Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

IPO market. There are a number of trends concerning IPOs and capital formation to note: First, the raw number of IPOs has declined significantly: From 1980-2000, the US averaged roughly 300 IPOs per year; from 2001-2016, the average fell to 108 per year. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, SPACs raised $87.9

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

This huge increase of capital is really just money that used to be invested post-IPO, so more value is captured by VCs who traditionally sold post-IPO In a way we see this late-stage capital as a different market segment than traditional venture capital but it gets lumped into the same classification. trillion in value. Still reading?

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2012

With close to 900 million users and an upcoming IPO , Facebook is ruling the web as the social network of choice. Others like the use of questions in one’s Facebook status updates, and the uncanny mix between promotional messages and conversation starters, were quite enlightening.

Social Media 186

Social Media Technical Review Media Social Network 186

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

I believe that this is a major new area of growth & innovation for the Internet as Cloud Services start to form deeper & richer layers. Over the past 5 years the Internet Cloud has started to form into layers and this is a great thing for innovation. Let me explain. And so too will be Factual. Other Layers.

Cloud 343

Cloud Technical Review Database Semantic 343

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). is the leading consumer internet company with Terry Semel as CEO. Not long after the product launch we began the initial conversations with VCs for a Series A round. And obviously all the liq prefs went away in the IPO when pref stock converted to common.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

Goldman Sachs (an investor in our company) told us we’d IPO within 18 months for $1 billion so not to take any offers. As the economy soured and people grew wary of buying Internet software (we were SaaS as early as 1999 – our buyers were certainly “early adopters&# ) and life grew more difficult. We were hot.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

Burr, Egan, Deleage [Boston] –> Huge wins in the 1980s and early 90s included Continental Cablevision (sold for $5.3B – now a big chunk of what is Comcast), Qwest Communications, Cephalon (biotech IPO, acq by Teva), and Powersoft (Burr, Egan made 35x when it went public and then was acquired by Sybase). link] Dave Sandrowitz.

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

“Do they really expect that the next Facebook will come knocking at their ivory towers with a polished product, proven business model and the only thing missing on the way to an IPO being their Series A investment?”. Yes, it is true that some entrepreneurs either don’t receive a response or get a pre-made template.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Mongolia Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Here’s my take: 1. Others will, too.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

Heres an excerpt: The Startups Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Every startup that achieves success eventually faces a critical moment — whether to speed up or slow down. Read the rest of The Startups Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. This is the speed-up-or-slow-down moment.

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

A 1997 vintage is likely to perform much better than a 2000 vintage because the former got to ride the dot com bonanza and likely saw some quick IPOs and crazy trade sales while the latter is more likely filled with many companies that never reached the promise land (or are still trying). Why does vintage matter to you?

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

Id be honored to have you join the conversation. The Conversation - Harvard Business Review For most of us, the phrase management science conjures up a decidedly non-entrepreneurial image, and for good reason. Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Id be honored to have you join the conversation.

San Francisco 119

San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

ConversionXL

MAY 24, 2012

I was delivering a conversion optimization workshop the other day, and one person asked about how to talk yourself up on the website. Imagine it’s a conversation with a friend. Morgan Stanley screwed up the Facebook IPO – and many people went “I knew the banks were rotten to the core!” And vice versa.

Software Review 119

Software Review Non-Compete Technical Review Campaign 119

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 10, 2020

With Airbnb’s IPO, I thought the time was right to take a look back at the past decade (Greylock led Airbnb’s Series A in November 2010) and reflect on what I learned from the journey. After that conversation, I called around to learn more about Brian, Joe and Nate, and I got really strong references. HOW GREYLOCK INVESTED IN AIRBNB.

Hosting 69

Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 10, 2021

How many years did VCs continue to pour money into these companies before there was ever a “what if” board conversation? Was there ever that kind of conversation at the board level? Roblox will have a very nice IPO one day if it doesn’t have a big hate speech problem on its platform.

Venture Capital 158

Venture Capital Cap Table Accredited Investor Silicon Valley 158

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

The Five Whys for Start-Ups - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Root cause analysis and preventive maintenance are concepts we expect to see in a factory setting. The Five Whys for Start-Ups - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Root cause analysis and preventive maintenance are concepts we expect to see in a factory setting.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Most of the time, the experiments you run will have a zero percent conversion rate - meaning no customers were harmed during the making of this experiment. I would aim to get no more than 1o0 clicks per day - over the course of a week or two, youll get pretty good conversion data. Measure conversion rates.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Austin Startup

MAY 10, 2021

three companies he previously worked for had successful exits including two acquisitions and one IPO. IoT Startup Hologram Hires Mike Georgoff as Chief Product Officer was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Hiring 104

Hiring Product United States Startup 104

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

It is written in a conversational tone, doesnt take itself too seriously, and avoids extraneous fluff. This new volume also tackles examples from the Internet and wireless startups of today, both B2B and B2C. It is written in a conversational tone, doesnt take itself too seriously, and avoids extraneous fluff.

