Bessemer Venture Partners

🚀 Our early-stage guide is out now! The founder's playbook for scaling to $1 million ARR. Reaching $1M ARR isn’t just a vital revenue milestone for your startup — it’s proof you’ve moved from idea to execution. It’s your first real validation that customers need what you’re building and that you can acquire and retain them. But here’s the catch: there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. That's why we've distilled the strategies, tactics, and hiring insights to help entrepreneurs reach their very first million in revenue, thanks to the expertise of Operating Partner Tony Rodoni, Anthropic's Head of Revenue Kate Jensen, and 4x founder Paul Fifield. Early-stage sales can be messy. You, the founder, are the first and best salesperson. And you’re not just selling a product — you’re selling a vision. Get our guide today. ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/gbr8dVzQ #TechonLinkedIn #venturecapital #entrepreneurship #vc #sales

🚨 Don’t miss it — Consumer AI Earthquakes POV drops next week! 💥 In their latest Atlas deep dive, Jeremy Levine, Alexandra Sukin, and Rayouf Alhumedhi explore where they see the biggest Consumer AI opportunities today, how emerging technologies are shaping new business models, and what it takes to build AI-native products that drive viral adoption and long-term defensibility. 💥 🔗 Sign up here to get it first → https://lnkd.in/efsW8EBP But before we dive into the AI era, let’s rewind to where it all started: Kent Bennett’s “Consumer Earthquakes” (Atlas Archives, circa 2020). Here are five consumer founder takeaways from Episode 1 that still hold true: 1. Consumer startups are high-risk, high-reward. When they work, they grow explosively—faster than enterprise companies. 2. Viral adoption is everything. The best consumer products spread organically and scale rapidly. 3. Good isn’t good enough. Your product must be so compelling that people can’t ignore it. 4. Consumer success can seem unpredictable— just like an earthquake. Few companies make it, but those that do change the world. 5. Bessemer has studied the patterns of breakout consumer startups—now, we’re sharing the secrets. 🎥 Watch the full Consumer Earthquakes series—links in the comments. And stay tuned for next week’s Consumer AI Earthquakes POV 🔥 → https://lnkd.in/efsW8EBP #Consumer #AI #Startups #AI #TechonLinkedIn #entrepreneurship #venturecapital

We are so excited to share that our CEO, Bijal Shah, has been named a Changemaker by CNBC! 👏 This list celebrates women who are transforming business — and Bijal is leading the charge. In partnership with the leading employers Guild supports, she is reshaping how companies build talent and creating real opportunities for the workforce of the future. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dhfbJ6W3 #CNBCChangemakers

🚀 AI startups are hitting $1M+ ARR at the Series A or even earlier, in some unique cases. We're living through an unprecedented time for startups. But how do you get from $1M to $10M ARR? At $1M ARR, founders are often the best salespeople — securing reference customers, refining messaging, and closing deals. (We gave you that playbook last week — linked below!) But founder-led sales doesn’t scale. The transition to a sales-led model is both necessary and risky — hiring sales reps is expensive, and the process must evolve and continuously be refined. Here’s how to de-risk the journey to $10M ARR: 1️⃣ Experiment before scaling sales – Hone your playbook early. What’s your target ACV? Who’s your ICP? What’s the best sales motion? Figure this out before hiring at scale. 2️⃣ Respect the ramp – Start with 1-2 sales reps. Only expand once they hit quota autonomously and lead velocity outpaces quota capacity. 3️⃣ Build customer success early – The best GTM engines aren’t just about selling—they drive product iteration. Customer success teams help deepen ICP fit, improve retention, and unlock expansion. To gauge your go-to-market team’s success, track these key metrics: 📈 ARR Growth Rate – A strong indicator of product-market fit and demand. Market-leading companies see consistent year-over-year revenue growth. 💰 CAC Payback – The time it takes to recover customer acquisition costs. A shorter payback period means better sales efficiency. 🔄 CLTV / CAC Ratio – Measures customer profitability. A ratio above 1x means a customer generates profit beyond their acquisition cost. 📊 Gross Margin – Revenue minus delivery costs. The lower the service costs to implement your product, the higher your profit margins. The bottom line? Your GTM motion should evolve at each stage. Sell, learn, refine, scale. Sign up for our $10M ARR playbook >>> https://lnkd.in/gW9nwuzW #SaaS #AI #GTM #Sales #ScalingStartups #TechonLinkedIn

