Christina Shen of Bessemer Venture Partners defends rising private SaaS multiples by showing they match public valuations when adjusted for growth.
Insight
Shen: The 70-50-30 efficiency rule for scaling SaaS companies
“The BVP efficiency rule says if you're greater than thirty million in revenue, you just have to remember three numbers. 70, 50, 30. And that's because when you're expansion stage company and you're, call it 30 to sixty million in ARR, 40 is actually too low of…”
Assertion Supported
Shen: Cloud software investment quadrupled in six years, taking 50% of VC
“If you look at what's been invested in cloud software, it has literally quadrupled in a six year time period and represents about 50% of total venture capital funding”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shen: Early-stage private SaaS growth accelerated from 170% to 250% by 2018
“In 2011, they were growing on average of a 170%. These are companies that are between one and twenty million ARR. Today, they're growing about 250%.”
Insight
Shen: Top SaaS companies scale from $1M to $10M in two years
“If you are a good company, you got from one to ten million in AR in just four years. That means you did a little better than a double, double, double, double, and you're on the same growth trajectories as companies like Cornerstone and Mindbody. If you're in t…”
Insight
Shen: CAC payback benchmarks for SMB, mid-market, and enterprise SaaS
“If you are a mid-market company, 12 month probably is your right number. But if you're selling to enterprise and you've got hundred K ACV deals, you're driving great upsell, you should think of everything as an LTV to CAC ratio. So if you've got a higher LTV, …”
Assertion Open · timeframe Jul 2025
Shen: Bessemer's initial investment memo gave ServiceTitan a 2% chance at $1B
“I remember way back in the day when we were at Bessemer, it's myself, Byron Dieter, and Tyler Goldberg. We wrote now this very famous memo about service sign. I think we put, what do we say, a two percent chance at a billion dollar outcome.”