Steve Blank
APRIL 23, 2014
More often than not the results of these acquisitions are disappointing. The goal is to get a corporate investment or an outright acquisition of the startup. VCs like acquisitions as much as IPOs because the acquiring companies often can rationalize paying large multiples over the current valuation of the startup.
Steve Blank
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
On top of all this it was considered very bad form not to have at least four additional consecutive quarters of profits after an IPO.) The IPO Bubble – August 1995 – March 2000 In August 1995 Netscape went public, and the world of start ups turned upside down. Tech acquisitions went crazy at the same time the IPO market did.
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Steve Blank
MARCH 16, 2016
This happens when you either sell your company ( M&A ) or go public (an IPO.) As the company goes from searching for a business model to growth , only then will they bring in a new “professional” management team to scale the company (along with a business development executive to search for an acquirer) or prepare for an IPO.
Steve Blank
JULY 15, 2010
The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Startup lifecycle in an IPO Market. Netscape’s 1995 IPO changed the rules. Depending on your industry, in this decade it’s 5 to 10x less likely that your company will have an IPO as an exit.
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. With Netscape’s IPO , there was suddenly a public market for companies with limited revenue and no profit. The New Bubble : (2011 – 2014): Here we go again…. (If
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 24, 2017
— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. In the 20th century tech companies and their investors made money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Steve Blank
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
Sales (and/or customer acquisition in a multi-sided market) becomes achievable by a sales force (or network effect or virality) without heroic efforts from the founders. Customer acquisition and activation are understood and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Life Time Value (LTV) can be estimated for the next 18 months.
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