaluating GTM performance this episode is a great listen!
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OneStream went public on July 24, 2024 and Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike dedicated this episode to discussing their S-1 and Initial Public Offering (IPO). OneStream, the company offering their Digital Finance Cloud to the Office of Finance has a long history including being self-funded, being acquired by Private Equity (KKR) in 2019 and beginning the transition from a perpetual license software company to a SaaS company in 2020 on the path to their IPO.
During the episode, Dave and Ray discuss multiple aspects of the OneStream public offering including:
If you are a student of the SaaS industry and/or are interested in the details behind a company that serves the Office of Finance this episode is a great listen.
This is the 50th episode of SaaS Talk™ with the Metrics Brothers and don't miss CAC and Growth sharing credits to the people who made SaaS Talk a reality!!!
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Burn Multiple is a metric created by David Sacks to measure the capital efficiency of ARR growth in B2B SaaS companies. In this episode, Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss alternatives to the Burn Multiple and then dive into the details of the two primary burn multiple components which are Net Burn and Net New ARR.
There are multiple metrics that attempt to measure capital efficiency of B2B SaaS companies including:
The Burn Multiple uses two primary components in it's calculation which is:
What is a good Burn Multiple? It depends on the stage of the company, but let's use David Sacks benchmark framework from his original Burn Multiple article in 2020:
If you have an investor focused on the Burn Multiple or you have heard about the Burn Multiple but want to understand the details and nuances this episode is a great listen!
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Bessemer Venture Partners recently released their "State of the Cloud 24" which included the catch phrase "The Legacy Cloud is Dead - Long Live AI Cloud!" Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the report and the opportunities and threats to traditional SaaS companies.
Topics discussed include:
Trend 1: AI foundation models set the stage for Big Tech’s new battle-of-the-century
Trend 2: AI turning all of us into 10X developers
Trend 3: Multimodal models and AI agents will transform human relationships with software
Trend 4: Vertical AI shows potential to dwarf legacy SaaS with new applications and business models
Trend 5: AI Brings Consumer Cloud Back from the Dead
If you are in a SaaS company evaluating how best to maneuver the risks and/or capture the potential of Gen AI, the Bessemer State of the Cloud report is a great read and this episode with CAC and Growth is a great listen!
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McKinsey recently published a report entitled "Navigating the Generative AI Disruption in Software" that Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss in his episode.
Some of the primary topics discussed include:
One of the most interesting parts of the report and this episode is that expansion growth rates of software will increase for those with embedded generative AI. In addition, the adoption of Generative AI solutions will be spread across three primary modalities of Gen AI software including:
If you are a traditional SaaS company and are looking to navigator the unchartered waters of the Generative AI software era, the McKinsey report and this episode are great sources of ideals and insights.
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What is the difference between the price and value of a SaaS company? How do metrics such as Enterprise Value to EBITDA multiples play a role in this discussion? Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth Rike discuss the topic on this episode of SaaS Talk with the Metrics Brother and cover a wide array of topics including:
An inspiration for this episode was from a paper written by Michael Mauboussin with the title: "Examining Valuation Multiples What They Miss, Why They Differ, and the Link to Fundamentals". You can read the paper by clicking here.
If you are a SaaS professional or even just interested in learning more about how SaaS companies are valued, this conversation is full of interesting insights and details on the concept of SaaS company valuations.
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Trouble shooting Go-to-Market (GTM) issues is a critical competency to master for every SaaS company as they face the pressures of lower growth and reduced revenue growth efficiency. Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike introduce a GTM trouble shooting framework that addresses the five primary opportunities to improve GTM efficiency.
The five key areas of Go-to-Market efficiency opportunities include:
CAC and Growth discuss some of the key metrics that measure the performance and health of each of the above areas. In addition, as two former B2B SaaS operators, they cannot help but dive into some of the key issues and solutions that go beyond "trouble shooting" and move into potential solutions to enhance revenue growth efficiency and improve performance.
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Benchmarkit recently published their 2024 SaaS Performance Metrics Benchmark Report based upon 936 B2B SaaS companies participation. Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike discuss the recent trends and insights.
SaaS Metrics and the corresponding benchmarks discussed include:
The full report and interactive benchmarking tool can be reached at: benchmarkit.ai/2024benchmarks
If you work in the B2B SaaS or Cloud industry this episode is a must listen!
NOTE: Benchmarkit was founded by SaaSTalk co-host, Ray "Growth" Rike"
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