logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
1h 9m

20VC: The Memo: The State of the VC Mark...

Harry Stebbings
About this episode

Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr one of the best-performing early-stage venture funds focused on SaaS. In the past, Jason has led investments in Algolia, Pipedrive, Salesloft, TalkDesk, and RevenueCat to name a few. Prior to SaaStr, Jason was an entrepreneur, selling EchoSign to Adobe for $100M where it is now a $250M ARR product.

In Today's Episode with Jason Lemkin We Discuss:

1. WTF is Happening At Seed Right Now:

  • Why does Jason believe seed is more active than ever?
  • Is the pricing of seed rounds impacted since the downturn?
  • Why does Jason believe it is not only not the end of party rounds but just the beginning of them?
  • Why does Jason believe you cannot fail if you have $1M in ARR and an amazing founder?
  • Why does Jason believe that seed investors cannot participate in "hot seed rounds" anymore?

2. Is Series A a Dead Zone:

  • How does Jason analyze the Series A and B environment today?
  • What has changed in what investors expect and want to see in potential Series A and B investments?
  • What happens to the many companies who raised pre-emptive Series As and have 10 years of runway but no product-market fit?
  • Why does Jason believe founders should offer to give the money back when it is not working?
  • What happens to the Series A and B market in the next 18 months? When does it come back?

3. Growth: People are Too Negative!

  • Why does Jason believe that growth is more active than many are giving credit for?
  • What are the ARR benchmarks required to get a good growth round term sheet today?
  • Why does Jason believe that VC DD is a load of BS?
  • Why does Jason believe that every VC has fraud in their portfolio? Will they come out?

4. Ring That Bell: IPOs and M&A:

  • Why does Jason believe 2024 will be an amazing year for IPOs?
  • Why does much of the IPO market rely on Stripe and Databricks?
  • What is needed for an amazing 2024 IPO market?
  • How does Jason evaluate the M&A market in 2024? Will regulation get in the way?

5. Jason Lemkin: AMA:

  • Why does Jason Lemkin believe this generation of workers will never work hard again?
  • What is the only way for seed funds to make money investing in serial entrepreneurs?
  • What does Jason know now that he wishes he had known when he started investing?

