Ben's Blog

AUGUST 31, 2020

IN THIS EDITION Fintech products ease more Americans into the stock market In defense of the IPO, and how to improve it What’s inside your (mobile) bank? The proof is seemingly obvious: IPOs are 50x oversubscribed! An IPO is far from perfect, but this narrative is almost completely false. Thanks for signing up.

IPO 36

IPO Stock Software Review API 36

ConversionXL

AUGUST 13, 2019

Software and online-services companies can quickly become billion-dollar giants, but the recipe for sustained growth remains elusive. It’s common for companies to put a revenue figure on what it means to be successful in SaaS. But only 400 software companies have made it to the $500M revenue mark. Image source).

Metrics 117

Metrics SQL Retention Churn Rate 117

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2022

Today’s world is full of metrics leading to business growth, including customer logins, revenue per customer, retention, and average solution price. Revenue and competitive position followed. For many companies, the long game is choosing the right strategic partners and acquisitions. But never take your eye off today’s customer.

Startup 361

Startup Social Media India Acquisition 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” They have have raised $2-3 million, built a product that has some amount of market traction and got to annualized revenues of around $1 million.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Austin Startup

AUGUST 9, 2021

Chargify, the leading billing platform for B2B SaaS, today announced the appointment of Matt Downs as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) effective immediately. He will play a pivotal role as Chargify and SaaSOptics are brought together as the industry leading SaaS subscription billing and revenue platform.

Revenue 72

Revenue Georgia Texas Colorado 72

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

This happens when you either sell your company ( M&A ) or go public (an IPO.) For the first few years, your VCs want you to keep your head down, build the product, find product/market fit and ship to get to some inflection point (revenue, users, etc.). If so, how is the revenue measured? Know the End from the Beginning.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

David Teten

MARCH 5, 2021

Kauffman Fellows Report (2020): “Diverse Founding Teams generate higher median realized multiples (RMs) on Acquisitions and IPOs]. As mentioned above, we report realized multiples (RMs) only for successful startups that were acquired or went through the IPO process.”. However, there is still work to be done. ” .

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Questions I ask Mike Evans: [1:46] Could you give us a high-level overview of the startup of Grubhub to IPO to what you’re doing now? 7:52] Was there competition that you had to buy up, and/or what type of acquisitions did you feel like you had to make? [9:19] He lives in Chicago with his wife, daughter, dog, and bike.

Founder 82

Founder Chicago Kansas Startup 82

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 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. =. Kayak Software Corporation.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Haystack

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Last night, SAP bought the company before it could IPO. In the wake of what is now considered the second-highest enterprise SaaS acquisition in history, below are some quick takeaways that are on my mind: 1/ The Efficiency Of Silicon Slopes – By now it should be no surprise that Utah’s tech ecosystem is on fire.

Acquisition 105

Acquisition Utah IPO Venture Capital 105

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

With the IPO window closed, growth funding severely dwindled and multiples down as a result of the public market, unicorns face tough choices in 2024. With limited options for liquidity (M&A or IPO) and significantly less growth capital, unicorns face an uncertain future. trillion, according to CB Insights.

IPO 88

IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Square filed its S-1 several weeks ago and is now in the middle of its IPO road show process. A bunch of articles came out saying that Square had “priced” their IPO below last round and this was something terrible ranging from the bursting of a tech bubble to the coming of the apocalypse. Revenue Composition.

IPO 165

IPO .Net Revenue Acquisition 165

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

We would have gladly followed Jamie (and Josh Roth, the CTO who is phenomenal and we’ve also known for a decade) right through an IPO if we could have. Having recurring revenue allows you to keep the original purchase price down, which in turn increases sales. Jamie is truly a visionary and a focused executioner.

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

I thing I’ve learned over the years is that technology purists hate advertising even when it is that revenue stream that truthfully drives much of our industry. In 1995 Netscape IPO’d and browsers started to become more prevalent. He turned his accounting software into a product he could see.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

IPO market. Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, I held several executive positions in a publicly-traded software company and was previous to that an investment banker. With the benefit of increasing IPOs in the last few years, we are starting to see better growth: In 2020, there were close to 500 IPOs in the U.S.,

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

If you want to understand the details of why this is, I covered it in detail in this post, Understanding Changes in the Software Industry. IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot. Web businesses can now grow revenue before they can even afford sales people.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

As I’ve highlighted I believe we’re in a unique period similar to 2005-08 where the biggest tech firms of Silicon Valley (and some media companies) are scooping up small software companies as “talent acquisitions&# versus accretive revenue / profit generators. This is actually the norm.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 29, 2018

Freemium and free-trial signups have one thing in common: Neither generates revenue. If freemium still seems like a barrier to acquisition, you’ve got plenty of money in the bank, and you’re crossing your fingers for a buyout by Google or Facebook, a fully free product may make the most sense. Free-trial models. Hybrid models.

