Startups by @ttunguz

Startups

2025

A Founder's Guide: Essential Management Advice for Startups	March 5
The Complete Guide to SaaS Pricing Strategy	February 27

2023

Snow Angels Come Early to Data : Snowflake's Strength Spells Success for Startups	November 29
The 4 Questions Startups Should Ask Themselves about Building with Generative AI	April 7
The Change in Burn Multiple for Startups in 2023	April 3
The Implications of Increased Regulatory Scrutiny for Startup Acquisitions	February 26
Which Customer Segments are Healthiest During the Downturn?	February 21
The Compounding Advantage of a Big Chip Stack in a Downturn	February 6
Predicting Cloud Growth Rates for 2023	February 3
Microsoft as a Mirror - What We Can Expect for SaaS in 2023	January 24
How Layoffs in Startupland Differ Between B2B & B2C Companies	January 23
The Startup M&A Market Fell 94% Year over Year - But One Segment Thrives	January 5

2022

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Sand Hill Road	December 14
Losing a Month of Runway to Inflation	November 6
Grey Skies in Cloud Earnings	October 28
Would You Leave the Cloud to Improve Sales Efficiency by 11%?	October 23
Just How Troubled is the Bay Area Startup Scene?	October 3
Pipeline Supply Shocks in SaaS Sales	September 23
Your Customers' Profitability is Your Startup's Future Health	September 12
200% NDR: What Does it Take to Achieve this Stellar Milestone?	September 2
Do PE Acquisitions of Public Startups Imply We've Hit a Pricing Bottom?	August 8
The Math Behind Starting a Successful Software Startup	August 2
How Much Should You Expect Your Startup to Slow in 2022? About 21%.	July 29
The Health of Cloud Spending in Mid-2022	July 26
How Important is Your Software to Your Customer? It's Time to Find Out.	July 22
Spot the Difference	July 20
PE in VC in 22	July 19
The Bid/Ask Spread in Venture Capital	July 18
Deliberately Underselling as Sales Strategy	July 11
Defending a Startups Greatest Asset through Recession & Recovery	June 22
Top 10 Insights from the 2022 Startup Sentiment Survey	June 6
The Macroeconomic Signal to Watch for Software & Infrastructure Startups	June 1
So You Want to Improve Your Sales Efficiency	May 18
The 4 Startup States During a Recession	May 16
The People Roadmap for Startups	March 9

2021

What is the Product the Customer Buys Before They Buy Yours?	September 14
The Productivity Implications of Working from Home Across 150,000 Employees	June 10
Executive Recruiting as Competitive Advantage - The 3 Knock-On Effects of Failed Executive Hires	June 1
The One Force that Will Govern How We Return to Work	May 3
How Much is 20% More NDR Worth to Your SaaS Startup?	March 5
The Fastest Growing Sectors of Startup Fundraising in 2020	January 18

2020

Why Fast Learning Curves are So Important to Startups	December 21
Your Responsibility as a Manager is to Hire 7 People	September 8
A Quick Diagnostic to Determine if Your Sales & Marketing Teams are Aligned	August 31
Why Startups Should Establish Qualifying Signals for Sales Teams Early On	August 24
Conflicting Data on the State of the US Early Stage Market	August 10
Inside Rounds Have Become a Sign of Strength at the Series B	August 2
The Fundraising Market Two Quarters into COVID	July 5
Top 10 Learnings from the Redpoint 2020 GTM Survey	June 25
What is the Structure of the Typical SaaS Company as it Scales?	June 21
How to Transform Your Board Meeting with Written Narratives	June 15
Where are Most Unicorns Headquartered?	May 28
California Dreaming - Is Silicon Valley Still the Best Place to Start a Company?	May 25
Narrative Economics and the Power of Stories	April 22
Why Margin Matters Now in Startupland	April 12
The Startup Sectors Most Impacted by the Coronavirus	April 6
Six Startup Disciplines for Challenging Times	March 20
What Could the Venture Market Look Like in the Coronavirus Era	March 12
Notes from Office Hours with Lisa Lawson	March 9
What I Expect in the Next Few Months in Startupland	March 6
Why Your Startup's Org Chart is Limiting Your Growth	February 25
The Strategic Importance of Competition	February 23
One of the Most Frequent Errors in Sales Planning and Forecasting	February 17
When You Have an Advantage, Speed Up the Game	February 13
Simpson's Paradox in Measuring Net Dollar Retention Rate	February 3
Has VC Become So Big It Must Be Disrupted?	January 27