After meeting with, investing in, and supporting multiple Vertical AI businesses, we at Bessemer Venture Partners are excited to share the final installment of our Vertical AI series – principles (and a Good / Better / Best framework) for building a Vertical AI business! We think about early-stage Vertical AI startups through the lens of: 🛠️ Functional value 💰 Economic value 📈 Competitive position 💪 Defensibility The most powerful Vertical AI businesses will find ways to embed into and turbocharge customer workflows, provide superior ROI, and find avenues for defensibility across both the wave of AI-native early-stage competitors and incumbents actively deploying AI features. Some questions for founders to consider include: 💡 Which workflows – core or supporting – do customers *want* to automate? Which might they want to augment? 💡 What is the most impactful product wedge to lead with? How might AI help you drive expansion and stickiness? 💡 Where can AI deliver superior ROI by doing work previously impossible to do? 💡 What business model should be used – agents, co-pilots, or AI-enabled services? 💡 Can multimodal solutions be deployed to build a superior and defensible product? Check out the final installment here: https://lnkd.in/exMt5Rwe

🚀 ICYMI – Quantum computing breakthroughs Microsoft, Google, and Xanadu are pushing the boundaries of practical quantum computing, each hitting key milestones that signal real progress. 🔹 Last week, Microsoft announced a major step toward scalable quantum computing — the development of a topological qubit, a novel phase of matter that could unlock new problem-solving capabilities in science, medicine, AI, and beyond. 🔹 In January, Xanadu unveiled Aurora, the first scalable, networked, modular quantum computer. Featuring four photonically interconnected server racks, Aurora marks a leap toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. CEO Christian Weedbrook called Aurora the first system to integrate all subsystems for universal quantum computing in a photonic architecture. 🔹 Late last year, Google introduced the Willow quantum chip, which performed a computation in under five minutes — a task that would take a classical supercomputer 1,025 years to complete. So are we at quantum advantage? Not yet. But according to Partner David Cowan, we are getting closer. From the Atlas archives (circa 2020), David shared his 101 primer on the race to quantum advantage, which still holds — linked below. ⤵️ 💻 The 101 on quantum advantage — Quantum computing (QC) is poised to be one of the most transformative technological breakthroughs of the 21st century. — By harnessing the unique properties of quantum mechanics, QC has the potential to solve problems in fields such as drug development, materials science, cryptography, and AI that are currently intractable for classical computers. — The race for quantum advantage is more than an academic pursuit—whichever institutions succeed first will redefine industries, gain national security advantages, and capture immense economic value. — Major players in this race include IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and quantum startups like Xanadu, with cloud-based quantum services already emerging as an early commercialization pathway. 💻 What’s next? — In the next decade, the winners in QC will be those who can scale their systems while minimizing errors, likely through hybrid quantum-classical architectures. — By the 2030s, advancements in quantum computing could significantly impact AI, climate modeling, and cybersecurity, though error-free, large-scale quantum systems remain a long-term challenge. — The first company or country to achieve reliable quantum advantage will define the future of computing—just as the semiconductor revolution shaped modern technology. Subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gxbMVvQv Recommended reading in the comments below. ⤵️

Check out our latest LinkedIn newsletter: 📈 Three tips for selling to the enterprise segment 📸 Cameras, computer vision, and deep learning in robotics 🌟 Operator advice from Tony Rodoni, Kate Jensen, Paul Fifield, and Arik Armstead 💡 Bessemer news and highlights Dive in today ⬇️

New The Heart of Healthcare Podcast! From law school to leading one of healthcare's most successful value-based care companies, Oak Street Health co-founder Mike Pykosz shares the story of building, scaling, and ultimately selling his company to CVS for $11 billion. In this episode, Mike Pykosz joins Steve Kraus to discuss building and scaling a revolutionary care model. They cover: 🏥 Why Oak Street intentionally designed an "unprofitable" care model 👥 The critical role of co-founders and finding cultural fit 📈 Taking the company public during the COVID pandemic 💰 The decision to sell to CVS for $11 billion ⚕️ Why innovation in value-based care has slowed recently 🔄 Scaling from startup to Fortune 500 acquisition Listen today: https://lnkd.in/d3UNGx4u

You won't want to miss our latest newsletter! 📈 Enterprise sales tips for scaling to $1M ARR 🤖 The tech behind autonomous robotics 💡 Bessemer news and highlights Dive in ⬇️

🚀 ICYMI - The sales playbook for early-stage founders ⤵️ You are your company’s first salesperson. Eventually, you’ll hire someone and find a repeatable model to build out your team-led sales approach. But Paul Fifield advises founders to drive the first twenty or so customers. Why? It's invaluable on-the-ground research and training that helps you refine your startup's ICP and understand the dynamics of key decision-makers and the nuances of the problems your product solves. So, when is it time to hire your first salesperson? We break down essential advice in our latest $1M ARR playbook. For early-stage advice, subscribe to our GTM library — https://lnkd.in/gSuJbREu Recommended reading in the comments — #startup #vc #sales #gtm #venturecapital #TechonLinkedIn