Customer 119

Customer Conversion Acquisition B2B 119

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Addressing real world problems, they thrive in uncertainty, generating new jobs and new revenue streams in new markets. Generating liquidity usually entails either selling the venture or an IPO. Agenda items will focus on key metrics illustrating value creation, particularly in software as a service companies. change the CEO.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2019

Today’s world is full of metrics leading to business growth, including customer logins, revenue per customer, retention, and average solution price. Revenue and competitive position followed. For many companies, the long game is choosing the right strategic partners and acquisitions. But never take your eye off today’s customer.

Social Media 218

Social Media India Acquisition China 218

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

Tech IPOs Are Back – So Now What? Three of the five “blockbuster” tech IPOs I predicted have happened (LinkedIn, Groupon, Zynga) and the biggest of all (Facebook) has filed and will likely go public within the next 90 days. I see several dynamics at work in today’s IPO markets. March 8, 2012.

IPO 100

IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 2, 2020

Since then, Israel has produced unicorns in many software categories, from health to cyber and enterprise to consumer. Here is a selection of Israeli startups that achieved unicorn status in the first half of 2020 alone. H1 2020 Israeli and European Unicorns Source: GP Bullhound Report. Clouds in the horizon?

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Acquisition IPO 183

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. VC’s worked with entrepreneurs to build profitable and scalable businesses, with increasing revenue and consistent profitability – quarter after quarter.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

Marketo filed for IPO with impressive 80% year-over-year growth in 2012, with almost $60m in revenue. of revenue, force-feeding sales pipelines with an unprofitable product. SaaS companies earn their revenue over time. time to earn back the revenue to cover all your customer acquisition expenses) 75% annual retention.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

Rob Go

DECEMBER 28, 2011

IPO’s/Exits. Kayak: Registered for an IPO but on hold. 61M in Q3 revenue, up 28% YoY. Zipcar: Ok, not exactly consumer web/software, but a great consumer tech company nonetheless. Zipcar: Ok, not exactly consumer web/software, but a great consumer tech company nonetheless. market cap.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Boston Software Review IPO 54

Austin Startup

MAY 10, 2021

three companies he previously worked for had successful exits including two acquisitions and one IPO. Georgoff also held senior positions during critical growth periods for both Redbox and RetailMeNot, where he helped drive increased revenue growth through his leadership roles in strategy, marketing, and product.

Hiring 104

Hiring Product United States Startup 104

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. Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Netscape’s 1995 IPO changed the rules. Here’s why. Source: NVCA.).

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Berkonomics

JUNE 4, 2015

I have a positive fetish for recurring revenue. Typical examples are software as a service (SaaS) models, or any kind of content-driven subscription model. In the virtual world, a much higher percentage of incremental revenue falls straight to the bottom line. This assumes reasonably low churn of 10% or less.

Revenue 48

Revenue Acquisition Houston Merger 48

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 7, 2014

However, as Scott Krager points out in his post, the companies have vastly different approaches for generating revenue. Hubspot’s average revenue per customer: $8,670 per year. Moz’ average revenue per customer: $1,295 per year. Moz’ average revenue per customer: $1,295 per year. Moz spends $131 to acquire a new customer.

Initial Public Offering 148

Initial Public Offering IPO SEC Valuation 148

Haystack

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

3/ BlackBerry Ripens: As BlackBerry begins a pivot from the once-leading smartphone manufacturer into an enterprise software and services company, Cylance helps bolster BlackBerry’s offering with a legitimate enterprise security player. 4/ The Big Winners: As we do with any big exits, we need to know who backed the company early.

Acquisition 62

Acquisition Artificial Inteligence Balance Sheet Cofounder 62

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2017

Today’s world is full of metrics leading to business growth, including customer logins, revenue per customer, retention, and average solution price. Revenue and competitive position followed. For many companies, the long game is choosing the right strategic partners and acquisitions. But never take your eye off today’s customer.

Social Media 163

Social Media India Acquisition China 163

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Compounding is the ability of an asset to generate earnings that are reinvested in order to generate exponential revenue growth. It has never paid out dividends, and clocks around $200 billion in revenue. This differential is often referred to as “Goodwill” and it is an idea plays out a lot in the software market.

Founder 117

Founder Valuation Dividend Startup 117

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. The acquisition of Omniture by Adobe for $1.8B and the second SaaS public transaction in history behind the acquisition of Webex by Cisco in 2007 for $3.2B. software. (10). Software 2.0:

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Orcam was created by the founders of Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY and one of Israel’s largest IPOs ), Prof. YouAppi (2011)- YouAppi creates adtech to streamline mobile user acquisition. Dragonera (2016) – AI based software development service. Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram (great interview with them here ).

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

For entrepreneurs who want to learn about how to work with investment banks, how to position yourself to be acquired and what the IPO markets look like this is the episode to watch. You have to be selected to present and it is typically reserved for companies that have already raised early-stage capital and are well into revenue growth.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

70–80% of the costs of most startups are employee costs so what you’re really talking about when a company is unprofitable is that they are growing their staff ahead of their revenue. Revenue When I look at an income statement I start by focusing on the revenue line. You need to understand the “quality” of the revenue.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227