Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

In 1998 the Department of Justice launched an anti-trust case against Microsoft. In April of 2000 there were fears that the AOL / Time Warner merger would create a monopoly on the Internet. Well, here’s a quick history primer that may change your mind: 1.

Social Network 297

Social Network Networking Internet EC2 297

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The irony is that in a retrospective paper ten years later (1998), [ 2 ] the authors backed off from their claims. In 1998 Goto.com , a small startup (later Overture, now part of Yahoo ! ), created the pay per click search engine and advertising system and demo’d it at the TED conference. The only problem is that it’s simply not true.

Silicon Valley 317

Silicon Valley Differentiation United States Customer Development 317

Ben's Blog

JUNE 18, 2011

In the last bubble, the S&P hit 44x in January 2000. In 2000, I was CEO of the first cloud computing company, Loudcloud, where the price for a customer running a redundant version of a basic internet application was approximately $150,000 per month. Currently, the S&P is trading at 22x. The internet is working.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Software Review Valuation Internet 76

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Ironically, the founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings, made an offer to Blockbuster to buy out Netflix for $50 million in 2000. In 1998, Google founders were ready to sell it to Yahoo for USD one million — but Yahoo refused the opportunity. Blinded by its advertising revenue , Yahoo let customer experience take a backseat.

Software Review 190

Software Review Application Development Technical Review Bankruptcy 190

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

In 1998 there were around 850 VC funds and by 2000 there were 2,300. By 2000 the total LP commitments had mushroomed to more than $100 billion. So of course returns from 2000-2010 were subpar on average for the industry. In 1998 it was 150 million, 1999 250 million and by 2000 it had crossed 350 million.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

YoungUpstarts

JULY 5, 2016

Although PayPal was introduced in 1998, consumers have been buying and selling online since 1994. Elon Musk got involved in March of 2000, when Cofinity merged with Musk’s X.com. Although charge cards were basic, they were effective and make it possible for customers to make their purchase, without carrying physical money.

United States 100

United States Mobile Internet Technology 100

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I was in my early 20’s just barely out of school when four of us (peers) started Sombasa Media (aka BargainDog ) here in Boston beginning in 1998. Two years ago Jeff Bussgang lamented about “Lost Generation” of entrepreneurs which I think is especially acute here in Boston. My own personal story fits in with this narrative.

Boston 206

Boston Internet Entrepreneur .Net 206

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

Dot.com Bubble ( 1995-2000): “ Anything goes” as public markets clamor for ideas, vague promises of future growth, and IPOs happen absent regard for history or profitability. August 1995 – March 2000: The Dot.Com Bubble. Rules for building a company in 2011 are different than they were in 2008 or 1998. The New Exits.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

The Equity Kicker

APRIL 15, 2016

Moreover, we are still at a high level of investment when compared with any period except the last couple of years and the 1998-2000 bubble. As you can see from the chart above there was a precipitous decline from Q3 to Q4, but the rot stopped in Q1. It will be very interesting to see where this goes next quarter.

Europe 60

Europe Venture Capital Finance Startup 60

Jeff Hilimire

AUGUST 14, 2013

For me its very exciting to see two Atlanta startups from “back in the day” finally getting together (Moxie was founded by Kris Zagoria in 2000 and Spunlogic, acquired by Engauge in 2008, was started by Raj and me back in 1998). Man, the good old days!

Atlanta 77

Atlanta Advertising Employee Startup 77

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

The year was 1998. We now jump forward to February 2000, 14 months after formation of the company. And I do need to note that the entrepreneur in the meantime became a model executive of our still-growing company, much more mature and understanding of market forces than that fateful day in February 2000.

Pre-Money Valuation 48

Pre-Money Valuation Sales Liquidity Event Valuation 48

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

After buying our first home in 2000, I realized how great the housing market was, saw how everyone else was buying up houses for little or no money down to rent them out and started to do that myself. He moved to the US in 1998 with only a dream and $100 in his pocket. By the year 2004, I had somewhere around 12 rentals.