2019

The Most Frequent Mishire in Startups	November 10
The Rise of the Founder-CEO	October 28
What I've learned about IPOs and Direct Listings	October 21
The Early Discipline of Remote Startups	October 4
One Call to Make Before Picking Your Startup's Headquarters	August 2
Why Product Innovation Slows After the Series A	June 10
Hustle As Strategy	April 8
Viewing Valuation as a Discount of Future Value	April 4
Where Have All the Angels Gone?	March 11

2018

Jacob's Ladder in the Startup Fundraising Market - How Startups Today Skip a Round of Fundraising	July 23
Why Your Startup Doesn't Invest Sufficiently in its Differentiators	July 20
Does Winner Take Most in SaaS?	July 8
A Deeper Dive into the Dynamics of the Seed Market	June 27
Why Series As are Much Easier to Raise in 2018 than the Past 5 Years	June 24
The Blockbuster Software M&A Market of 2018	June 12
When You Hire an Executive, You're Hiring a Network	June 7
The 5 Forces Driving Startup Valuations Today	June 3
The Importance of Time Value of Money for Startups	April 1
An Often Forgotten Characteristic About Your Startup's Ideal Customer Profile The Ideal Customer Profile. The perfect customer. Can you describe it for your startup? The more precisely you can describe it, the better. That will simplify disqualification. But articulating the ICP well isn't enough.	March 25
Is Geographic Dispersion of Seed Dollars Really Happening?	March 8
Why Does Your Sales Team Lose Deals?	March 4
The Clearest Articulation of a Marketing Roadmap	March 2
Startup Best Practices 27 - How to Use Options to Retain Key Employees in Your Startup	February 16
Jettisoning the Assumptions of Last Year	January 1

2017

Why Cash Conversion Cycle Matters for Your Startup	August 15
One of the Hardest Things to Do in Sales	February 10
Against All Odds in Startupland	February 5
Modesty, First Principles and Opportunities for Startups	February 3
Which to Prioritize - Churn or Growth?	February 1
How Much Money Should I Raise for My Startup?	January 29
The Software Startup Sectors Raising the Most Capital in 2017	January 27
One of the Greatest Entrepreneurial Stories Ever Told	January 20
How Does Your Startup's Management Spend its Time?	January 9

2016

Are SMB SaaS Companies Valued Differently than Mid-Market SaaS Businesses?	September 21
What's the Maximum Rate of Growth for Your SaaS Startup with Paid Customer Acquisition?	September 19
How Should I Think About My SaaS Startup's Burn Rate	September 9
Designing a Sales Quota Structure at the Earliest Stages of a SaaS Startup	September 2
How Much is Your SaaS Startup Worth?	August 31
Success Has 1000 Fathers and Failure is an Orphan	August 24
Why Understanding Startup History is a Competitive Advantage	August 22
How Fast Does a SaaS Startup Have to Grow to Survive?	July 27
Dream Teams: The Characteristics of Billion-Dollar Startup Founders	July 14
The Decline of New SaaS Company Formation	June 21
Party Rounds in Seeds - Just Getting Started or Has the Clock Struck Midnight?	April 18
Resilience and Telos in Entrepreneurs	March 4
What Pricing Implies About Product Market Fit for Startups	March 1
The Question to Ask Before Starting a Company in 2016	January 26

2015

Is Now a Good Time to Start a Company?	December 14
A Framework to Maximize Your Startup's Hiring Success	December 4
How Much Cash Should Your SaaS Startup Burn?	November 12
Five Words of Wisdom from SaaS Office Hours with Bill Macaitis	October 22
8 Customer Discovery Questions to Validate Product Market Fit for Your Startup	October 8
Take Your Startup to the Limit	July 20
The Fastest Growing Areas of Startup Investment in 2015	July 14
Five Charts on the Second Seed Market	July 6
The Risk Sales Discounts Impose to Startup Burn Rates	May 26
The Runaway Train of Late Stage Fundraising	April 1
The 5 Key People in a SaaS Sales Process	March 26
The Best Book on Building a SaaS Sales Team	March 24
Sales Funnel Optimization for SaaS Startups	March 10
The Sudden Growth in Series A Round Sizes	March 6
Trends in the Startup Acquihire Market	March 5
Modeling Your SaaS Startup's Revenue Growth Effectively	February 25
Challenging Your Customers During Your SaaS Startup's Sales Process	February 13
The Rising Costs of Scaling a Startup	February 10
A Single Report to Measure the Health of Your Startup's Sales Team	February 9
The Employee Productivity Patterns of Billion Dollar SaaS Companies	February 5
3 Questions about Founders as CEOs in SaaS Companies	January 6

