Last night, I attended an enlightening Startup Founder event featuring a distinguished panel of venture capitalists organized by January Capital and Stripe. They delved into their investment portfolio's insights on Pricing Strategy and Go-To-Market (GTM) approaches.
The discussion spanned topics like cost-based pricing, value-based pricing, target audience (such as Ideal Customer Profile or ICP), and growth orientation, primarily focusing on startups at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. Fantastic groups and excellent conversation. Those were great top-of-minds for the Pre-Seed, Seeding, and probably Series A startups. But it may also be good to cover topics beyond Series B till IPO.
I want to draw on my background in nurturing Series A+ companies in the APJ region, including notable successes like Sitecore and Braze, to add some colors to this topic.
I am expanding the Growth Strategy from the Pre-seeding round to the IPO/post-IPO for interested parties for reference:
1 Pre-Seed (Annual Revenue $0)
Validate product-market fit through market research and MVP development.
Build a strong founding team with complementary skills and industry expertise.
Explore opportunities for organic growth and potential strategic partnerships to maximize shareholder value.
2 Seed (Annual Revenue $0-$500K)
Scale customer acquisition through targeted marketing campaigns and sales efforts.
Expand product features based on early user feedback and market demand.
Secure seed funding from venture capital firms or angel investors to fuel growth.
3 Series A (Annual Revenue $500K - $2M)
Focus on scaling operations, including hiring key talent and expanding infrastructure.
Increase market penetration through strategic partnerships and distribution channels.
Optimize sales processes and customer success strategies for sustainable revenue growth.
4 Series B (Annual Revenue$2M-10M)
Accelerate customer acquisition by investing in sales and marketing initiatives.
Enhance product development for scalability, performance, and new use cases.
Explore international expansion opportunities and enter new market segments.
5 Series C (Annual Revenue $10M-$50M)
Strengthen the company's market leadership position through aggressive growth strategies.
Consider mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share or acquire complementary technologies.
Continue to invest in research and development for long-term innovation.
6 Series D-F (Annual Revenue $50M-$200M+)
Further expand market reach through geographic expansion or vertical integration.
Diversify revenue streams through additional product offerings or strategic partnerships.
Prepare for potential IPO or evaluate other liquidity options, such as secondary offerings.
7 IPO (Annual Revenue $200M+)
Complete regulatory requirements and public offering process with assistance from investment banks.
Generate investor interest through roadshows and investor presentations.
Leverage IPO proceeds for further growth, including product development, sales expansion, and acquisitions.
8 Post-IPO (Annual Revenue $200M+)
Maintain strong communication with investors and analysts to sustain investor confidence.
Continue to execute growth strategies while managing public company obligations and regulatory compliance.
Additionally, I've researched recent SaaS vendor's IPO-ed on Nasdaq, analyzing their annual revenue figures and their Market Cap at the time of going public. You can see that the Market Cap / Revenue Ratio (Multiplier) is 25 to 60, except Snowflake, which is running at 265.
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