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Ryan Smith

Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, Qualtrics · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveinvestor@RyanQualtrics ↗LinkedIn ↗qualtrics.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Ryan Smith is the co-founder and executive chairman of Qualtrics, which he bootstrapped and later sold to SAP for $8 billion. He also serves as chairman and CEO of Smith Entertainment Group, through which he owns the Utah Jazz.

24statements → 13claims → 5claims resolved → 80%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 2.04/5average debate potential → 6said about them ↓

4 supported 0 partly supported 1 contradicted 8 not checkable as stated how the 13 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 10 assertions · 1 opinion · 5 insights · 3 disclosures · 2 what ifs · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 13 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 5 are resolved, and 8 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Ryan argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics granted no equity until 2012
“We didn't give away stock till 2012.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 31:02 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Smith: Qualtrics grew 47% to $500M in sales prior to SAP deal
“I mean, we grew up 47% last year, five hundred million in sales.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 21:36 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
75% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Ryan Smith on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Ryan Smith said on the Official SaaStr Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

What-if
Smith: Venture funding would have prevented Qualtrics from pivoting to XM
“If we would have just bought our way through, I don't think we would have had that confidence or DNA to pivot the whole company and create this new category of experience management, which is really what SAP wanted.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 15:24 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Opinion
Smith: Accel and Sequoia totally underestimated Qualtrics' TAM
“And I think Excel and Sequoia totally shorted our TAM.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 20:25 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Smith: SAP will pause M&A after $8B Qualtrics deal
“SAP's not buying anything for a while. We took all their powder.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 28:38 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Insight
Smith: Acquirers will not move without a compelling event like an IPO
“If you're not building a company that can stand up and go public, Then you're probably going to be, no one's going to want it anyways. And you, there's going to be an outlier or two where you're going to point to and say that, but no one ever really, I mean, S…”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 29:40 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Supported
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics granted no equity until 2012
“We didn't give away stock till 2012.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 31:02 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Supported
Smith: Qualtrics reached $50M in sales with zero PR or media
“For the first 10 years we didn't do one media interview and we got to fifty million in sales. Think about that. Right? Not, not one media interview, not one press release.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 7:14 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Insight
Smith: Marketing and fundraising for brand recognition is futile
“There's this whole rationale of fundraising and marketing that you're going out there so people will know who you are. They're not gonna know who you are. So just go build a good business.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 8:08 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Insight
Smith: Spending equity on marketing campaigns is ineffective
“Brand and marketing are different where I see a lot of companies raising around and plugging their cap table into the marketing engine. Yeah, which is like, okay, that campaign was worth five percent of your company. When's that ever been effective?”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 9:21 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Insight
Smith: Targeting academia seeded Qualtrics across the enterprise workforce
“It was the most brilliant thing that we did, and everywhere I go, and we were on the road show and everything, it was, wow, that was the most brilliant model I've ever seen because, you know, millions of academics used Qualtrics and then took it with them into…”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 11:04 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith: Two competitors sunsetted their tech and migrated to Qualtrics
“We've had two of our competitors sunset all of their technology and move everything over to Qualtrics”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 17:23 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Disclosure
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics was fully committed to an IPO, not dual-tracking
“I was not running a dual track. I invited 300 of my closest friends to take mortgages on their house to go buy into the friends and family, and then I was like, oh, J slash K, it was like a pump fake, and everyone went flying by, and then we laid it.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 25:34 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith: Only $30M of $8B acquisition went to former employees
“There's eight billion dollars, and only Thirty million dollars of it went to people who weren't in the building at the time of the transaction.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 31:21 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Disclosure
Ryan Smith: Won't invest in Series A where founder owns under 20%
“I wouldn't even invest in a company if a founder didn't own, if we're raising a series A, if they didn't own 20% or more.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 32:06 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Supported
Smith: Qualtrics rejected a $500M buyout offer at a $50M run rate
“The backstory here is we turned down an acquisition offer for five hundred million dollars in 2012. And I had done, I mean, we were about a fifty million dollar sales run rate, but I'd never done a media interview.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 2:48 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Insight
Smith: Building software for demanding PhDs prepared Qualtrics for enterprise
“We actually learned to develop great products in that phase because, you know, if you've got to develop a product where a PhD or researcher calls in, Imagine the support system you've got to have on the other side to support Dan Ariely, who is a behavioral eco…”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 11:19 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics' valuation grew $100M each year they delayed funding
“From 2009, 10 and 11, Every year we waited, our valuation went up a hundred million dollars back then.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 13:29 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
What-if
Smith: Qualtrics wouldn't have targeted academia if it had venture capital
“If we would have had capital, we would have never gone after the academic market.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 14:29 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Contradicted
Smith: Qualtrics grew 47% to $500M in sales prior to SAP deal
“I mean, we grew up 47% last year, five hundred million in sales.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 21:36 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics staff will earn more post-acquisition than prior 17 years
“Outside of about six or seven people, every single person in the company will make more money over the next five years than they did the prior 17.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 33:21 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Supported
Smith: Qualtrics maintained 122% net retention overall and 140% in enterprise
“And a 122% net retention, and then the enterprise, it's a 140. That, that means that you've got a solid foundation, a solid engine, where people are living and it's mission critical to them.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 35:16 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Smith: Rising market caps will push mega-SaaS acquisition sizes to $15B
“Well 15, it's got to be the new, it's got to be the new number. I mean as market caps keep increasing, then I think the number goes up.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 37:42 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Disclosure
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics raised from Sequoia and Accel at $350M–$400M valuation
“We raised at four hundred million dollars, three hundred fifty million dollars with Sequoia and Excel.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 5:03 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Smith: Qualtrics' academic business fell from 100% to 10% of revenue
“Yeah, it went from a hundred percent of the business to 10% of one.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 15:58 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Smith: Sears and Kmart used Qualtrics through bankruptcy until final days
“Sears was in bankruptcy and in Kmart, they were all using Qualtrics even up to the last couple days, and I was like, wow, this is phenomenal.”
Ryan Smith Feb 17, 2019 ▶ 35:55 The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics

The other half of the tape: Ryan Smith's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 4 times in 4 episodes on the Official SaaStr Podcast. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Jason Lemkin 2David Cummings 1Aydin Senkut 1

Statements about Ryan Smith, by other people (2)

Assertion Partly supported
Cummings: Qualtrics scaled to $500M ARR without primary balance sheet capital
“Ryan Smith from Qualtrics, and he told the amazing story of going from zero to five hundred million of revenue And not requiring any primary capital. Five hundred million in recurring revenue, and they never raised any money that went to the balance sheet.”
David Cummings Nov 11, 2019 ▶ 10:21 7 Lessons Helping Start Pardot, SalesLoft, and Calendly
Assertion Supported
Lemkin: SaaS founders led Front's $600M valuation round
“The last round in front, which I think was at six or seven hundred million, was all founders. Okay, it was Ryan Smith from Qualtrics, I forget who else, the other billion, our friends, the billionaires of SaaS, but they all, I think, led that round instead of …”
Jason Lemkin Nov 17, 2021 ▶ 36:10 The Highs and Lows of Fundraising from Founders That Have Raised $1B w/ Calendly, Coda, LaunchDarkly

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00112220192020202120222023episodesmentions
01220192020202120222023episodes it came up in
000.511220192020202120222023episodesmentions per episode
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2019 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
The Things Nobody Tells You About An $8B Acquisition with Ryan Smith from Qualtrics Feb 17, 2019 24m
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