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The fact that you cite VC funded and then headcount as your only metric of success is hilarious.

by datalopers 4y ago

google234123 4y ago
The fact he cited that they have a successful product didn't register with you?
- dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
  You mean that product that had the same temporary surge in demand as everyone else?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- scarface74 4y ago
  And if it were “successful” they would be “profitable” and not “VC funded”.
TimTheTinker 4y ago
I wasn't trying to communicate level of success, just economic context and the fact that jobs are available there. But since you ask: $57M ARR, 117% NRR, 97% YoY growth, 51 NPS, named a best place to work in [insert regional business journal] for the last 4 years in a row, customers really love us, and employees really love working here. I don't know how reliable Glassdoor is considered to be these days, but we're rated 4.8 stars by employees, 97% recommend to a friend, and 92% approve of the CEO. Your comment seems rather cynical, but I hope to at least demonstrate that there do exist good VC-backed startups. Oh, and we're hiring! If anyone wants to know where this is, my email is in my profile.
- datalopers 4y ago
  Thanks, these are the numbers that people care about -- Nobody wants to take a job at a company that's just going to be hitting layoffs in 6-12 months, as many will do. I'll keep an eye on you guys and see how things fare over the next 18 months. Customer growth is slowing (15-20% YoY) so most of that revenue growth was from upselling and price increases, which is a a lemon you can only squeeze so many times.
- tarunm 4y ago
  Not OP but if I may, these numbers alone also does not necessarily indicate that you can successfully weather a downturn in near future or is well on the path to future success. Your headcount doubled last year and so did your revenue, maybe you doubled your sales team and the model won't scale further (I don't know what is your industry/product is so just speculating). Your revenue per employee is ~$114K, if most of these employees are in tech, maybe there is already too much bloat that you may need to shed soon if the growth does not materialize. If half of your customers just came onboard last year, maybe you are being too quick to boast a 117% NRR. NPS, Glassdoor and best place to work can also be dismissed as easily manipulatable stats. I am not trying to dismiss anything or being cynical but just trying to point out that a lot of things goes into determining if you are a "good" VC backed startup. In my opinion, a smaller growth in headcount (compared with revenue growth) would have been a better indicator of a healthy startup.
  - datalopers 4y ago
    For context the company is Floqast, accounting software SaaS. They raised $110M in July 2021 at 40x revenue (with an aggregate $93M raised over the 4 years prior). They’re proudly waving that Unicorn banner everywhere they can. 180 employees end of 2020 and 500 today on the way to 725.

The fact that you cite VC funded and then headcount as your only metric of success is hilarious.

google234123 4y ago

The fact he cited that they have a successful product didn't register with you?

dhzhzjsbevs 4y ago
You mean that product that had the same temporary surge in demand as everyone else?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
scarface74 4y ago
And if it were “successful” they would be “profitable” and not “VC funded”.

TimTheTinker 4y ago

I wasn't trying to communicate level of success, just economic context and the fact that jobs are available there. But since you ask: $57M ARR, 117% NRR, 97% YoY growth, 51 NPS, named a best place to work in [insert regional business journal] for the last 4 years in a row, customers really love us, and employees really love working here. I don't know how reliable Glassdoor is considered to be these days, but we're rated 4.8 stars by employees, 97% recommend to a friend, and 92% approve of the CEO. Your comment seems rather cynical, but I hope to at least demonstrate that there do exist good VC-backed startups. Oh, and we're hiring! If anyone wants to know where this is, my email is in my profile.

datalopers 4y ago
Thanks, these are the numbers that people care about -- Nobody wants to take a job at a company that's just going to be hitting layoffs in 6-12 months, as many will do. I'll keep an eye on you guys and see how things fare over the next 18 months. Customer growth is slowing (15-20% YoY) so most of that revenue growth was from upselling and price increases, which is a a lemon you can only squeeze so many times.
tarunm 4y ago
Not OP but if I may, these numbers alone also does not necessarily indicate that you can successfully weather a downturn in near future or is well on the path to future success. Your headcount doubled last year and so did your revenue, maybe you doubled your sales team and the model won't scale further (I don't know what is your industry/product is so just speculating). Your revenue per employee is ~$114K, if most of these employees are in tech, maybe there is already too much bloat that you may need to shed soon if the growth does not materialize. If half of your customers just came onboard last year, maybe you are being too quick to boast a 117% NRR. NPS, Glassdoor and best place to work can also be dismissed as easily manipulatable stats. I am not trying to dismiss anything or being cynical but just trying to point out that a lot of things goes into determining if you are a "good" VC backed startup. In my opinion, a smaller growth in headcount (compared with revenue growth) would have been a better indicator of a healthy startup.
- datalopers 4y ago
  For context the company is Floqast, accounting software SaaS. They raised $110M in July 2021 at 40x revenue (with an aggregate $93M raised over the 4 years prior). They’re proudly waving that Unicorn banner everywhere they can. 180 employees end of 2020 and 500 today on the way to 725.