America 100

America Florida New York New York City 100

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. invested, IPO’ed in 2000 for $32/share — stock price now $2. Support.com — On 2.5m

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

Pascal's View

AUGUST 12, 2009

Between 2001 and 2008 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) accounted for 87% of venture-backed company exits, up from an average of 44% in between 1992 and 2000. years in 1998 to 9.6 Second, emerging growth companies lose negotiating leverage in acquisitions when they have no other viable liquidity alternatives.

IPO 28

IPO Silicon Valley Merger Sweat Equity 28

Hunter Walker

APRIL 20, 2014

Marc Andreessen and Eric Ries were tweeting how many of 1998-2000 web startup ideas failed but are succeeding now. Big market but wrong time vs right time.

Term Sheet 97

Term Sheet Lean Distribution Web 97

finance.fortune.cnn.com

AUGUST 21, 2012

FORTUNE -- Its no secret that venture capitalists were hit hard by last decades dotcom bust, considering that median returns for 1998-2001 vintage funds are all underwater. Accel Partners VII (2000): 122% (97%). ARCH Venture Fund V (2000): 41% (11%). Commonwealth Capital Ventures III (2000): 110% (56%).

Naming 49

Naming Term Sheet Private Equity Equity 49

Hunter Walker

APRIL 10, 2014

I did my first angel investment in 1998, so 16 years and 60+ investments. most of my peers from the early 2000 days of angel investing are now VC’s (Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Josh Kopelman, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples, Dave Whorton, etc). Q: Although your $3.3m

Syndicate 122

Syndicate Syndication Hiring Cofounder 122

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

3/31/1998: 30.8. 3/31/2000: 73.4. In June of 2000, I raised money at an $820M post-money valuation. If markets behave rationally, one might expect the ratio of price to earnings to be reasonably stable over the period (click here for complete data set). One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0. 3/29/1996: 22.3. 3/31/1997: 23.3.

Down Round 78

Down Round Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation 78

Pascal's View

JUNE 22, 2014

Since we replanted the vineyard in 2000, this may be the earliest Levensohn harvest yet (our latest was just before Halloween in 2005). The coolest season was 2003, but now 1998 takes that category. We expect harvest to occur three weeks earlier than our 2013 crop, which was picked on October 3. Today, 1997 is the leader.

Harvest 28

Harvest Global Washington California 28

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2012

It is not highly concentrated geographically, or in the bubble of 1998-2000, or in any industry. It is based on more than 1,200 exited investments made by angel investors over a 15-year timeframe, collected separately across both North America and England. The distribution of returns from the different U.S.

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Venture Capital Seed Stage Silicon Valley 152

crowdSPRING Blog

JUNE 9, 2010

None of those early failures deterred Tony from pursuing more entrepreneurial ventures, culminating in a $265 million sale of his startup Link Exchange, to Microsoft, in 1998. But I was more surprised by Tony’s personal sacrifices early in Zappo’s history (2000).

Social Media 93

Social Media Differentiation Stock Small Business 93

Ben's Blog

MARCH 24, 2011

In the great bubble of 1998-2000, the boom in public valuations mirrored the boom in private valuations. The inflation-adjusted data from the last bubble tells the story: In the 3-year period from 1998-2000, venture capital firms raised more than $200 billion, which represented about 0.55% of the national GDP.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Database 78

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

The year was 1998. We now jump forward to February, 2000, 14 months after formation of the company. And I do need to note that the entrepreneur in the meantime became a model executive of a growing company, much more mature and understanding of market forces than that fateful day in February, 2000.

Liquidity Event 59

Liquidity Event Pre-Money Valuation Sales Valuation 59

Babbling VC

JUNE 15, 2010

I started interacting with the venture industry back in 1998 when still with Davis Polk & Wardwell but I didn't actually become a VC on paper until August of 2000. I rode down the whole VC cycle from 2000 to it's doldrums in 2001 and 2002. Now that was great timing, wasn't it? Call it what you will. So now what?

Venture Capital 53

Venture Capital Acquisition Networking 53

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 3, 2012

Incorporated in 1998 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company’s network of over 100,000 globally distributed servers provides an infrastructure layer that accelerates the distribution and delivery of content, media and applications. But the second year (2000) was simply astounding: nearly $90 million! Gross Profit. $(60).

