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Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

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Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#11

Post by berkay »

patio11 wrote: post #10

I quickly discovered expectations for a B2B Series A were $1.5M in annual revenue run rate That's a great news-you-can-use for many people on HN, so I thought I'd excerpt it. It feels... I don't know. Markets are made where buyers and sellers feel that the offer is mutually acceptable, so I don't want to say "That is too high." I'd say, as somebody who spends a lot of time in B2B SaaS (though only with a toe dipped i…

If the requirement for VC investment is $1.5m in AAR and fast growth rate, there does not seem to be much of a "venture" in that. This sounds like what a bank would require to loan you money, an almost certainty that you can pay it back.

Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#12

Post by patio11 »

berkay wrote: post #11
patio11 wrote: post #10

I quickly discovered expectations for a B2B Series A were $1.5M in annual revenue run rate That's a great news-you-can-use for many people on HN, so I thought I'd excerpt it. It feels... I don't know. Markets are made where buyers and sellers feel that the offer is mutually acceptable, so I don't want to say "That is too high." I'd say, as somebody who spends a lot of time in B2B SaaS (though only with a toe dipped i…

If the requirement for VC investment is $1.5m in AAR and fast growth rate, there does not seem to be much of a "venture" in that. This sounds like what a bank would require to loan you money, an almost certainty that you can pay it back.

Banks will not loan you $5~10+ million on $1.5 million in revenue [+], which is what the Series A will likely be. They'd be happy to offer you $150k to $300k or so, depending on the officer. You can get a higher percentage when you graduate to a more stringent vetting process, which banks will typically start making available after you have $10M+ in revenue, significant hard assets, etc. (Business underwriting is hard and expensive, and there isn't enough money on the table to justify much underwriter attention for a $200k loan or line of credit.)

[+] In hindsight: I'm playing fast and loose with the interchangeability of revenue and run rate. They're two very different things. Not terribly relevant to the general thrust of this comment, but if you ever hear someone conflate the two in an investment conversation, make sure you nail down which you're talking about.

Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#17

Post by bobjordan »

As a bootstrapper with 100% equity in company that just passed $1M YOY revenue and should hit $2M this year, I read these articles on HN and cringe. To me, it would be a special kind of hell to have 40 investors to answer to, no less in a company under $1M revenue. Seems to work for some founders to get rich quick but for god sakes I don't envy that position.

Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#18

Post by aaronbrethorst »

cenhyperion wrote: post #15
curiousDog wrote: post #7

Wait, Mattermark and Matterport were started by the same guy?

Mattermark wasn't founded by a guy, it was founded by Danielle Morrill, who also founded YC-backed referly

Mattermark was a pivot from referly. http://blog.ycombinator.com/referly-yc-s12-becomes-mattermar...

Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#19

Post by arfliw »

bobjordan wrote: post #17

As a bootstrapper with 100% equity in company that just passed $1M YOY revenue and should hit $2M this year, I read these articles on HN and cringe. To me, it would be a special kind of hell to have 40 investors to answer to, no less in a company under $1M revenue. Seems to work for some founders to get rich quick but for god sakes I don't envy that position.

I think 'answer to' is probably looking at it wrong, at least for good investors. They are there to help you when needed, to give you advice. They are not the hall monitor.

However I've never had investors either, so perhaps I'm wrong. Given that she says she communicates with 75% of them at least once a month - that would indeed suck if the relationship was as you described.

Re: Mattermark Has Raised $2M in Our Second Seed Round

#20

Post by bobjordan »

arfliw wrote: post #19
bobjordan wrote: post #17

As a bootstrapper with 100% equity in company that just passed $1M YOY revenue and should hit $2M this year, I read these articles on HN and cringe. To me, it would be a special kind of hell to have 40 investors to answer to, no less in a company under $1M revenue. Seems to work for some founders to get rich quick but for god sakes I don't envy that position.

I think 'answer to' is probably looking at it wrong, at least for good investors. They are there to help you when needed, to give you advice. They are not the hall monitor. However I've never had investors either, so perhaps I'm wrong. Given that she says she communicates with 75% of them at least once a month - that would indeed suck if the relationship was as you described.

In any case, would be much better to be answering to 40 paying B2B customers. I'd imagine if founder is not able to get focused on that, there won't be another round.
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