193. SaaS Acceleration, Sales Savvy Founders & The Rise of Tech-Enabled Services (Michael Cardamone)

Michael Cardamone of Acceleprise joins Nick to discuss SaaS Acceleration, Sales Savvy Founders & the Rise of Tech-Enabled Services. In this episode, we cover: What is Aaron Levie like to work for? Backstory and path to Acceleprise When you started Acceleprise a lot of folks told you not to -- the world doesn't need another accelerator. Why did you proceed? Why an Accelerator and not a traditional VC fund? Check size then and now? The biggest criticism of accelerators that I'm hearing from investors is that accelerators admit companies that need a lot of help and can't figure things out on their own -- and those are not the companies that one wants to invest in. What's your response to these folks? You've mentioned your interest in working w/ founders that have a "willingness to sell." How specifically do you develop the sell-skills of founders that are willing but green w/regards to sales. What are some the best demand-gen techniques that you use? Talk to us about how you think through pricing models and strategies at early-stage SaaS businesses. ACV initial vs. expansion rev opportunity Lemkin.. TAM... initial traction in SOM/Beachhead niche market is most important. Any company that gets traction here can find a $1B market. Agree, disagree? We talk a lot, on this show, about either why SF is the best place to build a company or why any place but SF is the best place to build a company. You've done both -- Objectively, can you break down the biggest advantages to building in the valley vs. the advantages to building outside? Let's talk a bit about pedigree -- most investors have simple heuristics here. If the founder didn't study at a Stanford/Ivy level institution... pass. If the founder didn't work for a FAANG tech company or fast-growing private tech company... pass. At New Stack, we like to say we're in the business of exceptions (deals that have all the right ingredients for success -- except these optics of provenance). Michael, where do you stand on pedigree and how do you define it? What percentage of the companies in the cohort to you invest in at completion? In terms of measuring success -- what key metric do you measure that you're most proud of? Over the past few years, what trends or major changes have you seen with regards to SaaS that founders and investors should be aware of? Tech-enabled services - a real trend or not? Venture fundable? There has been some recent issues in the Tech space with employee options -- what have you witnessed and what would you like to see change?   To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.