2014

Why the Time to $1B in Valuation for Startups is Decreasing	December 16
Why 2015 Will be a Great Year for Startups	November 21
A Unique Chronicle Of A Billion Dollar Company	November 14
The Most Effective Questions to Use When Interviewing Candidates	November 10
Why It's a Great Time to Raise a Seed Round	November 6
The 7 Factors to Consider When Pricing Your Startup's Product	November 5
Four Important Data Points on Measuring Your Startup's Customer Happiness	October 29
The Impact of Investor Geography on Your Seed, Series A and B Check Size	October 26
The 9 Marketing Disciplines of Great SaaS Companies	October 22
The Four Key Trends of the Startup Acquisition Market	October 14
The Unexpected and Uneven Evolution of the Startup Fundraising Market	October 8
Second Seed Rounds: How They Impact a Startup's Ability to Raise a Series A	October 6
How Much Cash Should Your Startup Burn?	September 29
Startup Best Practices 9 - Structuring One on Ones to Maximize Your Team's Success	September 26
The Three Frameworks You Need to Create Powerful Presentations and Tell Compelling Stories	September 24
The Optimal Price to Maximize Sales Efficiency for a SaaS Startup	September 9
Not A Conventional Company	August 21
The Four Kinds of Social Capital that Matter When Building Products	August 20
Benchmarking Consumer and SaaS Companies' Path to IPO	August 19
The Most Important Investment a Startup Can Make	August 14
4 Major Competitive Trends in Mobile App Stores	August 11
The B Corporation - A Novel Structure for Mission Driven Startups	August 7
The Secret Ingredient to the Best Startup Fundraising Pitches	August 1
How to Retain Your Startup's Best Employees	July 29
The Best Advice I've Ever Received	July 25
The 3 Minute Technique for Brainstorming Your Startup's Product Roadmap	June 17
The Optimal Seed Round Construction to Maximize Series A Success	June 12
The Impact of VCs in Seed Rounds in Seven Charts	June 9
The Riskiest Investment a Startup Can Make	June 6
The Hidden Costs of the Switching Products in the Consumer Web	June 4
The Common Characteristics of Successful Freemium Companies	May 30
How the Fund Raising Market Will Evolve in 2014	May 19
The Workplace of the Future	May 16
Ruthlessness and Grit in Startups	May 13
Startup Best Practices 7 - How to Use Andy Grove's Stagger Chart to Build Predictability into a Startup	May 12
The Worst Time of Year to Raise A Seed Round	May 9
9 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read	May 8
The Current State of the Consumer Internet Market	May 6
A Framework for Maximizing Startup Marketing Effectiveness	May 5
Surprising Trends in Startup Founder Equity Stakes	May 2
The Surprising Compensation Trends of Startup Executives	April 29
Quantifying the Cost of a Bad Hire	April 28
How to Determine Which Price is Best for Your SaaS Startup's Product	April 21
The Power of a Coach	April 16
Do Startups Require Less Capital to Succeed than 10 Years Ago?	April 4
The Financing Trends of Billion Dollar SaaS Companies	April 3
Startup Best Practices 6 - Avoiding the Bike Rack Effect	March 24
The Hardest Round to Raise for Startups	March 21
Are VC Mega-Rounds the New Normal?	March 19
How Fast Must a SaaS Startup Grow to Raise a Series A?	March 17
Do More Competitors in a Sector Decrease Fundraising Success?	March 3
The Four Key Steps in Startup Fund Raising Processes	February 28
The Things You Do Often Create the Things You Believe	February 27
Which Acquirer Pays the Most for Startups?	February 26
What to Look for When Hiring a Head of Marketing for Your Startup	February 20
The Impact of a Startup's Location on Its Ability to Raise Capital	February 18
Why Startups Face Increasing Competition in Raising Series As and Bs	February 12
How Your Startup's Sector Affects Your Ability to Raise a Series A	February 9
Using Data to Pick the Optimal Name for Your Startup	February 7
The Minimum Size Seed Round to Maximize Series A Follow On Investment	February 6
Do Larger Seed Rounds Lead to Bigger Series As?	February 4
Military Strategy Applied to Startups	January 31
The Best Times of Year to Raise Capital for Your Startup	January 28
How One Startup's Engineering Team Cut their Engineering Release Times in Half	January 22
Three Important Trends in the Startup Exit Market	January 20
The Average Value of a Tech Company is Decreasing	January 16
The Two Key Skill Sets Startups Must Develop To Grow	January 14
Why Quotas Aren't the Most Important Number for Startup Sales Teams	January 13
How Healthy is the Public Technology Market?	January 6
Should Your Startup Adopt a New Management Style?	January 3
Startup Best Practices 5 - Effectiveness, not Productivity	January 2

