Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 26, 2020
Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to stay low, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of a few companies several years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 12, 2019
As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture. Between 1999–2005 the costs went down by 90% and between 2005–2010 they went down a further 90%. I launched my first startup in 1999 so I know the economics of launching from first-hand experience.
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Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 11, 2022
I started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money. During this era, from 2009–2015, most founders I knew were in it for building great & sustainable companies.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 29, 2022
Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Thus, today around 90 percent of successful startups are still acquired by bigger companies versus an IPO, as the safer and preferred method of growth and funding.
Startup Professionals Musings
AUGUST 26, 2018
Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to stay low, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of a few companies several years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.
Feld Thoughts
APRIL 21, 2014
They range from “the sky is falling” to “the IPO market window is closing” to “there will be more stupid television shows about Silicon Valley” (I prefer Game of Thrones and 24, thank you very much.). In 1999 we filed an S-1 to take Sage Networks public. I was a co-founder and co-chairman.
Both Sides of the Table
AUGUST 28, 2009
I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. Goldman Sachs (an investor in our company) told us we’d IPO within 18 months for $1 billion so not to take any offers. Reach out to the founders, not the staff. This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. We drank our own Kool Aid.
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