Distribution 49

Distribution Lean Massachusetts Cofounder 49

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

3/31/1998: 30.8 3/31/2000: 73.4 In June of 2000, I raised money at an $820M post-money valuation. If markets behave rationally, one might expect the ratio of price to earnings to be reasonably stable over the period (click here for complete data set). One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0 3/29/1996: 22.3 3/31/1997: 23.3

Marketing 46

Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation Down Round 46

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 13, 2012

It is not highly concentrated geographically, or in the bubble of 1998-2000, or in any industry. It is based on more than 1,200 exited investments made by angel investors over a 15-year timeframe, collected separately across both North America and England. The distribution of returns from the different U.S.

Angel Investor 103

Angel Investor Venture Capital Seed Stage Silicon Valley 103

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 10, 2011

Matrix had a fund in 1998 that yielded an eye-popping 514+% IRR. The Internet bull market continued to run for four more years after the Open Market IPO, finally ending in the spring of 2000. In 1997, a Charles River Ventures fund yielded a stunning 15x return, backing such superstars as Ciena, Vignette and Flycast.

IPO 48

IPO IRR Brazil Government 48

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 20, 2004

Companies pre-1998 that went public received on average about $20mm of venture funding, were 6 years old, were EBITDA postive, and had a pre-IPO value of around $170mm (includes companies such as Peoplesoft, Intuit, Mercury, Documentum, Checkpoint, and Veritas). received its first venture funding prior to 2000 and 159 or 64.4%

IPO 60

IPO SEC Valuation Revenue 60

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 24, 2012

He co-founded Archiweb in 1998, an award-winning leader among web design companies in SE Europe, and envisioned the later-to-be stock agency in early 2000. With over 12 years of experience in design and new media, Serban has proven to be a skilled executive, successfully blending creative and executive abilities.

Social Media 231

Social Media Media Stock Clickthrough 231

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2011

Dan Burstein, Managing Partner, Millennium Technology Value Partners Dan Burstein founded Millennium Technology Ventures in 2000 and co-founded Millennium Technology Value Partners in 2004. He currently holds NASD Series 7, Series 24, and Series 63 licenses. He serves as a Managing Partner of both funds. Among his pathbreaking books are Yen!

Private Equity 68

Private Equity Merger IPO Equity 68

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 29, 2020

Once again, the 1999-2000 dot-com bubble period shows the highest percentage of pricing above the initial filing range – 44% of deals were priced above. What you see from the above is that median floats were pretty consistent from 1980-1998, but dropped significantly during the dot-com bubble. What do the data tell us?

IPO 36

IPO Securities and Exchange Commission Demand SEC 36

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

The boom years of 1998 (79 IPOs), 1999 (175 IPOs), and 2000 (142 IPOs) are long gone. The lack of conversion rights must also be considered when structuring voting rights. IPO issues: Possibly the biggest problem for German venture-backed companies is the very low number of IPOs in Germany.

Germany 165

Germany Liquidation Preference Option Pool Advisory Board 165

entrepreMusings

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

A new analysis by the Mercury News last post on the dearth of tech women shows that from 2000 to 2008, the proportion of women tech workers in Silicon Valley dropped from 25.3% UC-Berkeley’s AnnaLee Saxenian documented that 7% of tech companies started in 1980–1998 had an Indian founder. census, in 2000 less than 0.7%

Silicon Valley 31

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur India Partner 31

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Think of it as a mantra in 1998, in a second shareholder letter, or 1999 Yeah. (20:43): It started in 1997 with his first letter and his last letter in 2000 that came out in 2021. So I didn't put a lot of stock into that. Then I started researching Bezos and Amazon. I'm looking at it differently now. Don't look at it as a mission.

Seattle 63

Seattle Silicon Valley Conversion Naming 63

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 19, 2014

I’m a child of the 1970s, who was routinely promised flying cars in the future, and wrote school essays about what life would be like in the year 2000. There’s always been a sweet spot in my heart for flying cars. Flying cars are a trope of science fiction, always promised, but never delivered in real life.

Artificial Inteligence 183

Artificial Inteligence Government Nevada Cost 183

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

In 1998 the Department of Justice launched an anti-trust case against Microsoft. In April of 2000 there were fears that the AOL / Time Warner merger would create a monopoly on the Internet. But it makes me laugh to now see so many brands advertising their “fan pages&# as they did their AOL Keywords back in the day.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318