The go-go days<\/span> of software companies growing like crazy are now firmly behind us<\/a>.<\/p>\n Data indicates that public software companies have added fewer sources of annual recurring revenue<\/a> (ARR) in the first quarter of 2023 than they did a year earlier. In fact, that metric declined even more<\/a> compared to the average quarterly number in 2022.<\/p>\n The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Read it every morning on TechCrunch+<\/a> or get The Exchange newsletter<\/a> every Saturday.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s tough out there, but not every company is reporting lackluster results. Samsara, which went public in late 2021, recently proved<\/a> that it is still possible to expand fast, and perhaps even more impressively, that it\u2019s possible to hold on to value even if you listed at the end of a venture capital bubble.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with a quick refresher on Samsara and its IPO pricing. Then, we\u2019ll explore its first-quarter performance and dig into how its sales model is providing it with a more durable revenue base than most other modern software companies.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fun to go back and read 2021-era coverage, because it was such a wild time. We even noted during Samsara\u2019s IPO pricing run that it felt like no one was paying attention<\/a>:<\/p>\n One more note before we can sign off on this topic for the day: Doesn\u2019t it feel like a somewhat muted day for a decacorn IPO? Samsara raised venture rounds through a Series F! And yet this IPO feels like it\u2019s skating right under the radar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At the time, we hypothesized that NFT hype was consuming all the oxygen in the room, or that there were so many IPOs that year that it was just not as exciting as before. Ah, what a good problem to have!<\/p>\n Samsara\u2019s late-2021 IPO set it up to raise capital and go public at a valuation that made little to no sense. We saw that happen to a number of other companies that went public in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/exchange-banner-sq-yllw-plus.jpg?w=300\")
<\/a>TechCrunch+ caught up with Samsara\u2019s CEO and co-founder, Sanjit Biswas, to talk about his company\u2019s performance and the pricing and sales choices that have helped it at least partially buck the slowdown.<\/p>\nThe Samsara growth story<\/h2>\n
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