Giuseppe Stuto’s Post

One of the biggest BS rules in VC is the requirement for SaaS companies to scale to $10M ARR in 18 months. UiPath: $500K 10 years in. Klaviyo: $1M ARR 3 years in. Lightspeed: $10M ARR 8 years in. Great products take time. The road to the start line can be long. It means defensibility is being built. Be patient, remain lean, always stay super close to the customer. #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

Great things take time to build. If your growth trajectory doesn’t follow the so-called ‘rules,’ don’t worry—focus on creating a sustainable business that’s loved by your paying customers. Stay patient, stay lean, and keep building.

I just love this perspective that is grounded in reality and not promoting bullshit theories about how one creates and scales a start-up. As always with the excellent stories and content Harry brings to us. Growth and scaling are a consequence of a lot of things done excellently at the very core of the company's offering and relationships with actual clients and partners, not a goal in itself. There's a serious difference between committing very hard and very ethically to the achievement of excellent outcomes for one's clients and one's products and services and fuelling efforts to appear like having sustainable exceptional growth. The latter is often performed though covert social media influence that's more scam than actual marketing. The former needs "blood, toil, tears and sweat" in exactly the sale way any outstanding creation or principled fight requires these ingredients. There is no fundamental research, no serious engineering work, no lasting service, no viable business creation and development that can prosper without that kind of commitment. Patience, perseverance, commitment to clients, hard work, exacting standards of minimum quality before something is even shown to a client (which is in no way contrary to agile principles, when these principles are not used as an excuse to deliver shitty work) and maximum humility are necessary and yet not sufficient ingredients of any great business story that lasts. On the other hand if you're out there to be "inspirational" on the cheap, to nurture your ego, to create the next WeWork based on misrepresentation of what the business is all about, to scam investors with the next Theranos or to serve yourself instead of being reliably and genuinely of service to your clients, to your partners, to your people and to the communities in which you operate, then it's pretty clear: this is not for you.

Completely agree Harry Stebbings! The SaaS scale-to-$10M ARR in 18 months rule has always felt like a one-size-fits-all myth. Real growth stories like UiPath, Klaviyo, and Lightspeed show us the reality—great products need time to mature, evolve, and differentiate. Defensibility isn’t built overnight, and scaling too quickly can sometimes overlook foundational elements that ensure sustainability and customer loyalty. Staying lean and obsessively focused on the customer is how true value is created and sustained (for example, one of our UK clients, we successfully completed 1007 projects (#TrafficDataInsights) each project ranging from 1 intersection (12 hours video tape) to 40 intersections (500 hours of video tape). Entrepreneurs who play the long game and deeply understand their market, while remaining agile, often redefine success on their terms. A long runway doesn’t just foster innovation—it makes every milestone meaningful. #FounderMindset #GrowthJourney #PatienceAndPersistence #StartupLife #ImpactEntrepreneurship #SolveTrafficJamProblems #SolveBigProblems #ReduceVehicleEmissions #ReduceAccidents #CutTrafficJamsby50% #VCversusSAAS

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No you are wrong. Speed from inception to $1M in ARR. Means something. If someone without VC money get to $1M fast that is a sign of some talent and certain level of customer obsession. If something with 100 million VC money and never gets to $1M ARR that also raise flags, pretty big ones. In this world there is not only good companies like Klaviyo, UiPath, Celonis or Figma that took time to craft and improve their product before they can offer sustainable and differentiated values. There are lot more companies that shows no customer obsession and no path to 1M ARR IS clearly a result or a sign of that. BS can appear in any form. A single statement without context won't always be BS, sometimes can be good signal.

IMAN: it took 4yrs to get to $1M ARR. 4 resets, tranformations and team reformations. When I hear from VC about this feedback I understand that it’s junior VC manager in front of me and move on.

One of the biggest BS signs VCs look for in companies: Speed from inception to $1M in ARR. Means nothing. Klaviyo: 3 years UiPath: 9 years Procore: 5 years The best businesses often take time to get to this but when they do 🚀 #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

Unfortunately, in VC, patience is a luxury. Like founders, VCs face pressure when raising capital from LPs with a promise to deliver higher returns than other asset classes. Like founders, timing, IRR, and track record directly impact whether they can raise the next fund. And VCs under pressure often pass this urgency on to founders. Understanding your investor’s: 💡 Investment thesis 💡 The stage of their fund PS: At ID3 Ventures, we are more patient in supporting you to execute your vision.

VC requirement for SaaS companies to scale to $10M ARR in record time is BS. UiPath: $500K 10 years in. Klaviyo: $1M ARR 3 years in. Lightspeed: $10M ARR 8 years in. It takes time to nail true customer love. Be patient, stay lean, remain super close to your customer. #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup