Steve Pattison

john waller Jeff Bocan - this might be a new podcast y'all might really enjoy! Summary coverage from the most recent 3 shows: In recent episodes of the BG2Pod podcast, hosts Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner explore the evolving landscape of tech investments and innovation. They discuss the changing dynamics of the pre-IPO market, with larger funds and increased capital affecting company behavior and IPO timelines. The hosts analyze the impact of AI advancements, including OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 and Google's Astra, on various industries and debate the potential for AI to disrupt or enhance existing software companies. They also examine the challenges faced by private unicorn companies in achieving liquidity events and the factors contributing to the current dearth of IPOs. Additionally, the podcast touches on broader themes such as the role of capitalism and immigration in driving innovation, the debate around AI regulation, and the implications of recent tech earnings and market conditions. CC Kim Burgaard #podcasts #ai #investing #vc

7

3 Comments

Last week, we shared the first part (1/2) of our perspectives on vertical SaaS (vSaaS), more specifically on which metrics define the performance of vSaaS businesses and outlining the benchmarks for each of these metrics. If you have not yet read the piece, give it a read here - https://lnkd.in/d94n2bgN This week we published the second part (2/2) where we call out certain strategies deployed by successful vSaaS companies like Procore Technologies Toast ServiceNow Zenoti and others that can be used to improve the metrics that matter. Read on to layer the numbers with the strats- https://lnkd.in/dPkmWFax Do reach out if you are building in the space or want to exchange notes / feedback on the perspectives. #fintech #verticaSaaS #embeddedfinance #investments

10

1 Comment

🗞️ Breaking News: Red Ventures Selling CNET at a huge Loss❗️ Context: Red Ventures, the privately held digital media and marketing juggernaut based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, is selling CNET, one of the largest tech publishers on the web, to Ziff Davis for just $100 million. For context: Red Ventures bought CNET for approximately $500 million. Reason for the Sale: Total traffic to CNET has dropped by a staggering 50% over the last three years. The main driver behind this decline is a 68% drop in organic traffic (loss off Google rankings and traffic). Tables turned: This sale is a stunning turn of events for CNET, which once bought Ziff Davis (then a tech magazine firm) in a deal worth roughly $1.6 billion - more than two decades ago. Catch Up: - Ziff Davis trades publicly with a market value of $1.94 billion. The company lost about half of its marketcap over the course of the last 48 months. Strategic rationale: If Ziff Davis is able to ink a content licencing deal with Google, Bing/Microsoft or ChatGPT (or else e.g. X.AI) - like Reddit did - it might turn out to be a very smart deal …

5

1 Comment

Congratulations to Abnormal Security on raising a $250M Series D financing at a $5.1B valuation, led by Wellington Management. We at Greylock are proud to be investing in Abnormal for the fifth time since Evan Reiser, Sanjay Jeyakumar and team started Abnormal in Greylock's offices. Abnormal's built the world's first AI-native cybersecurity platform that leverages AI to protect organizations most important vulnerability: humans and human behavior. Abnormal is also announcing today that they have crossed $200M ARR with 100% YoY revenue growth and is now used to secure nearly 20% of the Fortune 500. An important milestone as Abnormal advances its mission to protect humans using AI. CC: Asheem Chandna, Venky Ganesan, Stephen Ward, Rob Mazzoni https://lnkd.in/g4G4PRf9

176

4 Comments

If you enjoyed our first blog on the metrics that matter for Verticalized SaaS then don't miss on the Part II of the series where my colleagues Devraj Hom Roy and Matt Schaar discuss the strategic and operational choices to improve these operational indicators. https://lnkd.in/g5QkCrcH

15

1 Comment

We see this very often in deals, the request of a staple, but I personally think there are ways to navigate this, with everything being above board , both for the selling LP, buyer and the GP. We have had situations where the GP preferred buyer who could also do a staple, actually price the fund better... because they want to strengthen that relationship, and ultimately of course have had situations where the GP preferred buyer is the bad actor in the equation, leveraging their preferred position to down play price for the seller... it's all part of the negotiation process. #secondaries #setterstrong

