All right, everybody, a long time friend of the pod, Jason Lemkin from Saster is back on the program for this appearance, and we're going to talk a little bit about navigating a downturn in private markets and being a capital

volcano. Yeah, I'm calling this one BC grad school. We talked about a nice nice whole of that. How these how founders in BC should operate at this point, sass metrics, fundamentals, fundraising. I mean, this really it moves fast. You may want to listen to this at one X. Yeah, it's going to be a great interview.

I stick with us. You're going to like it.

This week and startups is brought to you by notion notion is one place for notes, docs, projects, and everyday work that goes way beyond a wiki go to notion.so and use promo code twist to get $250 off an annual team plan.

Micro acquire the startup acquisition marketplace start the right acquisition conversations at your own pace. Get free and instant access to over 100,000 trusted buyers with total anonymity.

Say goodbye to brokers and meet your ideal buyer today. Go to try.micro acquire.com slash twist and add quick. If most of your advertising dollars are going to digital ads, it's time to diversify out of home advertising like billboards offers low cost high value reach.

Add quick makes it easy to plan by and measure all in one place. Visit adquic.com slash twist and mention twist to get $1,000 off your first campaign.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of this week in startups. I'm here again with Molly Wood.

Hello, and a special guest special guest fifth time on the show friend of the pod. Founder and entrepreneur and investor and event producer legend.

Doing all three of those things chasing them can of sassar. How are you sir?

You know, I'm eight and a half at least eight and a half. I like and today's the market is getting crushed. Yeah, you know and sass multiples have come down. So what a great place to start. Yeah, we have we had a crazy moment and man, did you time this and ride this wave just amazingly.

You identified sass early both as a career and as an investment thesis and you saw the multiples start climbing and climbing climbing on private companies.

Where did it peak out at and did you at that point say anything to yourself that this is not realistic. This is a bubble.

No, I don't I never thought it was a bubble. I did not understand the multiples. I did not understand. I sort of understood the hundred XR deals if the growth was insane because it's not the hundred XR sounds like a headline, but it's really forward growth, right?

So if you're growing 10 X at a million, it's not really a hundred XR are right. I don't think there's any idiots investing Jason. I really don't I mean there are some I think everyone smart. I think Tiger is smart. I think everyone smart.

You just play the cards your delts and no, and it's funny. My my fifth investment ever is sales loft and they sold for over two billion cash to Vista on New Year's Eve December 31st 2021 and the whole syndicate didn't want them to sell.

Okay, this isn't a fake accord or a record. This is this is two point some odd million on December 31st and no one wanted them to sell it. It's amazing how much change since then to today, right?

Well, we do a bunch of investors today sitting around the table telling a company like this and it has a lot to run and it will IPO and do all the but not to sell for two point something million cash and maybe what happened today, but it's just it's just fascinating that that that that no one in the syndicate wanted them to sell.

So tell us what was the multiple at that point in time and then where would it trade today? They're about they just crossed it a hundred.

So they just crossed a hundred million. Yeah, when they did that sign, right? So twenty X, which was not crazy company that that is growing, you know, I don't know, you know, in the significant double digits would IPO could IPO more than that, right?

But probably on paper, you know, it's a stretched IPO at three times that and there's risk and there's delusion.

But certainly was not seen as a good deal for both sides, right? Back by the December standards, right?

...