Steve Blank
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
The world of building profitable startups as the primary goal of Venture Capital would end in 1995. The IPO Bubble – August 1995 – March 2000 In August 1995 Netscape went public, and the world of start ups turned upside down. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. billion.) Warning sign? At best. ~
Ben's Blog
JUNE 18, 2011
In reading my friend Steve Blank’s arguments, I found the bubble definition quite compelling: “A tech bubble is the rapid inflation in the valuation of public and private technology companies that exceeds their fundamental value by a large margin.&#. So I looked to find evidence to support the bubble hypothesis.
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Steve Blank
JULY 15, 2010
Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Netscape’s 1995 IPO changed the rules. They’ve created virtual IPO’s for founders and employees via late-stage private financing. One of the ways most predictable ways for an investor to sell these shares was to take a company “ public.”
Ben's Blog
JULY 16, 2013
You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0. And those are big companies with real earnings, so you can imagine how a private company’s valuation might fluctuate. In June of 2000, I raised money at an $820M post-money valuation.
A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks
OCTOBER 23, 2012
” Here’s the summary of his track record (excerpted from the Fast Company article): Forefront — IPO’ed in 1995 by CBT — CBT stock fell 85% in 1998 and prompted class-action lawsuits. It’s not about the financing path, it’s about what you’ve decided to build. Support.com — On 2.5m
Ben's Blog
JULY 16, 2013
You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0 One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0 And those are big companies with real earnings, so you can imagine how a private company’s valuation might fluctuate. 3/29/1996: 22.3
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 24, 2017
In 1995 Netscape changed the rules about going public. A 20th century VC was likely to have an MBA or finance background. This allows founder(s) to sell part of their stock (~10 to 33%) in a future round of financing. So how did we go from VCs discarding founders to founders now running large companies?
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