VC Tomasz Tunguz explains his approach to SaaS investing (podcast)

We’re investigating the nature of these Innovation Engines in a series of What To Think podcasts, sponsored by Pivotal Tracker, and columns by VentureBeat editor at large Dylan Tweney. Tune in here to learn the secrets behind the tech world’s most successful platforms.

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In this week’s episode, we talk with Tomasz Tunguz, a partner at Redpoint Ventures and a noted expert on SaaS company metrics.

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Tunguz explains how a law firm internship in South America when he was 17 launched him into tech, building a small software company and then winding up at Google before landing at Redpoint seven years ago.

One of the things that has garnered him a lot of attention is the blog he writes. He posts nearly every day and includes a lot of data-driven analysis, providing useful and concrete insights that entrepreneurs can really use. One of the things that got him started with that? Becoming a father and getting up early every morning to give his son a bottle. The site gets 100,000 views per month on the website, and he also says he has 10,000 email subscribers and 10,000 RSS subscribers.

In our interview, Tunguz explains where he gets his data for his posts — and goes on to talk about what he looks for in startups and why he wound up focusing on SaaS. (Hint: 65 percent of VC dollars go to enterprise companies, and consumer startups only get 15 percent — even though the latter get much more press.)

We also ask Tunguz about the state of the SaaS market and what it takes to build a successful platform. And, in the concluding minutes of our interview, we ask him about what area of technology he’s most excited about these days.

Also in this episode, Ruth Reader and I tell you what to think about:

• Apple’s new iPad Pro, which went on sale this week,
• Facebook’s new $300 billion market capitalization, and
• The BlackBerry Priv, an Android phone with a keyboard.

You can listen to the podcast in the player above.

Or, click here to get the MP3 of this episode of What to Think.

You can also listen to What to Think on SoundCloud.

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