Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 15, 2010 Some IPO speculation Inspired by Steve Blank’s post today about the “lost decade&# of IPO’s , I’d like to make some predictions. The fact that IPO’s are disappearing makes intuitive sense to me. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian.

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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. Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. I’m pleased to now turn to Kayak’s S-1 filing.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d. To some extent – of course they are. It is different. More substantive.

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YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2016

When are we looking for funding, investors, or going IPO? Andrew Ostashen is co-founder of Vulsec , a Boston-based firm established to provide clients with the highest methodologies in data protection by delivering versatile tactics to safeguard information technology departments from hackers.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Early-stage investors in technology startups are only looking for growth-oriented companies that can achieve an “exit&# someday – either via selling your company to a larger company or via an IPO. The former is much more likely than the latter. The risk wouldn’t be appropriate.

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David Cohen

SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

I served on the board of directors until the IPO, and during that time we were able to recruit great firms like Foundry Group, SoftTech VC (now Uncork Capital), Bessemer Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures. In 2019, SendGrid become the first ever company from any accelerator program to IPO, valued at over $1 billion.

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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.

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Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

So Groupon obviously filed their S-1 the other day to formally being the IPO process. 6) Per Market Analysis: We unfortunately only have data on four of the hundreds of different cities in which Groupon operates… two US (Chicago, Boston) and two international (Berlin, London). AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups.

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Rob Go

MAY 2, 2013

It was a wonderful showcase of all the great companies, people, and investors that have helped the Boston technology market come roaring back in recent months and years. I was reminded last night why I moved to Boston from Silicon Valley many years ago and why I think the ecosystem is so great. Boston founders want to finish.

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View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

To analyze what’s become of the OG Unicorns, it’s first worth noting that at the time of the 2013 post about 2/3rds of the 39 on the list had already been realized via IPO or $1B+ acquisitions. Most startups that hit this level did so via IPO or acquisition value. IPO value, $2.8B IPO value, $1.5B IPO value, $31.2B

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IPO Valuation San Francisco Silicon Valley 120

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

And at PayPal we were hit with a couple patent disputes while in the midst of our IPO process. With Facebook in the late innings of its IPO process, Yahoo! in court if necessary even if it meant delaying their IPO slightly. So put in the context of Facebook’s IPO process and a new Yahoo! execs involved.

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Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Facebook S-1: The Most Anticipated IPO in a Decade. Here’s my first look at Facebook viewed through the lens of their IPO filing. Plus Facebook has ample cash on hand today and will get a huge slug more from the IPO. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. February 2, 2012.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

billion IPO), Envestnet (Chicago, $1.25 billion IPO), HealthDataInsights (Las Vegas, $400 million) as well as LA (Maker Studios $1 billion, TrueCar $1.3 Kara has worked in finance in Boston, NYC and Silicon Valley. As a result we need somebody well networked into these communities already.

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Growthink Blog

MAY 14, 2012

Because golly, when it comes to the IPO market and public market returns in general, help is needed in a big way. Since the Internet bubble burst in 2001, the number of IPOs hasn’t recovered to even 1980s levels. Let’s call this the Boston Celtics phenomenon. Hopefully, it will help. How bad is it? That's 30 years ago, folks.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

That prediction obviously turned out pretty wrong, but it did drum up a whole lot of chatter about the right ingredients for building a startup community—about New York vs Boston on the East Coast and whether cities like Austin and Seattle would ever break through. First, you have to ask yourself what the desired outcome is.

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Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

One of our recent investments, offered by Founder Collective (FC) – an eight-year-old manager with offices in Boston and San Francisco – is an excellent example of what we look for when we invest in funds offered by other managers. It starts with the people.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 4, 2010

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Agile Software Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 99

Feld Thoughts

JULY 9, 2019

When I was in Boston a while ago (it was very cold, so it must have been January), I had a wide-ranging conversation with Eric Paley. I’ve been thinking a lot about gross profit (and gross margin ) lately. Yeah, I know I can be riveting, but stay with me.

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Seeing Both Sides

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe called them the startup equivalent of the Justice League of America. The CEOs on the panel were (from left to right): Michael Simon, CEO/founder of LogMeIn (2009 IPO) . Scott Griffith, CEO ZipCar (2010 IPO). Scott Griffith, CEO ZipCar (2010 IPO). 3) Create a Culture Based on Integrity.

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View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. NextView Ventures: Thinking back to before anyone knew HubSpot or the company was headed towards an IPO, where did you even start to market the company?

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Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 25, 2014

I was excited to see Care.com''s successful IPO yesterday for multiple reasons. . First, it augurs well for 2014 as another strong IPO year in genearl and for technology companies in particular. Second, it is another nice win for Boston. But what really makes me happy about the Care.com is the people behind the company.

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Seeing Both Sides

OCTOBER 6, 2014

Last week''s successful IPO of e-commerce giant Wayfair (market cap $3B) and this week''s impending IPO of Hubspot (if it prices in the range, market cap $600m) has many in the Boston tech community celebrating. 2013 was the best year for IPOs since the tech bubble of the 90s and 2014 looks to wrap up even stronger this quarter.

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View from Seed

JULY 28, 2015

While the startup environment in Boston has vastly improved over the last several years , I continue to hear the sentiment that it’s really tough to build a great consumer startup in Boston. This is expressed by people outside of Boston, but it often comes from those within our community too.

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Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). And obviously all the liq prefs went away in the IPO when pref stock converted to common. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. is the leading consumer internet company with Terry Semel as CEO. quite encouraging. Read More ».

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 11, 2021

After Jim’s company was acquired, Len asked him who else he should talk to in the Boston area. Jim introduced us, and that led to lunch near our office in downtown Boston. At the time, the state-of-the-art was a wired 10BaseT ethernet network, so Allcom did the wiring, and we did everything else.

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Seeing Both Sides

DECEMBER 17, 2015

A few years ago, I did an analysis on the Boston-based companies that were worth more than $500 million in value, which I called Boston Unicorns. One of the (somewhat depressing) conclusions I made at the time was "there have been no multi-billion dollar valued tech companies founded in Boston in the last 13 years.".

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A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 3, 2018

A huge congratulations to the entire Upwork team on a successful IPO! I remember when I made that first flight out to San Francisco from Boston to meet the team in 2004, the company was down to its last $20K in the bank. I was fortunate enough to be on the founding team of oDesk (now Upwork).

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Pascal's View

AUGUST 12, 2009

In Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, and other innovation centers across the country, entrepreneurs and their backers (who are not limited to venture capitalists) are all keenly aware that Washington’s addiction to enacting hasty, one-size-fits–all financial regulation will continue to have far-reaching unintended negative consequences for the U.S.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Was about a billion dollars on the IPO” and “was one of the first web analytics companies. We just finished the second year in Boston. So I was an Angel investor from 1994 to 1996. One of the successful investments was a company called Nigenisis, which ended becoming a public company in 1999. And how has it worked out? “It

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Agile Lean 94

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

Come to TS in Boston! ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. So far, Im going to be on the east coast at least three times, and in Europe twice. Stay tuned for more details.)

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

Software Review 68

Software Review San Francisco Technical Review Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you? Take a look and let me know what you think.

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San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119