Customer Development 166

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The first company represents a normal software company that sells its products directly (either via sales staff or directly off of the internet). On quick glance a person might lament the fact that Company A is “not profitable” or is being a typical Internet startup. The example chart is not actually atypical.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 13, 2021

To guide the conversation, Reid and Harry solicited questions from Twitter ahead of the recording. In fact, when you look at it, you say, “Ok, well, what are the early-stage consumer internet investments?” There wasn’t like an IPO – this amazing IPO that just happened. Now by the way, I’ll do an asterix. I was wrong.”

Incubator 36

Incubator IPO Networking Cofounder 36

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Meanwhile, the rash of early liquidity and recent IPOs — unsatisfying as they were — gave liquidity to thousands of employees at large companies, and a subset of those made very real money. This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages. November 29, 2012.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 26, 2022

Which means that most of the people who actually do have the most interesting and useful experience to add to the public conversation aren’t doing so. You can’t write the bestselling book on how to IPO your company if that’s not a thing you’ve done before—or can you? At best it’s boasting and at worst, it’s blowing smoke.

Founder 104

Founder .Net Term Sheet Aggregator 104

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

Im excited that well get more than the usual few minutes of Q&A, so come with a healthy appetite for conversation. If you or your company is interested in sponsoring someone with a scholarship to travel to the expo and contribute to the conversation, please leave a comment or let me know. You heard me right.

Lean 76

Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Way back when the money was doled out, the team made a compelling pitch about the large market that was going to adopt their new innovative product or service. Leave a comment or reply to someone else. Fostering that dialog is important.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

venturebeat.com

JULY 12, 2012

10 Internet comments about games that actually make us laugh. From $1.5B to half a trillion dollars: PayPal celebrates a 10th anniversary. Editor’s picks. Featured stories. Cloud services. Cloud storage. Enterprise. Acquisition. Venture capital. Developers. Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs. Infographics. Management. July 10, 2012 6:59 PM.

Detroit 69

Detroit Incubator Technical Review Venture Capital 69

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

This was supposed to be Airbnb's biggest year by many measures, including its IPO, which was one of the most anticipated since the 2008 financial crisis. You can listen to our conversation on Apple podcasts , Google podcasts , or wherever you like to download. In addition, a transcript of this first part of the conversation is below.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

In the Internet era somehow as an industry we’ve subscribed to the folklore that every interaction is best computerized. The first investment I ever made as a VC, RingRevenue , was an easy one for me because it combined three key areas for me: it combined telephony / Internet, performance-based marketing & a perfect team construct.

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Affiliate Internet 329

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2009

Conversion optimization is a form of kaizen. Conversion optimization is a form of kaizen. ► 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. A/B testing is set-based design.

Lean 140

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 140

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Less than 1% are currently in IPO registration. INTERNET BUSINESSES. General Internet. - Computer And Internet. Internet Services. DJVentureWire : Friday IPOs Fail to Price as Thursdays Rally Doesnt Carry [link]. The quality of conversations can deteriorate when real identities are not provided.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 29, 2010

The way forward requires getting everyone together in a room, and having a conversation about where were headed. My aspiration with the Lean Startup methodology has always been to provide such a framework, so that we have more intelligent conversations about what works and what doesnt for startups. Thats what this conference is for.

San Francisco 120

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

They had previously all worked together at a very successful company in the “telecoms meets Internet&# space, CallWave, which IPO’d 5 years ago or so. They know that a call will lead to a higher conversion rate and a better chance to cross-sell products leading to higher average order values.

Advertising 284

Advertising Las Vegas Affiliate RSS 284

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 22, 2012

Although Facebook’s stock price has fallen well below its IPO price of $38 per share, many people agree that the stock is still significantly overpriced. It’s already coming close to saturating the limits of world Internet usage. Some, like Converse, are growing at a much higher rate (23% April to May 2012 growth).

South Korea 88

South Korea IPO Russia Stock 88

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

And then we would use that simple analytics system I mentioned to monitor the conversion rates of customers from each campaign. ► 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.

SEM 164

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 164

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Unfortunately, the video of our sllconf conversation is not online (due to technical problems), but we have a physical tape backup which we are endeavoring to get online soon. We were colleagues briefly at KPCB, where Randy has been working not just with individual companies, but also working to change the mindset of entrepreneurs everywhere.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Hearpreneur

MAY 15, 2016

No one was catering to the thousands of parents that were taking to the internet instead of the yellow pages or your neighbor’s recommendation. All the while, I was anxious because I barely followed baseball and couldn’t keep up with the conversations around me. I am also an avid music fan and concert go-er.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur SEO Web Merger 48

Hippoland

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

People in the US can pay for things electronically and can get most services and goods today from the internet – things in the US generally work, so improvements in these areas are all incremental. I think this explains why we tend to see consumer businesses emerge first – tech-savvy internet users are easiest to reach.

Asia 48

Asia Indonesia B2B Singapore 48