Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

They failed due to: the dearth of deals in the region that have IPO potential and. Today it’s dominated by capital efficient software, web and mobile startups whereas 10 years ago it was dominated by semiconductor and hardware startups that consumed huge amounts of capital before their first dollar in revenue.

Early Stage 286

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 286

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

VC Adventure

AUGUST 31, 2017

Beyond that, they actually went back in time and looked at the earlier stage periods for these companies so we can track how some of the world’s best SaaS companies performed at revenue levels more akin to the typical Series B business. Companies in the study that scored 40% of greater had TTM revenue multiples of 6.4x

IPO 113

IPO Vertical Balance Sheet Valuation 113

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

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Twitter’s IPO has garnered a ton of attention in the tech and popular press. So their revenue figures, pre IPO financing and ownership, and other info is all widely available. If this were a math class, I’d just say the proof is evident but if you want some data on Twitter’s 2013 YTD revenue here you go.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 19, 2012

The other day I wrote a post about the lack of Enterprise Software disruption coming out of NYC —and a lot of people responded that I wasn’t citing Buddy Media. When I looked at the site, it had the term “Social Enterprise Software” written all over it. Social Media Software. Facebook Pages.

Software 105

Software Media Social Media Advertising 105

BeyondVC

APRIL 4, 2018

Look at the Dropbox IPO which priced above its initial value and came out white hot at the end of one of the worst weeks in stock market performance. Couple that with Mulesoft being bought for 21x TTM revenue ( see Tomasz Tunguz analysis ) at $6.5 Their growth to over $509mm of revenue from $281mm 2 years ago is a case in point.

Cloud 60

Cloud Agile Architecture Azure 60

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

billion revenue in 2021 for Epic Games and was played by 83.3 billion revenue in 2021 for Epic Games and was played by 83.3 billion revenue in 2021, a 107% increase year-on-year. billion as of August 1st 2022, a drop from it’s IPO at approximately $38 billion but relatively steady since Dec. Fortnite generated $5.8

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

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

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

BeyondVC

MARCH 21, 2017

As we move to a cloud-only world with instant-on capabilities and low friction in onboarding customers, why does professional services revenue keep increasing year over year for these enterprise cloud businesses. Secondly, as the world continues to move to the cloud, why does on-prem software exist any more?

IPO 88

IPO Cloud Azure Revenue 88

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Ah, but today’s Internet companies have real revenue! And this is happening in mezzanine (pre-IPO) deals as well. And post IPO deals, although these tend to correct more quickly. And as you probably guessed the data aren’t any better on IPOs with less than 20 / year average for the past 10 years. and profits!

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

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

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

Our software wasn’t fully baked. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us. Goldman Sachs (an investor in our company) told us we’d IPO within 18 months for $1 billion so not to take any offers. I know that we haven’t brought in revenue as quickly as we had hoped. Believe me.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

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

BeyondVC

MARCH 25, 2004

So while I was at PC Forum, my partner, Ned Carlson, sent me an email on the recent IPO filing of Seven Networks. Having talked to a number of bankers, we always thought that one needed $6-8mm of quarterly revenue, profitability for at least 1-2 quarters, and good visibility for the rest of the year in order to go public.

IPO 60

IPO United States .Net Software Review 60

View from Seed

MAY 16, 2019

I have friends who are execs or shareholders of the company, but I have no stake in Slack nor intent to invest in the IPO. If you haven’t seen these already, here are some of the headline figures about Slack’s business: $400M in GAAP revenue in the most recent year (fiscal year ’19 ended 1/31/19). 10M+ daily active users (DAUs).

Lock-up Period 168

Lock-up Period Retention Azure .Net 168

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 25, 2023

Growing Your Audience (And Your Revenue) With A Book written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Matt Briel In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Matt Briel. Questions I ask Matt Briel: [1:29] Could you tell us about the origin story of Lulu and how did it come to be? [2:25]

Audience 88

Audience Revenue Distribution Differentiation 88

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

a full 60x trailing twelve month revenues. For context, UiPath’s revenue last year was reported at $607 million and grew 81% over the prior year?—?so The IPO netted $500M for UiPath (and another $700M for shareholders). Several smaller RPA firms have been acquired by bigger software vendors in the last year as well?—?IBM

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley IPO Venture Capital Valuation 113

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. Bad stock markets mean less IPO’s and lower prices for M&A.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

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

Agile VC

OCTOBER 1, 2013

I believe we’re going to look back in 2-5 years and realize that we’ve been in a once a decade boom for internet & software startups. Software revenue trails hardware slightly and ad revenue always takes a couple years to shift, but even here the results are astounding.

IPO 147

IPO Cloud Valuation Mobile 147

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

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

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

View from Seed

MARCH 5, 2019

2019 is shaping up to be the year the dam broke for decacorn IPOs, with Lyft, Uber, AirBnB, Pinterest, et al in the queue. There are a variety of quick write-ups on the Lyft S-1 for basic figures like annual revenue, rider growth, or who the largest shareholders are. Revenue per rider has more than doubled from 2016–2018 (from $15.88

Aggregator 120

Aggregator IPO .Net Revenue 120

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 29, 2020

Since then, the debate over IPOs has continued, with a particular focus on allegedly underpriced offerings that jump shortly after opening — the dreaded “pop.” ” As some criticism has it, this supposedly deprives companies of millions of dollars that should have been theirs if not for underpricing the IPO.

IPO 36

IPO Securities and Exchange Commission Demand SEC 36

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

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 29, 2014

Here at WePay, 2014 was a big year for us as well — we pivoted fully into our API business, introduced the industry’s first risk API, launched the first white label payments product with complete protection from fraud, and more than doubled our revenue. The IPO market for financial technology companies will start to heat up.

IPO 236

IPO API Silicon Valley Mobile 236

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

Agile VC

MAY 16, 2019

I have friends who are execs or shareholders of the company, but I have no stake in Slack nor intent to invest in the IPO. A somewhat unique thing about the Slack IPO is that they’re pursuing a direct listing on the NYSE. Slack’s net dollar retention rate is an incredibly impressive 143%. So Slack generated $1.43

Lock-up Period 100

Lock-up Period Retention Azure .Net 100

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

I started my career in enterprise software in the 1980s and after some years working in other areas (outsourcing and online media) I am back in the enterprise software game. I have focused this as advice to entrepreneurs building enterprise software ventures today. Most enterprise software companies are self-funded sailboats.

Software 127

Software Startup Architecture Bootstrapping 127

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Not really; it was a result of an industry investing into a frothy market at higher and higher valuations in expectation of near term liquidity, and suddenly the IPO window shutting, leading to no exits and little additional capital to support these companies. “By January 1984, investors had turned away from hardware toward software.”

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

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