Introducing the Bigfoot Bi-weekly Roundup
Perspectives and quick takes from Bigfoot and our community of SaaS operators and investors
Thanks for joining us for the first Bi-weekly Roundup. This newsletter has been a long time coming so we’re excited to finally get it live.
In the crowded space of SaaS newsletters, our roundup is designed specifically to:
Advocate for healthy operational practices and a long-term mindset
We lean into the concept and practices of operational discipline required to build successful companies over the long term. It’s about seizing what’s fully within your control and directly under your influence.
Share what’s on our whiteboard/sticky notes
We want to be transparent with our community on how we are approaching both investment and operational decisions within Bigfoot as we continue to grow our business.
Curate and comment on perspectives from our network
We will shine a light on the different perspectives from our network of operators and capital providers. This will be through articles, surveys, and even some tweets if we think they’re relevant.
We aim to provide an informative, conversation-provoking, and action-oriented newsletter that enables our operator and capital provider peers to learn, grow and connect.
Before we begin here’s a quick intro on Bigfoot Capital:
About Us
Bigfoot Capital offers growth-oriented loans for B2B software companies with $2M- $20M in revenue. We pride ourselves on partnering with companies and their stakeholders to provide a capital partnership that comes with:
Stability and Scalability
We take the long view and value relationships based on alignment, understanding, and respect. Our objective is to act as a supportive, strategic, stable capital partner and be in the boat rowing along as long as makes sense.
Simplicity and Straightforward Approach
We believe in simplicity and delivering with speed while ensuring you’re 100% informed and comfortable to move forward with certainty.
Shared Success
It’s all about the outcomes. For us, it’s about profitable lending and growing a healthy business. For the companies we work with, it’s about value creation, retention, and maintaining optionality. It’s a simple trade in that way.
If you operate or support a B2B software business and want to learn more about alternative capital options that preserve equity, get in touch with our team today!
Chamath wants you to be healthy now!
I came across a CNBC video last week with the catchy subtitle “Chamath Palihapitiya says many venture capitalists live in a fantasy world”.
We all know that efficiency is now in vogue with growth taking a backseat and now “The SPAC King” has spoken.
Here’s a seminal statement from Chamath’s recent annual letter:
“As we enter a period of sustained non-zero interest rates, discipline of mission must now also interact with discipline of management and operation. Efficiency, risk management, business model fundamentals, and most importantly sustained profitability, are must-haves, not nice-to-haves.”
This one had me laughing, but the more folks with megaphones beating the drum of health the better (late than never) I suppose.
5 Interesting Learnings from Blackbaud at $1 Billion in ARR
I frequently share perspectives on articles and reports from leading SaaS publications and research providers via Linkedin. The response has been outstanding, and moving forward, they will be distilled via this newsletter.
To start off…here are a few of my takes on SaaStr's recent article "5 Interesting Learnings from Blackbaud at $1BN ARR".
Blackbaud’s customer base being recession-resistant
And of a segment of the economy that is more resistant to the macro effects many of us are experiencing — non-profits.
I don't have data on this, but my knee-jerk reaction is...“really”? I would not class non-profits as recession resistant. Many of them operate on the edge from a budget standpoint with a heavy reliance on fundraising. I would expect giving to be down in a challenged macroeconomic environment. Of course, non-profits need Blackbaud to support their fundraising programs and you could argue they need it more than ever, but I'd venture that their underlying financial health as customers is strained.
Lack of organic growth and reliance on inorganic (M&A)
Essentially all growth now is inorganic, i.e. from acquiring other products and companies. Organic growth is only 1%.
While Blackbaud may have maxed out their organic TAM, I don't view this to be negative on the whole given the potential inorganic (M&A) TAM for them. There could be a lot of small tuck-in acquisitions to be had that they can plug in to drive cash flow.
Blackbaud may not get great growth out of M&A, but that also may not be the point. These tuck-ins could improve product stickiness, open up new customer segments (and new TAMs), and should continue contributing to cash flow generation with efficiencies garnered.
Increased Transaction Fees and Raised Prices on Renewals.
Every company founder/CEO should copy and paste this blurb from their Q4 2022 earnings call transcript:
You can use it to serve as a quick narrative regarding the initiatives you’re executing to improve revenue quality, drive efficiency and improve cash flow in the current market environment.
P.S. I always enjoy the content that SaaStr puts out. Lots of great learnings to be had from an operations and capital allocation standpoint. The team recently launched a live weekly workshop that runs every Wednesday. Our team will be attending some of these, and I’ll be sure to break down some of the learnings here and via Linkedin.
Expand your footprint. Preserve your equity.
Insights from our ecosystem!
In the past, we have surveyed our network of investors and operators to get a sense of the different sentiments along with an understanding of their activity (example from mid 2022).
As we introduce the newsletter, our goal is to make this a more frequent effort so we can distill the data for our community of readers.
Each newsletter will include a few different polls which will then be shared along with our perspectives.
Let’s jump into this week’s polling:
🚩 Operators 🚩
🚩 Capital Providers 🚩
We will also be conducting more in-depth surveys similar to our Capital Provider Market Sentiment Survey, on a quarterly basis.
Reply to this thread if you have any questions that you’d like us to cover in future newsletters
Portfolio Announcement 🎉
Bigfoot portfolio company, Canvs AI, just launched AI Story Assist, a generative AI "co-pilot" that is integrated with their Canvs MRX product.
For anyone not familiar, Canvs is an AI-powered insights platform that turns open-ended text from surveys, product reviews, and social media into actionable knowledge. Canvs delivers better insights and incredible value for insights and customer experience (CX) leaders.
If you want to see AI Story Assist in action, request a demo of Canvs:
Thanks for joining us for the first edition of our bi-weekly Roundup! Whether you’re an investor, or operator within the SaaS space -- we hope that you will find value in our newsletters.
And if you happen to come across any articles or research- share it with our team as we will make sure to include it in an upcoming newsletter.
About Bigfoot Capital
We offer growth-oriented loans for B2B SaaS companies with $2M- $20M in ARR. If you operate or support a B2B software business and want to learn more about alternative capital options, get in touch with our team today!