Kyle Harrison
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Ryan Floyd on SaaS, Data and Fintech (KeyBanc Webinar, June 2020)

Ryan Floyd June 2020

Ryan Floyd on SaaS, Data and Fintech (KeyBanc Webinar, June 2020)

A KeyBanc webinar with Ryan Floyd of Storm Ventures, recorded in the first months of COVID.

Why it was kept

Kyle’s notes cover Talkdesk and the move of contact centres to the cloud, Workato versus MuleSoft, why valuations get pushed up for the best companies, a $1 of sales and marketing per $1 of ARR rule of thumb, and the markets Floyd was most excited about (direct-to-consumer marketing software, data, fintech), along with his verdict that IoT was the most disappointing market of his career.

As Kyle captured it

  • Listened to KeyBanc webinar with Ryan Floyd at Storm Ventures
    • Talked about Talkdesk and the transition in contact centers to the cloud, especially during COVID
    • Also talked about Workato; compared it to cloud-based MuleSoft
      • You can connect applications, which isn’t hard, and then add logic between those applications automatically (redact, append, etc.) and create custom workflows between applications beyond just connecting APIs
    • Wants to believe you can build a large standalone business; don’t want to invest in a small outcome
    • Valuations get pushed in large part because people want to be in the best companies, sometimes almost regardless of price
    • Digital transformation - are we entering an acceleration? A peak?
    • SaaS Metrics
      • You want to see a business spending $1 of S&M for every $1 of ARR
      • Most are well above that, so it’s just not going to be as inefficient
      • But you also have to pull out the ramp up time of new hires and understand that over time to not penalize them for heavy hiring as they’re growing
    • Markets he’s most excited about
      • Direct to consumer marketing
        • That’s where E-Commerce is happening; only possible with software Attentive
      • Data
        • Data science, data tools, etc.
      • Fintech
        • Believes it has a very traditional market with lots of fees and labor
        • Companies are definitely going after that market
      • IoT has been one of the most disappointing markets of his career
        • Most of the use cases have really been academic and not proven out in the market