Feld Thoughts

MAY 28, 2015

I can’t remember if Ryan used the word Agile at that time, but I remember scribbles on a white board that listed out all the different software that Ryan had used at BEA to manage his dev team and how maddening it was to try to integrate information in Word, Excel, Project, a dev workbench, a set of testing tools, and the support / QA system.

Software 70

Software Technology Agile SCRUM 70

Agile VC

JUNE 30, 2016

GM’s acquisition of Cruise Automation for $1 billion about 3 months ago has been a sort of Sputnik moment for self-driving cars. The first one took place in 2004 and was conducted in the Mojave Desert. And obviously we talked about how the GM acquisition of Cruise was this Sputnik moment.

Virginia 100

Virginia Acquisition California Developer 100

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Now that Google’s acquisition of ITA is closed, following lenghty FTC review, it would appear Kayak is poised to proceed with their IPO in the coming months. =. Founding Date: 2004. paying for travel data from ITA or others (customers acquisition spend is not included in COGS). round closed in June 2004.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round). A lot has changed. link] leehower.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

While it was still a college-focused SNS, Facebook of course launched in 2004 and there were plenty of other examples of social networking already… Friendster (2002), LinkedIn (2003), MySpace (2003), Orkut (2004). It was filed in 2005 and issued in 2010 which means there was a good deal of prior art around SNS before Yahoo filed.

IP 100

IP IPO Social Network Silicon Valley 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Founded : Spring 2004, incorporated July 2004. These companies report gross ad revenue but then subtract out “TAC” (Traffic Acquisition Costs) which is basically accounting-speak for the revenue share they pay to the partner sites where the ads actually appear. Facebook, Inc. Filing Date : February 1, 2012.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

But even during the macroeconomic boom of 2004 to early 2008 (inflated by various credit bubbles – housing, sovereign debt, LBOs) tech IPOs were extremely rare and then the global economic crisis of late 2008 – 2010 only further dampened hopes for a recovery.

IPO 100

IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100