Our Guest: Dave Yuan is the Founder of Tidemark, a growth equity firm focused on helping companies scale. With over 20 years of experience, Dave has invested in twelve companies that have gone public, eight that have been acquired.

Episode Topics:

Dave and Tidemark’s investment criteria.
Ideal qualities for vSaaS founders.
Dave's viewpoints on overspending in R&D, product risk, and product development in vertical SaaS.
What does good multi-product sequencing look like?
Is AI an opportunity, neutral, or a threat in vertical SaaS?
The supply/demand imbalance between private investors and scaled vertical SaaS companies.
A framework for determining when to raise more capital or pursue a capital-efficient path.
What SaaS company does Dave admire the most?
Dave’s learnings from starting a new fund.

Resources:

Tidemark Vertical SaaS Knowledge Project: https://www.tidemarkcap.com/vskp

Tidemark 2024 Vertical SaaS Benchmark Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5CFVSHQ

About Cloud Returns by Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Returns covers ALL types of software investing, whether seed, venture capital, growth equity, private equity, debt, and the public markets.

Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.

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About Cloud Ratings:

Cloud Ratings is a customer outcomes-focused, data-driven software research analyst firm. We exist to allow organizations to make more confident, lower-risk software purchasing decisions.

Our Cloud Ratings Category Reports combine user reviews with verified vendor data to impartially identify leading software products. Recent report examples include: Board Management Software, Account-Based Marketing Software, Cap Table + Equity Management Software, Lead Routing Software, and Sales Training + Onboarding Software.

Built upon investigative customer interviews, our True ROI Reports quantify and provide 3rd party validation of a software product’s business value.

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Dave Yuan - Vertical SaaS Investing Playbook