evaluating saas startups: the investor's perspective

#saasinvest

What you’re going to learn

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What investors look for in the due diligence process

What signs indicate big opportunities to investors

What are the high-level metrics that matter for measuring company performance

Where do you start when evaluating a SaaS company?

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Three areas of focus

OperationalMetrics

DepartmentalMaturity

Stage ofEvolution

What are the high-level operational metrics that matter?

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Current Performance

Snapshot of financial health and growth prospects

Growth & Scalability

Operational Efficiency

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Helpful ratios

ARR:CAC LTV:CACCash:Bur

n

What do you look for when evaluating individual departmental

maturity?

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Evaluating departments

Sales Customersuccess

Engineering/product

Generaloperations

Marketing

Marketing

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Marketing roles

VP of Marketing / CMO

Content

Analytics

Public Relations

Tech

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Marketing metrics

Leads

Opportunities

Customers

Lead sources

Lead volume by

channel

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RJMetrics example

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Marketing tech

Data & Instrumentation

Marketing Automation

Lead Intel Creative

Sales

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Sales roles

VP of Sales / CRO

OpsExecution

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Sales metrics

Lead to Oppy

Oppy to Close

Leads

Opportunities

MRR per Rep

Avg Contract

Size

Customers

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Sales tech

CRMMotivation &

MoraleSales

EnablementContract

ManagementBilling

Management

Customer Success

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Customer success roles

Account Managers

VP Customer Success / CRO / Chief Customer Advocate

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Customer success metrics

Leads

Opportunities

Customers

ChurnEngageme

nt

Upsells & Revenue Expansio

n

Gross Margin

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Customer success tech

Engagement Communication Helpdesk

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RJMetrics example

Engineering & Product

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Engineering & product roles

VP Engineering / VP Product / CPO / CTO

SpecialistsGeneralists

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Engineering & product metrics

Net Promoter Score

Cost of R&D as % of Rev

Customer

Retention &

Usage

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Engineering & product tech

Version Control

Unit & Integration

Testing

Security Testing

Monitoring & Alerting

General operations

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General operations roles

Finance

Facilities Recruiting

Administrative

HR

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General operations metrics

Environmental growth inhibitors

Productivity

Thank you for joining us!