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

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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