Nick Tippmann - Vertical SaaS Operator -> Investor
Our Guest: Nick Tippman, former Chief Marketing Officer at Greenlight Guru, a category-leading provider of regulatory software for the MedTech vertical. He is now an angel investor, investing in exceptional Vertical/SMB SaaS, AI, Fintech, and B2B Marketplace founders and companies at the pre-seed/seed stage alongside other leading investors.
Episode Topics:
- Nick’s current investment criteria for a vertical SaaS company.
- Nick’s minimum TAM + how he looks at take rates.
- How important are fintech and payment opportunities in evaluating vertical software markets?
- How embedded APIs - like embedding payroll into your app - are changing opportunity sets for seed-stage vertical SaaS
- What constitutes founder market fit?
- Nick’s advice on effectively demonstrating founder-market fit in a pitch deck.
- Nick’s views on the increased venture capital flow into niche vertical markets.
- The impact of Generative AI in breaking through to categories that have been resistant to digital transformation
- Is AI an opportunity, neutral, or a threat?
- Eli Dukes Question: What's the primary challenge in vertical SaaS: Is it GTM or product? Why?
- How to assess founders and their teams' product management skills in this changing landscape?
- Understanding operator funds + Nick’s perspective as a Limited Partner (LP) in 11 funds.
- Nick’s recommendations and tactical advice for potential emerging managers.
Resources:
Eli Dukes Vertical SaaS Substack - https://verticalized.co/
Nick’s Google Doc - “Ultimate List of 37+ VC & PE Firm Theses & Market Updates on Vertical SaaS”
About Cloud Returns by Cloud Ratings:
Cloud Returns covers ALL types of software investing, whether seed, venture capital, growth equity, private equity, debt, and the public markets.
Our host - Matt Harney - is active on Twitter @saasletter and writes "SaaSletter", an investing-oriented SaaS newsletter on Substack.
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