SaaShimi Aznaur Midov

Dave discusses Squire’s product, the history of the company, how Squire successfully navigated through the early days of COVID, and the role institutional and celebrity angel investors play in the Company.

BIO

Dave Salvant is a Co-Founder and President of Squire Technologies, a provider of an all-in-one barbershop management platform. Prior to Suire, Dave was a sales associate at AXA and private banking at JP Morgan. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University at Albany (SUNY) and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

TIMESTAMPS

00:50 Dave and Squire

03:40 Go-To-Market

07:32 Marketing in Squire

08:16 Company size / Global Remote-first company

08:57 Quick product release help barbers navigate COVID (incredible response to COVID)

11:00 Creating new products

12:15 First Investors

14:45 Celebrity Investors

16:11 Involvement of investors

16:44 Vision for Squire Technologies

Barb discussed Sapia’s unique product, the role of artificial intelligence in unbiased hiring, the Sapia data set based on a billion words and 2 million candidate profiles, the initial dataset that Sapia utilized, its first client, go-to-market strategy, and many other things.

TIMESTAMPS

01:00 Barb and Sapia

04:20 Five questions to select a candidate

07:50 Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning

10:25 Getting the initial data set

13:25 When your first client is Enterprise…

17:30 Pricing model

24:00 Sapia’s Go-To-Market strategy

29:30 Hiring on values

33:30 KPIs

35:00 Raising capital

37:50 On biases

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

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Sean discussed the financial diligence process of SaaS companies, common mistakes in ARR, Gross Profit, and EBITDA calculations, the effects capitalized software and capitalized commissions have on cash EBITDA, and many other things.

Francois shared his experience of bringing the Norway-based Cognite to the US market, discussed the most significant challenges he has faced along the way,  and compared corporate cultures in the US and Europe. 

BIO
Dr. Francois Laborie is the President of Cognite North America, overseeing Cognite’s expansion and operations in the US, Canada, and Latin America. He has had an extensive career in the technology industry, serving in both research and executive roles. Francois has been at the heart of the transformation of the media industry through technology. He spent 11 years as COO and CCO of Vizrt, where he focused on disrupting journalism by empowering media content creators with visual storytelling tools. Before that, Francois managed research projects on collective decision-making and human-computer interfaces at the Airbus Group Corporate Research Center. 
TIMESTAMPS
01:00 Francois and Cognite
06:15 Competition with internally built systems
08:40 Go-To-Market Strategy
11:40 Reception of Cognite by US and EU clients
15:35 Selecting sales personnel
19:30 Comparing corporate cultures in the US and Europe
20:20 Involvements of investors
23:30 Long-term vision for Cognite

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.
SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Diamond discussed SaaS valuation and how multiples have changed over the past several years, the main drivers of multiples, and M&A market trends.
BIO
Diamond Innabi is a Vice President at Software Equity Group, a boutique investment bank focused on B2B software companies. Over her nearly a decade career at SEG, she was instrumental in numerous M&A transactions involving public and private companies as well as private equity funds.
TIMESTAMPS
1:45 Why are SaaS companies valued at a multiple of revenue or ARR?
4:00 Drivers of SaaS Valuation and how they have changed in the current environment
6:30 Mission-critical software
7:50 Multiples over 5 years
9:05 SaaS valuation during COVID
10:00 Comps contribution to assigning multiples
11:25 On-prem vs cloud valuation
14:20 Buyers and Sellers
16:20 Most durable SaaS categories
17:15 Recommendation to sellers
19:30 Calculation of Gross Margins

Click the following links to "double-click" on Diamond's comments about M&A Update, The Rule of 40, Gross Margin impact, and COGS

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.

Marion shared her experience of being a serial entrepreneur, the challenges of raising funds, as well as founding and growing Govenda. We discussed the company’s product, customer base, go-to-market strategy, and everything in between.
BIO
Marion Lewis is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Govenda, a board management platform that enables effective corporate governance. Prior to Govenda, she was a co-founder and CEO of Tachyon Solutions, a custom application development and interactive marketing firm.
TIMESTAMPS
01:05 Marion – serial entrepreneur
04:00 Govenda and its target markets
11:10 Locking in the first client
12:55 Raising capital
16:25 Govenda during and after COVID
17:45 Go-To-Market strategy
19:40 Org structure and hiring first employees
21:50 Role of investors
Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.
SIGN UP at https://www.saashimi.cloud to receive transcripts of the interviews and news about upcoming guests and events.