SaaStr 557: Where Venture Is Right Now with Iconiq GP Doug Pepper and SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Doug's been an investor is so many of top SaaS companies, from Marketo to Calendly to Loom to Braze to Lattice. Today he's a general partner at one of the top growth-stage VC firms, Iconiq. He and Jason do a deep dive on where the venture markets really are today, and what it means for founders.

Key Takeaways:

#1. VC remains open — at least for deals < $1B valuation.

#2. So many top, mid, and later-stage SaaS companies raised tons of capital in 2021, so much … that few really need to go back to market and raise again this year.

#3. VCs are taking more time, but more “back to normal” time Growth deals can still be done in 3-4 weeks, just not 1 week now.

#4. Not only is there is plenty of money in venture — but even more is coming. Top funds are continuing to raise huge funds.

#5. The biggest issue in venture today is just that founders haven’t changed their expectations

#6. 2016 was tough, too.

#7. Watch What the Big PE Firms like Vista, Thoma Bravo, etc. do in SaaS. They know.

Full video: https://youtu.be/WehTJ4RNBaQ

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