Benchmarkit’s Post

Private Equity (PE) firms are becoming a larger part of the exit optionality for B2B SaaS Founders and CEOs. Over the past few years, PE firms have gone down the market to evaluate companies in the $5M - $20M ARR range which was traditionally the domain of Venture Capital. In today's episode, we cover several aspects of being an Operating Partner at a Private Equity firm with Paul Stansik, Partner at ParkerGale Capital including: • The role of an Operating Partner at a PE firm • The evolution of an Operating Partner over the past five years • How to work with a PE Operating Partner as a GTM executive • The most concerning “metrics trends” over the last 12 months • What CEOs should expect from their VP of Sales If you are working with or will be starting to work with an Operating Partner in a Private Equity firm this conversation is chock-full of great insights and ideas. Listen now at https://lnkd.in/eb82hWS4 #MetricsThatMeasureUp #PrivateEquity #B2BSaaS

Private Equity (PE) firms are becoming a larger part of the exit optionality for B2B SaaS Founders and CEOs. Over the past few years, PE firms have gone down the market to evaluate companies in the $5M - $20M ARR range which was traditionally the domain of Venture Capital. In today's episode, we cover several aspects of being an Operating Partner at a Private Equity firm with Paul Stansik, Partner at ParkerGale Capital including: • The role of an Operating Partner at a PE firm • The evolution of an Operating Partner over the past five years • How to work with a PE Operating Partner as a GTM executive • The most concerning “metrics trends” over the last 12 months • What CEOs should expect from their VP of Sales If you are working with or will be starting to work with an Operating Partner in a Private Equity firm this conversation is chock-full of great insights and ideas. Listen now at https://lnkd.in/eb82hWS4 #MetricsThatMeasureUp #PrivateEquity #B2BSaaS

Companies providing sales software solutions should consider engaging the following investors as we move into Q3: - Accel - Andreessen Horowitz - Bain Capital Ventures - Battery Ventures - ICONIQ Growth / ICONIQ Capital - Insight Partners - Lightspeed - Redpoint - Salesforce Ventures - Sequoia Capital - Tiger Global Management Why? Because these investors have led the most recent rounds of a disproportionate share of startups currently signaling sales team growth. With Investor GTM, you have to think first about your ICP and follow the investor breadcrumbs from there. Everyone needs sales software. Who needs it right now? Who are their investors? Find and engage them. You're welcome to DM me for the full report. #vc #pe #gtm #saas #partnerships #investorgtm

Don't Care About Your Exit Strategy ______ Sometimes I hear other early-stage investors ask Founders about their exit strategy. I think that question is pointless. Asking the Founder of a pre-revenue or early-revenue company whether or not they plan to go public or be acquired 10 years down the road shouldn't be on the top 500 investor questions. When I meet with software founders at PHX Ventures, I'm trying to assess whether I believe this team, building this product, selling into this industry at this point in time will be able to build a high-growth, capital-efficient company. Team. Product. Market. Timing. Growth. Efficiency. All of these things need to go right for a company to be built successfully. And that's what I care most about - company building. Can this team stay together and stay in love with the problem? Can this team build a product that customers love and can't live without? Is the timing right for a product like this and who else is trying to compete? Can a $100m ARR company be built here? That's what I am trying to figure out. Can a real company get built here? If ambitious Founders build high-growth, capital-efficient, sustainable companies with great cultures, the right exit strategy will manifest itself at the right time. Just build something awesome. #founders #venturecapital #b2b #saas

I file this under founder education. It’s important that founders understand what motivates investors and how these motivations manifest in the terms and conditions of an investment agreement. While I wouldn’t obsess about it, it’s good to ask because many founders are not aware of the assumption that there will be an eventual exit. #founder #venturecapital #startups

I genuinely could not agree more. Asking a pre-revenue or early-revenue business about its exit strategy is like asking what the weather will be like in 2020 on April 15th at 6:45 p.m. They really don't have a bloody clue yet because they haven't built any real scalable, proven value yet. Obsess over what builds value, starting with the team and relentless execution in every area that counts... the gravity created by that value generation will bring more exit options than you can shake a stick at. Results are 90 degrees to motion (ripple effect); if you are obsessed with building a valuable enterprise, the world is your oyster.

🎤 As the Founder and Partner at Absolvo Consulting, Lenard Horgos brings over 20 years of experience in M&A, venture capital and private equity transactions to the Prow Conference Stage. He has closed transactions – among others - where the buyer was a listed company, large private equity, family office or a corporate strategic investor, bringing a wide range of experience to the table. 🔑 Having worked both on sell-side and on the buyer’s side as well, he is aware of the expectations of various investors, including strategic and private equity buyers. 📊 🎟️ You should buy a ticket if you want to meet and hear Lénárd talking about tech exits – how to prepare for selling your tech business or startup, and why you should align your exit strategy with the product/business strategy.  👉 https://prow.ro/tickets  

There’s a real draught of options for companies that raised millions of dollars and still haven’t hit $1M ARR. They have a product, a team, and some customers, but not the growth that’ll get investors excited. They can’t raise the next round They can’t sell to PE Strategic acquirers, if any, don’t have cash to pay Investors have already written off the investment. Founders have no real direction on what to do next.

While it may feel like playing Nostradamus by trying to predict the IPO market's reopening, if you are a company that is considering a public exit in the near future, there are no regret actions you can do now to be ready for an IPO when the next market window opens. It's worth it to carve out a few minutes to read this article that I collaborated on with Hypepotamus and make sure you aren't left sitting on the sidelines when the next IPO market opens... #IPO #Deloitte

While there’s a bee line for IPOs currently, many companies are not necessarily ready for public markets. The flexibility to experiment / make entrepreneurial decisions without the glaring view of public market investors (a-la the recent Mamaearth’s decision), quarter-to quarter pressures and the public disclosures which competitors love to lap up!! This theme is well captured in this article in the The Wall Street Journal. This has led to a spate of private tenders which increases runway to stay private while providing fair exits to employees and smaller shareholders without compromising control on captables and information. The trend is aligned with rising interest from specialist secondaries investors and family offices who are keen to come into late stage privates. Orchestrating this however can give even the most seasoned dealmakers and CFOs nightmares and that’s where CapHive's new age tech platform steps in - making execution of multi-party secondaries a breeze, including managing multiple counterparties and advisors, while keeping the entire process control with the Company. #secondaries #fasterdealsarebetter #privateipo #techfordeals