SaaSletter - BVP ICONIQ Tidemark Sapphire
SaaSletter - BVP ICONIQ Tidemark Sapphire
Highlights From 4 Investor Reports + Benchmarks
Tidemark Vertical SaaS Benchmarks
Dave Yuan and the Tidemark team released their debut Vertical SaaS Benchmark report (n = 247 vSaaS vendors).
The granularity here is great and new (i.e. product attach rates, payment take rates, etc). My meta takeaways:
The benchmark data aligns with best practices Tidemark was already advocating for - see their "Vertical SaaS Knowledge Project” for their playbooks + advice.
The single-product vs multi-product data below also validated their earlier takes that were featured prominently in our “Platforms vs Pure Plays” Cloud Ratings x G2 research:
Additionally, certain of the low *absolute* figures (APRAs of $6k-$7k for Back Office / Commerce; ~$2k ARPA per product expansion) reinforce the need for an *extremely* well-tuned GTM machine + need for low/zero CAC channels (word of mouth; moat; partners) to "buy down" blended CAC.
The AI product median attach rate of 22% was notable. I've included my full excerpts here and a 4-in-1 slide below to pique your interest. As always, go read the full report.
And while reading the report, maybe listen to our earlier “Cloud Returns” podcast with Dave Yuan:
VIDEO | AUDIO: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | All Platforms
ICONIQ’s State of GTM In 2024
My excerpts from ICONIQ Capital's (h/t Christine Edmonds + team) excellent "The State of Go-to-Market in 2024" (38 slides, n = 150 vendors)
Negatives: many of the growth rates are below the “Mendoza Line” for an IPO trajectory, and the new logo velocity for $25m-$100m ARR was very concerning.
Neutral: Flat sales cycles and pipeline coverage.
Positive: Quota attainment levels above RepVue broader benchmarks and improving conversion rates across the funnel:
A few more of my ICONIQ excerpts here, including some interesting channel mix data.
BVP Cloud 100 Analysis
BVP and Forbes (h/t Alex Konrad) announced their Cloud 100 List, including their “Cloud 100 Benchmarks” report.
We layered together their data to arrive at these charts:
Summarized as:
25%+ IRRs from pre-2021 cohorts…
but a rough DPI proxy (Exit Value / Today's Value) only ~0.4x-0.5x for mature vintages
exits per year & exit % rate going down
*growth adjusted* multiples in line with 2021! See also Jared Sleeper + Avenir’s recent industry recap - more here.
growth adjusted valuations are close to public stocks (0.33x Cloud100 vs 0.37x for 25%+ growth stocks)
Sapphire’s State of The SaaS Capital Markets
Sapphire Ventures (h/t Steve Abbott + team) released a mid-year update of their “State of the SaaS Capital Markets” (20 slides). My notes:
The top quartile secondary market data is encouraging for IPOs
"2023 budget head fake" note re: revenue growth estimates revised further downward
an interesting list of the next SaaS IPOs
More software PE investors/dry powder + fewer IPOs+ less strategic M&A (see also Dalibali's “Who's Going to Consolidate all These Software Companies?
(Hint: its not big tech)” = more PE to PE deals
Curated Content
Ray Rike and CloudZero released some cloud cost benchmarks, with notable Google Cloud Platform market shares
ZoomInfo’s recent earnings included $18m of AI ACV (~1.5% of 2025e revenue)
About Cloud Ratings
Laura Ballam (Tubbs) recently joined as a Marketing Advisor. We first met in her role as Vice President of Marketing at private equity-backed TeamSupport. We will benefit from her expertise in demand gen and brand positioning… before a smart software vendor steals her away.
We also recently announced a Cloud Ratings x G2 Research Partnership with this slide showing how our G2-enhanced Quadrants, this newsletter, our podcasts, and our True ROI practice area all fit within our modern analyst firm:
