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Skaalerud: Excessive revenue growth can be a red flag in SaaS acquisitions

Kjael Skaalerud · Startup Acquisition Stories with Kjael Skaalerud, President of Skaling Ventures · Jun 27, 2023 · at 10:50

Kjael Skaalerud, President of Skaling Ventures, discusses why his acquisition firm views extremely high growth rates with caution during due diligence.

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“Growth is another one where too much growth is kind of punitive for us because it's like, you know, what are we supposed to do? If the business is already ripping, like that's what we do. So, and then it's also that raises some flags from a seller motive too. It's like, why do you sell the thing that's just shredding”

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