SaaShimi

Barb discussed Sapia’s unique product, the role of artificial intelligence in unbiased hiring, the Sapia data set based on a billion words and 2 million candidate profiles, the initial dataset that Sapia utilized, its first client, go-to-market strategy, and many other things. 

BIO

Barb Hyman is the Founder and CEO of Australia-based Sapia. Prior to Sapia, Barb was a Head of HR and Marketing at Boston Consulting Group. She received her Bachelor's degree from Monash University and MBA from Melbourne Business School.

TIMESTAMPS

01:00 Barb and Sapia

04:20 Five questions to select a candidate

07:50 Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning

10:25 Getting the initial data set

13:25 When your first client is Enterprise…

17:30 Pricing model

24:00 Sapia’s Go-To-Market strategy

29:30 Hiring on values

33:30 KPIs

35:00 Raising capital

37:50 On biases 

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Sean discussed the financial diligence process of SaaS companies, common mistakes in ARR, Gross Profit, and EBITDA calculations, the effects capitalized software and capitalized commissions have on cash EBITDA, and many other things. 

BIO

Sean St. Germain is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal. He focuses on transactions in the software and technology industry. He has advised clients on domestic and cross-border transactions, including traditional buy-side transactions, portfolio company add-on transactions, public-to-private acquisitions, asset purchases, and sell-side divestiture processes, including carve-outs. Sean is an expert in software revenue recognition, including the new revenue recognition standard (ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers).

TIMESTAMPS

01:00 Sean and Alvarez & Marsal

05:30 Unique aspects of SaaS businesses

09:00 Recurring vs Re-occurring revenue streams

12:20 Mistakes companies make in ARR calculation

15:35 Cost of Sales

17:35 EBITDA Adjustments 

22:00 Confirmation of synergies 

23:15 Capitalized commissions

25:30 Capitalized software

29:05 What is Cash EBITDA?

33:30 Preparing your company for financial diligence 

37:00 Findings that can derail transactions

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Francois shared his experience of bringing the Norway-based Cognite to the US market, discussed the most significant challenges he has faced along the way,  and compared corporate cultures in the US and Europe. 

BIO

Dr. Francois Laborie is the President of Cognite North America, overseeing Cognite’s expansion and operations in the US, Canada, and Latin America. He has had an extensive career in the technology industry, serving in both research and executive roles. Francois has been at the heart of the transformation of the media industry through technology. He spent 11 years as COO and CCO of Vizrt, where he focused on disrupting journalism by empowering media content creators with visual storytelling tools. Before that, Francois managed research projects on collective decision-making and human-computer interfaces at the Airbus Group Corporate Research Center. 

TIMESTAMPS

01:00 Francois and Cognite

06:15 Competition with internally built systems

08:40 Go-To-Market Strategy

11:40 Reception of Cognite by US and EU clients

15:35 Selecting sales personnel

19:30 Comparing corporate cultures in the US and Europe

20:20 Involvements of investors

23:30 Long-term vision for Cognite

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Diamond discussed SaaS valuation and how multiples have changed over the past several years, the main drivers of multiples, and M&A market trends.

BIO

Diamond Innabi is a Vice President at Software Equity Group, a boutique investment bank focused on B2B software companies. Over her nearly a decade career at SEG, she was instrumental in numerous M&A transactions involving public and private companies as well as private equity funds.

TIMESTAMPS

1:45 Why are SaaS companies valued at a multiple of revenue or ARR?

4:00 Drivers of SaaS Valuation and how they have changed in the current environment

6:30 Mission-critical software

7:50 Multiples over 5 years

9:05 SaaS valuation during COVID

10:00 Comps contribution to assigning multiples

11:25 On-prem vs cloud valuation

14:20 Buyers and Sellers

16:20 Most durable SaaS categories

17:15 Recommendation to sellers

19:30 Calculation of Gross Margins

Click the following links to "double-click" on Diamond's comments about M&A Update, The Rule of 40, Gross Margin impact, and COGS

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Marion shared her experience of being a serial entrepreneur, the challenges of raising funds, as well as founding and growing Govenda. We discussed the company’s product, customer base, go-to-market strategy, and everything in between.

BIO

Marion Lewis is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Govenda, a board management platform that enables effective corporate governance. Prior to Govenda, she was a co-founder and CEO of Tachyon Solutions, a custom application development and interactive marketing firm.

TIMESTAMPS

01:05 Marion – serial entrepreneur

04:00 Govenda and its target markets

11:10 Locking in the first client

12:55 Raising capital

16:25 Govenda during and after COVID

17:45 Go-To-Market strategy

19:40 Org structure and hiring first employees

21:50 Role of investors

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Miguel discusses the story of Capchase, typical profile of SaaS clients, terms of financing they provide, and how investors and lenders view such financing. 

