From a founder- the f is going on

Founder of an AI SaaS platform. 7 years old, crossed  $30m rev last year on track to do $90m this year. 90% gross margin, 30% ebidta margin. 

Ran for a minority recap this year. Had interest from every major fund but ended up with 2 shitty bids (10x last year rev). The universal sentiment was “we love your business but our IC can’t get comfortable with a higher price.”

We’re turning down the sheets but is this normal out there? What kind of deals are happening? 

15 Comments
 

SOFRsoGood

So this year you’re at $30M of EBITDA and they’re offering you 10x that at $300M?

Doesn’t make sense if your growth is sustainable at anything close to these margin levels.

So do they not believe the growth plan and moat?

Either way, probably a blessing to avoid investors that aren’t aligned with your vision.

He said 10x LTM Rev fwiw 

 

$90mm this year let’s say 25% growth annually next five years. So $270mm revenue 30% mgn is $80mm of EBITDA. Exit at 5x EBITDA is $400mm EV plus cash build to get to maybe $5-600mm of equity value 

Paying $300mm for a double seems pretty reasonable bar. 
 

Look at every SaaS company that is public. Intuit, Adobe, Workday, etc are growing 10-20% and trading at 5-10x EBITDA. Do you deserve a higher multiple than that in five years? That is probably the question IC is asking (maybe you disagree on my 25% annual growth assumption but the dollars added is still quite high) 
 

 

WDAY is 8x EBITDA on cy27 numbers. Yes there is SBC but assume the OP is adding back sbc to his too. ADBE is closer to 6x I believe 

 

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