Byron Deeter is a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he has led cloud investments and co-authored the firm's Laws of Cloud. Before joining Bessemer he founded Trigo Technologies, an early cloud business that he sold to IBM in 2004. — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).

Infographic for "Lessons from Byron Deeter".
  1. On Market Timing: "Great companies are built in all markets so I've really given up trying to time markets, either as a founder or as an investor. Find great people with good vision and pay the fair market price, and generally, really good things happen." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  2. The Power of Megatrends: "It does help to have one of these megatrends as a tailwind. Cloud computing has certainly been one for me, but there are a number of these macro trends in tech." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  3. On Public Markets as a Lagging Indicator: Deeter: "we need to be five to 10 years ahead of what public markets are seeing or we're just going to be too late by the time the company is at scale." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  4. Scale Wins in the Cloud Economy: "Market leaders generally command over 50% of the total market's enterprise value; second place captures less than 30%, and third place is lucky to get 20%." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  5. On the Incumbent Disadvantage: The Twenty Minute VC page for Deeter's Twilio episode is titled "Why The Incumbent Advantage Is Now An Incumbent Disadvantage". — The Twilio Memo (The Twenty Minute VC).
  6. On Cornered Incumbents: Deeter: "The incumbents are acting like cornered animals and lashing out." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).

Advice for Founders and Startups

  1. Key Traits of Successful Founders: "One is aggressive clarity of vision and then the second is really hyper aggressive execution... they run through walls to get things done." — 20VC Bessemer's Byron Deeter on The Commonalities Of Truly Great Founders and Learnings From Investing In Box, Twilio and GainSight - Deciphr AI.
  2. Build an Efficient Business: "Efficient businesses will be rewarded. Businesses that can scale without needing to consume lots of capital or going way out on their ski tips in terms of customer acquisition." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  3. Maintain an Even Keel: "It's important to temper the highs and lows and encourage the team to keep their head down and keep building real value." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  4. When Things Aren't Working: "There are really two choices you have if it's not working. I don't mean to be crass, but it's cut bait or buy time. Your value of time is more expensive than our cost of capital." — Byron Deeter, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (Video + Transcript) | SaaStr.
  5. On a Vision Statement: Deeter: "Diverse teams will make you better as a company. How do you do that? You set out a vision statement that inspires." — Byron Deeter, 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (SaaStr video and transcript).
  6. Hiring Great People is the Primary Job: "Your primary job as CEO or senior executive is to hire great. people you're a tech. business you're an IP based. company that's the asset you have." — Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn.
  7. The Value of Diverse Teams: "You're fighting for diverse teams. not because it's politically correct but because the data shows they make better decisions diverse teams will make you better as a company." — Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn.
  8. Follow the Customer for Mobile Strategy: "Follow the customer on that, in the sense of think through what are their use cases where mobility could be an enabler for them, and get ahead of it." — Byron Deeter, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (Video + Transcript) | SaaStr.
  9. Experiment with Sales and Marketing: "Experiment with the sales and marketing model. Prove it's the right match for the business before scaling hiring efforts." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  10. Know Your Business Model: "The important thing is to track and figure out what your business model is there's not one answer. but you need to understand what your answer is." — Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn.

On SaaS and Cloud Metrics

  1. The Single Most Important Metric: "Committed Annual Recurring Revenue (CARR) This is the single most important metric for a cloud business to monitor, as the change in CARR growth provides the clearest visibility into the health of any cloud business." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  2. The 5 C's of Cloud Finance: Deeter emphasizes the importance of what he calls the "5 C's of cloud finance": Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue (CMRR) or Committed Annual Recurring Revenue (CARR), Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), Churn, and Cash Flow. — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  3. On Sales Efficiency as Oxygen: Deeter: "Sales efficiency is your oxygen. It’s not food. It’s not water. I could live a couple of days without water. I’ve got enough fat on this body to live weeks without food." — Byron Deeter, 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (SaaStr video and transcript).
  4. The Cost of Churn: "Death and marriage the only acceptable reasons to lose a customer they go out of business or they get acquired customer success retention and renewal rates are the path to a successful business." — Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn.
  5. On Monthly Renewal Rates: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "A one percent change in monthly renewal rates will result in more than a $100 million difference in your valuation at IPO, and even more over time." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).
  6. Growth Benchmarks: "A top tier $10 million ARR company should be growing 300% year over year." — Byron Deeter, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (Video + Transcript) | SaaStr.
  7. Discover Your Secret KPIs: "Great cloud companies have a bespoke metric (or multiple) that is a leading indicator of success." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  8. On Renewals and Upsells: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "long term, renewals and upsells become the biggest inputs into enterprise value and company success." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).

