Perspectives
Perspectives, not platitudes.
Investment perspectives, market analysis, and growth playbooks from 30 years of backing Founders. What we've learned, what we're seeing, and what actually works.
The Go-to-Market Resource Library
Tools, templates, and playbooks from operators who know what it takes to scale.

Explore insights
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Scale Studio
Trends
2021 Whisper Numbers: Startups Plan for Significant Enterprise Software Re-Acceleration
A look ahead at 2021 based on initial FY21 plan data from a significant cross-section of Scale's portfolio.
Article
Rory O'Driscoll
Portfolio
Verticals
Investing in Proscia: The System of Record for Pathology
Scale partner Alex Niehenke discusses Proscia's vision to become the system of record for digital pathology.
Article
Alex Niehenke
Portfolio
Investing in the Cognitive Future: Scale Closes New $600M Fund
Today we are announcing the creation of our seventh fund, Scale Venture Partners Fund VII. The $600M fund is the next chapter in our commitment to identifying future market leaders
Article
Portfolio
Rory O'Driscoll
AI Apps
Portfolio
Trends
Cognitive Applications with Intelligence Inside
We believe that the next decade will result in the emergence of a new class of application software which we term “Cognitive Apps”. These new applications will seek to make predictions about the world using machine learning algorithms applied to information they gather themselves.
Article
Andy Vitus
Scale Studio
Scale Studio: Lessons from Two Years of Benchmarks
Update on the latest developments with the benchmarking platform Scale Studio.
Article
Scale Studio
Dale Chang
Go To Market
Scale Studio
Enterprise SaaS Returns to Growth Mode: Scale Studio Q3 Data
How much growth is possible next year? Scale Studio data on Q3 performance has us cautiously optimistic for enterprise SaaS in 2021.
Article
Dale Chang
Trends
The Big Budget Question for 2021: How Much Re-acceleration Is Realistic?
With 2021 annual planning underway, we look at how to determine whether it is again time to step on the gas -- and if so, when and how much?
Article
Trends
Rory O'Driscoll
Portfolio
The Root Insurance IPO: Lessons From Columbus
Congratulations to Team Root on today’s IPO! Scale’s Alex Niehenke shares what he learned on all those trips to Columbus, OH.
Article
Portfolio
Alex Niehenke
Fintech
Portfolio
Papaya Global: Why We Invested
Scale partner Rory O'Driscoll outlines our investment thesis in people & payroll services software company Papaya Global.
Article
Rory O'Driscoll
Go To Market
Scale Studio
The Wonder Years of SaaS: Balancing Growth and Sales Efficiency
On the path to IPO, when does it make sense to sacrifice sales efficiency for revenue growth? We look at the data behind the “Wonder Years”.
Article
Dale Chang
Portfolio
Productivity
JFrog: A DevOps Company with Adaptability in its DNA
Scale partner Andy Vitus shares his thoughts on the secret of the liquid software pioneer's success: adaptability in everything.
Article
Andy Vitus
Scale Studio
SaaS Metrics: A History of the Magic Number
“It’s… Magic!” Every superhero has an origin story. Here’s how one humble SaaS metric became the super-useful Magic Number.
Article
Scale Studio
Dale Chang
Go To Market
Scale Studio
SaaS Metrics: A Primer on SaaS Sales Efficiency
A founder's refresher on the sales efficiency metric: how it’s calculated, how it’s used, and what it tells you about your go-to-market model.
Article
Dale Chang
News from the Scale portfolio and firm
Investment perspectives, market analysis, and growth playbooks from 30 years of backing Founders.








