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Exactly, in my experience - Europe - a VC is only interested in scale-ups... I am currently negotiating a buy-in for my SaaS, so for validation purposes I cont

by ToJans 5y ago

Exactly, in my experience - Europe - a VC is only interested in scale-ups... I am currently negotiating a buy-in for my SaaS, so for validation purposes I contacted a few VCs in our domain, and received a few replies stating they required at least 500k to 1 million ARR. It would be my assumption that - in Europe - you don't really need VC money if you're making this amount of ARR, unless your margin is so low, or you are growing so fast that there is a huge risk involved. To me getting VC money at 500k/1 million ARR sounds like a very expensive loan where the VC has limited risk (the investment) and unlimited upside. If I would be at that amount of ARR and in the need for some credit, I'd rather go to the bank and pay for a credit line for a couple of million that we can use when/if we need it, especially at the current cheap interest rates... Update - addendum: Just to clarify: I am a big fan of external capital if it also includes proper engagement, preferably an org that has a huge network and/or proper domain knowledge.

kenneth 5y ago
I think you misunderstand venture. VC has two broad categories: experimentation and growth. As a VC I'm happy to invest in a company with zero revenue, in the promise that they'll figure out something valuable. If I'm investing in a business that's figured it out, I'm looking for growth. The numbers don't have to be at a certain ARR level, but need to show strong growth. It's likely the business you're pitching has an offering, but the revenues are pretty flat or growing slowly. You're in that weird in between zone that isn't interesting to VCs. You need to keep iterating on the offering until you find something with the right growth potential, otherwise you're stuck just staying a small business.
- ToJans 5y ago
  I wanted to reply, but I did not want to disclose everything on HN, so I've sent you an email.

by ToJans 5y ago

kenneth 5y ago

I think you misunderstand venture. VC has two broad categories: experimentation and growth. As a VC I'm happy to invest in a company with zero revenue, in the promise that they'll figure out something valuable. If I'm investing in a business that's figured it out, I'm looking for growth. The numbers don't have to be at a certain ARR level, but need to show strong growth. It's likely the business you're pitching has an offering, but the revenues are pretty flat or growing slowly. You're in that weird in between zone that isn't interesting to VCs. You need to keep iterating on the offering until you find something with the right growth potential, otherwise you're stuck just staying a small business.

ToJans 5y ago
I wanted to reply, but I did not want to disclose everything on HN, so I've sent you an email.