#24: Another PagerDuty Earnings Alert - Mission Critical, Or A Bubble Pop?

The end of summer often serves up surprises for the market, and this year was no different. The cadence of Zoom reporting and setting the market ablaze towards the end of earnings season, followed by PagerDuty reporting just as the euphoria faded is an all too familiar one for PagerDuty shareholders.

We discuss the smaller SaaS company's report and why, for all the talk of billings, net retention, and everything else, this was a solid fundamental report. And why, amidst a September 1st that could be a market turning point and a bunch of crazy factors, it didn't matter at all. We also preview Slack's report, talk SaaS consolidation, get meta about the investing podcasting boom, and talk about why an IPO matters for more than a company's initial trading.

Topics Covered

• 4:00 minute mark – The laggards rally, with CRM as a stand-in.
• 13:00 – Bull market philosophies.
• 18:20 – Long-term outlook for PD.
• 21:30 – The expectations and comp set for SaaS names.
• 27:45 – Breaking down PagerDuty’s report – what about the billings matter.
• 37:00 – How to look at a SaaS, and the differences between companies in the sector.
• 41:30 – PD’s expansion, and telling their story.
• 45:00 – Pager Duty maintaining their competitive lead.
• 51:15 – Leftover damage from the 2019 IPO, and net dollar-based retention rate. 
• 56:00 – The broader market pullback. 
• 1:02:00 – COVID-19 vs. Y2K.
• 1:07:00 – PD’s runway going forward, how it is not a COVID play, and the competitive bounds on all players here.
• 1:12:45 – Consolidation and the parallels to streaming or semiconductors.
• 1:19:00 – Slack Earnings call preview.
• 1:23:00 – September 1st – Euphoria peak?
• 1:31:00 – The podcast boom as a sign of the market.
• 1:34:00 – Last notes on PagerDuty’s earnings.
• 1:38:30 – The importance of storytelling and the narrative, and the market context.