BIO

Miguel Fernandez is a Co-Founder & CEO of Capchase, an alternative finance provider that enables SaaS companies to access their future contract payments upfront. Prior to launching Capchase, Miguel worked in management consulting and then moved into SaaS. He headed sales and customer success at Geoblink, a Location Intelligence SaaS and scaled it from 0 to $2m in ARR.

TIMESTAMPS

01:10 Mguel and the story of Capchase

04:35 Use cases for Capchase

07:05 Comparing Venture Capital, Venture Debt, and Alternative financing

09:35 Who can use Alternative finance

11:30 Terms of financing - price, covenants, etc.

14:25 Revenue-based financing players

17:15 VCs' and lenders' take on Alternative financing

20:15 Vision for Capchase

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Scott discusses the rise of Customer Success, Gainsight Essentials, its GTM strategy, and the most common mistakes by SMBs when it comes to CS.

BIO

Scott Salkin is SVP & GM, Gainsight Essentials at Gainsight. He is a seasoned entrepreneur, CEO, and senior B2B sales and marketing executive. Prior to joining Gainsight, Scott was the founder and CEO of Allbound, a B2B SaaS platform dedicated to helping businesses accelerate revenue through channel partners and ecosystems.

TIMESTAMPS

01:20 Scott's path to Gainsight

04:15 Rise of Customer Success

06:50 Changes in Customer Success

09:00 Gainsight Essentials

12:45 Essentials' GTM strategy vs the Gainsight's GTM

14:40 Customer Success KPIs for SMBs

17:10 Most common mistakes by SMBs

18:20 Vision for Gainsight Essentials

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Mark discusses Alpine Investors and Alpine Software Group, a unique holding company they have built by acquiring SaaS companies within several verticals. He also shared Alpine's take on talent, the profile of companies the firm invests in, and SaaS 2.0.

BIO

Mark Strauch is a founding partner at Alpine Investors and Chairman of Alpine SG, the firm's vertical SaaS aggregation platform. Prior to Alpine, Mark served as CEO of EDC, a financial technology company that was acquired in 2011. Previously, he served as CEO of Business Engine, a venture-backed software company that was acquired in 2007.

TIMESTAMPS

00:35 Intro

03:15 Alpine and CEO-in-Training program

05:35 The reason why Alpine is the most sought-after firm for top MBA programs

06:50 Investing in SaaS and building Alpine SG

13:20 Valuations of private SaaS companies

15:40 Competing for the deals with other PE funds

21:20 Acquisition process and deal structuring

26:25 Investor vs Operator mindsets

28:30 Areas of improvements in bootstrapped companies

32:40 A vision for Alpine SG

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Geoffrey Moore, the author of numerous marketing books (including the all-time classic – Crossing the Chasm), discusses how COVID affected the Chasm and how SaaS companies should apply the blueprint to SMB and Enterprise target markets. He also speaks about Geoffrey’s newest book, Zone to Win, written for later-stage technology companies. 

BIO

Geoffery Moore is a best-selling author, speaker, and advisor who splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Wildcat Venture Partners portfolios and established high-tech enterprises, most recently including Salesforce, Microsoft, Autodesk, Gainsight, Google, and Splunk.

TIMESTAMPS

03:08 Crossing the Chasm in a few words

08:10 COVID’s effect on Chasm 

11:02 Chasm’s blueprint for SaaS companies 

13:55 SMB vs Enterprise approach to Chasm

15:27 Case Study

19:58 Geoffrey’s most important books

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Bruno discusses the evolution of the Data Analytics space, its current trends, and shares his view on what lies ahead.

BIO

Bruno Aziza is a recognized authority on Business Intelligence and Information Management. He is a Data & Analytics industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in leading technology companies of various sizes - from startups (Alpine Data) to behemoths (Oracle, Microsoft, and now Google).

If you are in the Data & Analytics space be sure to check out:

Bruno's book: Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution

Bruno's educational series: Data Journeys

TIMESTAMPS

00:35 Bruno's background

02:25 What is Data Analytics 

05:40 Evolution of the Data Analytics space

07:50 Data Lakes and Data Warehouses 

10:10 Crowded Data Analytics space explained

12:45 Tailwinds for Data Analytics

14:40 Data Analytics tools in a modern organization

16:15 Bruno’s Tech Stack

17:35 How mature is the Data Analytics space 

19:15 Parting thoughts 

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.