Up next
Yesterday
20VC: Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Acquired by Meta | OpenAI’s SBC Bombshell: More Stock Comp Than Revenue | Privat Equity is Back: Olo Bought for $2BN | Microsoft Lays Off 9,000 People: Is This Just the Start | Will Sequoia Part with Shaun Maguire
Agenda: [00:00] The AI Talent Crisis No One’s Ready For [03:00] Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Why Two Legendary VCs Walked Away From $1B to Join Meta [12:00] Meta’s AI Talent Magnet: Will It Actually Work? [15:00] Cursor Is Breaking the Market: Can Anyone Compete? [18:30] OpenAI ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 7
20VC: Scott Galloway on Are Billionaires Happy & The Impact of Money on Psychology and Self-Worth | Becoming a Better Father & Husband | Why We Should Drink More and Not Work From Home | The Tinder Effect & How it Makes Young Men Radical
Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, where he’s taught for over two decades. He’s the founder of several successful companies, including L2 (acquired by Gartner for over $150M), Red Envelope, and Prophet. He’s a New York Times bestselling author of four books ... Show More
1h 10m
Jul 3
20VC: Figma's IPO: The Full Breakdown | Index Returns $3.5BN on Two Deals | Why Melio's $2.5BN Acquisition is "Discouraging" | Asana's New CEO and the Great Founder Exodus | Oracle's $30BN AI Deal and What it Means for Incumbents
AGENDA: 00:00 – $400B in AI CapEx: Rational Investment or Madness? 05:00 – Figma's IPO: Rule of 80, $1.5B in cash, 40% margins. Unreal. 08:00 – Adobe Screwed the Deal—Should They Have Just Bought Canva? 16:00 – Pay-to-Play Deals: Heroic Hail Mary or Guaranteed Write-Off? 21:30 – ... Show More
1h 11m
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2018
SaaStr 173: Lemkin's Lesson on What To Look For In Your First Sales Reps, How to Approach Variable Compensation, The Right Way To Acquire Customers When Starting Paid Marketing and more with Jason Lem
Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr, the world’s largest SaaS event with over 20,000 of the world’s best SaaS founders and investors attending every year. Jason also invests from SaaStr’s debut $70m fund and has made prior investments in the likes of Algolia, TalkDesk, MixMax, R ... Show More
16m 12s
Mar 2023
What's Your Investing Thesis?
It's always a good idea to know why you're about to invest in a business. (0:21) Jason Moser discusses: - Short-term catalysts, long-term trends, and why it's ok to invest in both - The importance of understanding how a business makes money - Reasons to sell a stock (10:17) Deidr ... Show More
22m 14s
Apr 2018
SaaStr 171: How To Figure Out Your Pricing Strategy: The Diminishing Role of The Per Seat Model, Why Open Source Is The Only Way To Get In Front of Today's Developers & Why Capital Efficiency Is Alway
Chetan Puttagunta is a General Partner @ NEA, one of the world’s largest venture capital firms in the world with over $3Bn in their latest fund and a portfolio including the likes of Mulesoft, Jet.com, Uber, Houzz and many more incredible companies. As for Chetan, Chetan focuses ... Show More
26m 10s
Sep 2021
Fall 2021: Investing Preview
The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones Industrial Average have each risen more than 15% so far this year. How should investors feel about the rest of 2021? Which stocks should be on a short leash? What capital allocation strategies should Berkshire-Hathaway and Chipotle be considerin ... Show More
39m 10s
Dec 2022
27 Stocks for 2023
CEOs on the hot seat, stocks in the spotlight, and reckless predictions! (0:21) Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger discuss: - Industries and trends investors should be watching - Why the CEOs of Amazon, Starbucks, and Twilio could be on the hot seat - Two stocks poised for upside - ... Show More
39m 21s
Jul 2023
Big Banks Cash In
If you bank with the one of the giants, you might be helping pad their bottom line.  (00:21) Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger discuss: - Why they’re watching margins and inventory levels this earnings season. - How interest rate spread pushed JP Morgan to a stellar quarter. - How ... Show More
39m 31s
Nov 2022
Surprising Earnings and Portfolio Protection
If the jobs report and Federal Reserve didn't surprise investors, some earnings reports sure did. (0:30) Andy Cross and Jason Moser discuss: - How two of the "War On Cash" stocks are doing - Etsy's cautious optimism heading into the holidays - North American same-store sales fuel ... Show More
39m 48s
Sep 2022
Fall Preview for Investors
With four months left in 2022, what should investors be focusing on? (0:30) Emily Flippen and Jason Moser discuss: - Getting ready to "eat the volatility" - Why they're watching holiday shopping and the Fed's language - Meta Platforms and Lululemon need a strong end to the year - ... Show More
39m 26s
Sep 2018
SaaStr 192: Why Multi-Year Deals Are Not All Good, What Whatever Funding You Think You Will Need Double It & The Challenges of Building A Company and A Category Simultaneously with Michael Katz @ mPar
Michael Katz is the Founder & CEO @ mParticle, the customer data platform that integrates all of your data and orchestrates it across channels, partners and systems. To date, Michael has raised over $75m in funding with mParticle from the likes of Social Capital, Greylock Partner ... Show More
29m 51s
May 2022
The Hidden Upside for Stock Investors
"This is a once in a blue moon butt-kicking." And we've got the numbers to back it up! (0:30) Jason Moser and Maria Gallagher discuss: - Historic numbers to put the current market into perspective - Disney's better-than-you-might-think results - Rough times for coffee chain Dutch ... Show More
39m 10s