3

Something different today -- not about tech, but its impact. Let me elaborate if you’re wondering why this is a topic of interest. Whether it involves selling in-game upgrades, pursuing growth at all costs, or engaging in sports betting, I believe these practices are fundamentally wrong and not the right way to use technology. The proliferation of smartphones, affordable always-on connectivity, big data, & algorithms has facilitated the weaponization of sports betting. https://buff.ly/3Xc8jgp

6

1 Comment

What's the fast river in alts? Listen to the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast with Mercer's Gregg Sommer & CAIS' Neil Blundell to hear how they are helping advisors approach private markets. Gregg, Neil, and I had a fascinating discussion about how the wealth channel can approach alternatives and how they can think about both diligence and customization. We covered: * The case for alternatives. * How advisors currently approach alternatives and how they can think about it differently going forward. * How to think about portfolio construction that includes alternatives. * How alts can help advisors differentiate their practice and attract clients. * Following the fast river in a career and why alternatives are “the fast river.” * The meaning of “structure over strategy.” * The rise in popularity of evergreen funds. Thanks Gregg and Neil for sharing your thoughts and expertise on private markets. Thanks to our sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions, for making this episode possible. https://lnkd.in/eBtyw6Fm

31

2 Comments

DeepCast shipped a number of really cool new features recently in advance of a broad outreach push to podcast listeners. One new feature is our new Daily DeepDigest tool that sends you a concise daily email including any new episodes from the trailing 24 hours from any podcasts you Subscribe to (on DeepCast). Think daily podcast cliff notes or podcast news ticker tape, with a hint of Morning Brew various brews or PitchBook News—it's increasing information throughput when you're pressed for time. And this feature is rapidly evolving to distill other key extractions from shows you're already interested in, but also exposing you to other shows you might be unfamiliar with that also have nuggets to share—and thus increasing your aperture yet still conscious of your time. Want to go deeper on any given episode? Click the episode detail and you're off to an episode on DeepCast, where you can subsequently read a longer form distillation of that episode or go straight to the source and listen to the episode. (And podcaster friends, these pages are definitely increasing indexing and thus Google entry points to your shows!) I'm loving this feature as a user, personally. Can't wait to see what others think! #BuildingInPublic #Podcasts #AllTheWorldsInformation #HowYouWantIt

24

1 Comment

PE - Insights from "Constellation Software" Shareholder Letters Some of the key investment takeaways Constellation Software (CNSWF - https://buff.ly/3Coo3V8 ) These highlight a strategic focus on long-term growth, disciplined investment practices, and the importance of governance and engagement, all good insights for tech PE: - Disciplined Investment Approach: strict adherence to specific acquisition hurdle rates, reducing risk and underscoring the importance of rigorous investment criteria - Acquisition-Focused Growth: they target 100 acquisitions annually, underscoring an aggressive portfolio expansion strategy attractive for growth-oriented investors - Flexible Capital Structure: exploring various financing options for acquisitions, especially in downturns highlighting proactive financial health management - Long-Term Horizon: emphasis on indefinite investment holds to maximize returns, favoring long-term strategies over short-term gains - Post-Acquisition Reviews: they conduct detailed after action reviews (AARs) post-acquisition to refine investment strategy, a best practice for continuous improvement - Decentralized Decision-Making: Constellation operates with small, autonomous business units (just like portfolio CEOs & execs) to foster agile leadership and decisions (i.e. the PE firm doesn't tell the CEO what to do but works alongside collaboratively) - Behavioral Economics: Constellation incorporates insights from behavioral economics to mitigate cognitive biases, enhancing decision-making rigor Constellation Shareholder Letters: https://buff.ly/4fu29Pc ------------------ #pe #privateequity #tech #ceo #cro #saas #gtm #growth #middlemarket #boardofdirectors #board #revenue #revenuegrowth #investing #investment #finance #business

14

3 Comments

One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

37

18 Comments

This scenario is more common than people think. It will also get worse as African venture sttuggle to raise money and accept unfavorable terms. Selling early or merging is not a bad outcome unless you want to eventually work for nothing. A great learning example on the importance of not just accepting any term sheet out of desperation. So many want to go to the media to announce and forget the minor details. The investor is also in business to win.