On Building a Unicorn

  1. On Efficient Growth: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "Efficient growth is when growth in topline revenue reflects the dollars invested in the business." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).
  2. The Importance of a "Second Act": "Expand your company's TAM with a Second Act to dominate the market." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  3. On Product Leaders: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "Sales leaders don’t determine market leadership, but product leaders do." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).
  4. Mastering Financial Metrics: A deep understanding and mastery of the "5 C's of Cloud Finance" is crucial for scaling. — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  5. The Role of Leadership in Culture: "Great leaders set the moral compass and define the corporate culture." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners.
  6. On Raising Before You Need To: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "The most enduring companies raise capital well before they need it, and they plan strategically on when and why they go out for another round." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).
  7. On the Public Playbook: Bessemer's 10 Laws of Cloud, co-authored by Deeter: "Most ambitious cloud founders want to control their own long-term destiny, and ultimately to be a large public company." — Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud (Bessemer Venture Partners).
  8. The Value of Patience: "The best companies can typically wait until the market timing is ideal to go out, certainly on the IPO side." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  9. Saying No to Acquisitions: "Almost every one of our companies that inevitably goes public has also said no to multiple credit acquisitions offers along the way." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.

Personal Reflections and Learnings

  1. From Founder to VC: Deeter's experience as a founder of an early cloud company gave him "empathy (and entrepreneurial scar tissue)" that informs his work as an investor. — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies.
  2. Early Belief in SaaS: He recalls being "turned down by many venture firms as a CEO and specifically because they didn't believe the software as a service business model would ever make a penny of money." — 20VC Bessemer's Byron Deeter On Lessons From Investing in 14 $Bn Companies, What The Heck Is Going On In Cloud Today and Why Cloud IPO Floodgates Are About To Burst Open.
  3. On Over-Communication: Deeter: "Early on, a lot has to do with over-communication and getting to know the founder on a personal level." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  4. On a Less Hands-On Investor: Deeter: "I find that my former operating experience has made me a less hands-on investor." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  5. On Board Meetings: Deeter: "Prep more and speak less." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  6. On Good People and Fair Prices: Deeter: "Find great people with good vision and pay the fair market price, and generally, really good things happen." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  7. On Twilio: The Twenty Minute VC page for Deeter's Twilio episode is titled "How a $125K Initial Check Became Bessemer's Largest Position". — The Twilio Memo (The Twenty Minute VC).
  8. On the Best to Come: Deeter: "The best is yet to come, in terms of the quality that will ultimately reveal itself in the public landscape." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).
  9. On Entitled to Nothing: Deeter: "Entitled to nothing, grateful for everything." — Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies (Bessemer / The Twenty Minute VC Q&A).

Learn more:

  1. Byron Deeter - Bessemer Venture Partners
  2. Byron Deeter on investing in 14 different billion dollar companies
  3. 20VC Bessemer's Byron Deeter On Lessons From Investing in 14 $Bn Companies, What The Heck Is Going On In Cloud Today and Why Cloud IPO Floodgates Are About To Burst Open
  4. Roadmap: 10 laws of cloud - Bessemer Venture Partners
  5. The Twilio Memo: Bessemer's Byron Deeter on How a $125K Initial Check Became Bessemer's Largest Position, What The Influx of Late-Stage Capital Means For Venture Today & Why The Incumbent Advantage Is Now An Incumbent Disadvantage - 20VC
  6. BVP Partner, Byron Deeter: The Future of Venture - Why Chanel vs Walmart is BS - YouTube
  7. BVP Partner, Byron Deeter: The Future of Venture - Why Chanel vs Walmart is BS - 20VC
  8. 20VC Bessemer's Byron Deeter on The Commonalities Of Truly Great Founders and Learnings From Investing In Box, Twilio and GainSight - Deciphr AI
  9. Byron Deeter, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn (Video + Transcript) | SaaStr
  10. Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners: 10 Laws of Building a Unicorn
  11. Interview with Byron Deeter on SaaS Metrics and Measuring Growth - Forbes