Why Private Equity Paid $8.4 BILLION for Smartsheet | Prime Venture Partners Podcast

💡 How do you scale a SaaS company from SMB customers to billion-dollar enterprise deals?

In this Prime Venture Partners Podcast episode, we sit down with Praerit Garg, President of Product & Innovation at Smartsheet, to uncover the secrets of scaling SaaS, AI’s role in work management, and the game-changing lessons from Smartsheet’s journey.

⏳ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

01:28 - Praerit Garg’s Career Journey: From Microsoft → AWS → Smartsheet

04:46 - What is Smartsheet? How It Serves SMBs & Enterprises

07:11 - The Land & Expand Strategy: How Smartsheet Scaled Enterprise Deals

10:27 - Finding the "Magic Metric" That Drives SaaS Growth

12:55 - Smartsheet’s IPO Journey & Why It Later Went Private Again

15:37 - AI’s Role in Work Automation & How Smartsheet Uses It

21:03 - The Enterprise AI Trust Challenge – Why Big Companies Are Cautious

24:58 - What VCs Look for in AI SaaS Startups 🚀

36:30 - Why Learning from Non-Customers Unlocks New Market Opportunities

43:00 - Closing Thoughts

🔥 Inside This Episode:
✅ How Smartsheet transitioned from PLG to enterprise sales
✅ The pricing strategy that maximized SaaS revenue
✅ Why AI is transforming work management & automation
✅ The #1 mistake SaaS founders make when scaling
✅ How learning from non-customers can drive new product innovation
✅ What VCs look for when investing in AI-driven SaaS startups

📢 This isn’t just a SaaS success story—it’s a must-listen masterclass on scaling, pricing, AI, and product innovation.