SaaS Report with Data for Benchmarking

This report provides a variety of performance information about SaaS companies for us to compare to.  Caveats:

- There's a lot of data so try to pare it down to the most relevant to you.

- This blends sectors so be aware that your space may have unique factors (like stage of maturity) that make apples-to-apples comparisons difficult.

Still, there's a degree of "pattern recognition" among VCs, so it might give insight into the patterns they're seeing.

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/2015-saas-survey-part-1/

Repository of Startup Post-Mortems

This repository of startup post-mortems includes brief summaries of flameouts, allowing us to quickly and painlessly identify the traps to avoid.

https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/startup-failure-post-mortem/?utm_content=bufferda9c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Online Sales Calculator for SaaS Determines Reps & Customers for Targets

This simple online calculator determines the number of sales reps & customers required to meet stated targets under variable assumptions.  This puts Founders in-command of their SaaS business and enhances credibility with prospective investors."

http://tomtunguz.com/how-big-should-your-sales-pipeline-be/

The Math Behind SaaS Startup Customer Lifetime Value

Very slick approach to improving the CAC metric if the company has the sales data for it.  We would also apply gross margin percent to ACV.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/28/the-math-behind-saas-startup-valuation/

16 Startup Metrics

http://nuzzel.com/sharedstory/08212015/a16z/16_startup_metrics?utm_medium=email&utm_source=app&utm_campaign=digest

18 Ways To Make Your Financial Model Stand Out To Investors

http://teten.com/blog/2015/08/06/18-ways-to-make-your-financial-model-stand-out-to-investors/

Setting The Right Valuation For A Competitive Series A Round

Interesting Series A valuation framework:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/31/setting-the-right-valuation-for-a-competitive-series-a-round/

Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

 

As each new generation of entrepreneurs emerges, there is a renewed interest in how venture capital deals come together. Yet there is little reliable information focused on venture capital deals. Nobody understands this better than authors Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. For more than twenty years, they've been involved in hundreds of venture capital financings, and now, with the Second Edition of Venture Deals, they continue to share their experiences in this field with you.

 

Link to Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616

Mark Suster on how to get the most out of a CFO

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on to the (continue here)