Jake Saper, GP @ Emergence Capital: "We Sold Salesforce Early and Lost Out on Billions"

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

March 10, 2025

Duration

1h 33m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Jake Saper is a General Partner @ Emergence Capital, one of the leading venture firms of the last 20 years. Their many wins include being early investors in Salesforce, Zoom, Veeva and more. In total, the firm has invested $2BN and returned an astonishing $8BN in cash with much more to come. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 01:21 The Zoom Investment Story 07:57 Founder, Market, Traction: Rank Them 10:26 Lessons from the 16x DPI Zoom Fund 30:07 Why Does Every Partner Do Reference Calls on Every Deal? 37:53 Where Will Value Accrue in a World of AI? 55:37 Three Reasons Why AI Will Not Replace Vertical SaaS 01:02:23 Why is Jake Worried About AI’s FTX Moment? 01:10:02 What Losing Billions on Salesforce Taught Us About Selling 01:20:15 Quickfire Round ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Emergence Capital on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergence-capital-partners/ Follow Emergence Capital on X: https://x.com/emergencecap Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #JakeSaper #Emergencecapital #generalpartner #founder #grok #openai #anthropic #salesforce

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Jake Saper

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Jake Saper and Harry Stebbings, Jake Saper, GP @ Emergence Capital: "We Sold Salesforce Early and Lost Out on Billions" explores emergence GP Reveals Zoom Playbook, AI Bets, And Venture Discipline Emergence Capital GP Jake Saper walks through how the firm led Zoom’s first institutional round at 100x ARR, why they sold Salesforce too early, and how a highly collaborative, low-volume investing model underpins their returns. He explains Emergence’s “what you have to believe” framework, their obsession with market pull, and why every partner joins diligence and reference calls despite the time cost. The conversation dives into AI’s impact on SaaS economics, defensibility, pricing, and incumbents versus startups, with examples from Together.ai, Bolt, Guru, Mechanical Orchard, and others. Saper also reflects on reserve decisions, bridges and pay-to-plays, partner incentives, and why Emergence grows all partners from within and retires founders’ carry.

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