2013

Startup Best Practices 4 - Managing Monkeys	December 20
Revenue per Employee Benchmarks of Billion Dollar Companies	December 17
The 10 Most Important Metrics in a Startup's Financial Statements	December 16
Using Price & Demand Curves to Inform Startup Product Roadmaps	December 11
How Much Does It Cost to Take Your Startup Public?	December 10
The Typical Billion Dollar Startup Acquisition	December 9
How to Grow Huge: Proprietary Distribution Channels	December 4
Startup Best Practices 3 - How to Structure a Sales and Marketing Team	December 3
Startup Best Practices 2 - Startup Team Sizes	November 20
How Much Cash Does Your Startup Need To Go Public?	November 18
Startup Best Practices 1 - Situational Management	November 15
The Missing Startup Design Pattern	November 14
Why the Petal Diagram Isn't the Best Competition Diagram for Startup's Pitch	November 12
The Ratio of Engineers to Sales People in Billion Dollar SaaS Startups	November 11
The Single Biggest Determinant of Startup Valuations at IPO	November 5
Quick and Dirty Product/Market Fit Validation: Can You Hit Your Quota?	October 30
The Unexpected Compensation Trends of Post-Series A Startup Founder/CEOs	October 29
A Startup's Rosetta Stone - How to Succinctly Communicate the Details of a Business	October 23
What a Dog and a Monkey Taught Me About Management at Google	October 21
Using Gaming Product Hacks to Maximize Freemium SaaS Growth	October 17
How Much Should Your Startup Spend on Managing Churn?	October 16
The Simplest Brand Health Question For Your Startup	October 9
Which of the Five Types of Data Science Does Your Startup Need?	October 2
The Single Best Content Marketing Channel for Your Startup	September 30
Which Half of Your Startup’s Emails Are Wasted?	September 20
Crossing the People Management Chasm - A Necessity of Startup Growth	September 12
The One Best Metric for Your Startup to Maximize	September 9
The Series A Is Overloaded	August 29
Choosing a Content Marketing Strategy for Your Startup	August 19
Your Startup’s Three Horizons	August 16
Cohort Analysis for Startups - Six Summary Reports to Understand Your Customer Base (With Code)	August 12
Framing Your Startup’s Sales Pitch: Focus on Value, Not on Cost	July 25
Product Market Engagement: The Missing Step in Lean Startup Methodology	July 22
Your Startup’s Office Is Missing a Room	July 18
The Three Phases of Startup Sales	July 17
It’s Time to Start Worrying About the Next Round for Your Startup	June 19
The Most Effective Price Discovery Question for Your Startup	June 11
The Most Under-Appreciated Startup Team Member	June 6
Reverse Engineering Your Startup’s Success	May 7
Founders, Equip Your Champions	April 15
Startup Judo - The Secret You Should Know Before Starting a Company	April 10
A Startup’s Three Visions	April 9
Your Startup’s 10 Most Important Metrics	March 26
Discovering, Honing and Exploiting Your Startup’s Strengths	January 23
What my high school chemistry class taught me about startups	January 14

2012

The one ideal characteristic of your startup’s first customers	December 7
A Startup’s Two Financial Plans - the Board Plan and the Stretch Plan	November 26
A great entrepreneur can come from anywhere	November 2
No startup is an island - The three ecosystems startups should develop	October 22
Culture is the biggest growth driver for social services	October 18
The value of a patent to a startup	October 11
Learning from Amazon’s Startup Judo	October 9
Must startup founders be charismatic?	September 17
Choosing market segments on customer profitability	September 13
Building auction pressure in financings	September 3
On negotiation	August 24
The most important question a startup can ask	August 22
The 3 Kinds of Startup Metrics	June 20

2010

How Do VCs Analyze Companies?

February 26

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