CEO
Thanks to everyone who attended my session today at the amazing -- and huge -- SaaStr Annual 2019 conference in San Jose. In this post, I'll share the slides from my presentation, Five Questions SaaS CEOs Wrestle With (and some thoughts on how to answer them). The folks
IPO
Enterprise SaaS companies need a lot of money to grow. The median company spends $1.32 to acquire $1.00 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) [1]. They need to make that investment for 14 years before getting to an IPO. It all adds up to a median of $300M in
Boards
I’m super excited for the upcoming SaaStr Annual 2019 conference in San Jose from February 5th through the 7th at the San Jose Convention Center. I hope to see you there -- particularly for my session from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM on Tuesday, February 5th. Last
Metrics
Thanks to the folks at Piper Jaffray and their recently published 2018 Software Market Review, we can take a look at a recent chart that plots public software company enterprise value (EV) vs. Rule of 40 (R40) score = free cash-flow margin + revenue growth rate. As a reminder, the Rule of
Leadership
Most employees tolerate their managers more than love them. According to a year-old survey in Forbes: * Only about 50% of employees say the boss values their opinion. * Only 35% of employees feel inspired by their boss. * Some 25% say they can do a better job than their boss does. * Almost
Culture
There are two types of restaurants: those where it's acceptable for a cook to pickup dropped food and serve it, and those where it's not. Sure, when asked, everyone would say it's unacceptable to serve dropped food in their kitchen. But is that how
Enterprise
Because I’ve been quite busy of late with the sale of my company, I’m doing a somewhat quicker and lighter (if not later) version of my annual predictions post. Here goes, starting with a review of last year’s predictions. 2018 Kellblog Predictions Review 1. We will again
Positioning
This morning we announced that Vector Capital has closed the acquisition of Host Analytics. As part of that transaction I have stepped down from my position of CEO at Host Analytics. To borrow a line from The Lone Ranger, “my work is done here.” I’ll consult a bit to
Leadership
Startup VPs sometimes lament that their CEOs don't really know the people on their teams, don't realize how smart and talented they are, or fully appreciate the value of their teams' work. How, they wonder, can they build a better bridge between their boss and
Leadership
Well, when you run a company focused on corporate finance, you don't get a lot of Holiday Party scandals. At Host's very nice 2018 Holiday Party the closest thing we had was an employee conversing with me about books (Bad Blood) and then wholeheartedly suggesting that
M&A
I’m delighted to say that Host Analytics has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Vector Capital, a San Francisco private equity (PE) firm with over $4B in capital under management. Before diving into some brief analysis of the deal, I want to thank Host Analytics customers, employees,
Marketing
"The last thing I want at Quota Club is to be lying on a chaise lounge by the pool, roll over, and see some effing marketing guy next to me."