144

16 Comments

With the influx of AI-powered technology in organizations of all industries, here's a timely reminder for all business leaders: Prioritizing AI literacy and change management is key to unlocking the true potential of technology investments, AI or not. Chief Financial Officers have a unique role in ensuring employees are using AI to increase efficiency and productivity, with responsibility and compliance top of mind. Seismic's Kerry Ryan elaborates on this in CFO Dive. Read more:

1

In this episode of my #BreakingHealth podcast, I speak with Jon Maschmeyer, partner at Permira, about what attributes he finds exciting when considering a deal, the key to working with private equity as a management team, and more. Listen below: https://lnkd.in/eVxpyxCY  

33

hey Michael Dodsworth Adam Stone & Kim Burgaard - This podcast episode explores the issues surrounding online ticket sales for major concerts, with a focus on Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour.' It discusses the challenges faced by fans due to resellers using bots and the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology to address these problems by enabling dynamic pricing, detecting fraud, and verifying ticket authenticity. https://lnkd.in/gfKn8tSX

5

2 Comments

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with and learning from several software execs from our portfolio companies and industry experts during Thoma Bravo's AI Summit in Miami. It was great to share our insights into trends and practices we see in our portfolio and how we manage opportunities and risks. At TB, we have a long history of guiding enterprise software companies through digital transformation, and we’re already navigating the transition driven by generative AI. Our focus is on managing this new innovation by absorbing the technology to bring meaningful benefits to our portfolio companies and indirectly to their customers. And it’s evolving fast! We see our portfolio companies today using gen AI in generally three ways: first, to create new products and provide customers with incremental use cases. Second, to defend against cyber attacks that have become much more sophisticated by bad actors. And third, as an enabler of talent to make business operations run more efficient and productive. In our view, AI presents a significant growth opportunity, but we also believe that to really maximize that potential, companies should carefully evaluate the risks and be thoughtful about governance, trust, security and data privacy. AI is poised to accelerate innovation and it’s hard to predict the full, transformative potential of AI, but we are confident that some of the advantages of incumbent knowledge and data will be key to unlocking its value.

209

3 Comments

Breaking Analysis | Why Jamie Dimon is Sam Altman’s Biggest Competitor Co-authored with George Gilbert Investors have poured north of $30B into independent foundation model players including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Mistral AI and others. OpenAI itself has raised more than $20B. To keep pace, both Meta Facebook and xAI will have to spend comparable amounts. In our view, the stampeding herd of LLM investors is blindly focused on the false grail of so-called artificial general intelligence (#AGI). We believe the greatest value capture exists in what we’re calling “Enterprise AGI,” metaphorically represented by the proprietary data estates and managerial know-how locked inside of firms like JPMorganChase and virtually every enterprise. Generalized LLMs won’t have open access to the specialized data, tools and processes necessary to harness proprietary intelligence. As such, we believe private enterprises will capture the majority of value in the race for #AI leadership. In this Breaking Analysis, we dig deep into the economics of foundation models and analyze an opportunity that few have fully assessed. Specifically, what we’re calling Enterprise AGI and the untapped opportunities that exist within enterprises. While many firms discuss proprietary data as the linchpin of this opportunity, very few in our view have thought through the real missing pieces and gaps that we hope to describe for you today. With analysis of data from Erik Brynjolfsson, Epoch AI, a16z and commentary by Alexandr Wang & Jensen Huang. Spending data from ETR (Enterprise Technology Research) on some key AI players including Microsoft Amazon Web Services (AWS) Google Anthropic Databricks Snowflake Oracle IBM & others. Sarbjeet Johal Scott Hebner John Furrier Robert Hof David Floyer

53

27 Comments

DeepCast Pro - For Podcasters launched a bunch of new features and has a slew more dropping in the next 2-3 weeks (well, and for many weeks thereafter). If you're a podcaster, friend of a podcaster, or someone similar, give the press release a read and then jump over to DeepCast Pro (www.deepcast.pro) to claim your podcast and get started for free, then consider upgrading to our Basic paid tier. #podcasting #customercentricity #productvelocity

9

Vista's Dan Parant joined Michael Sidgmore and iCapital's Nick Veronis to explore the evolving dynamics between public and private markets and the advantages of software investing within an evergreen strategy on a recent Alt Goes Mainstream podcast episode. Dan highlights how the resilience and stickiness of enterprise software, along with its downside protection, make it a strong fit for evergreen structures. Listen to the full episode here: https://apple.co/4gdg8Jq

110