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Reading this whole article and it isn't until the end you find out what Domo even does. Can't believe they've built an 800million deficit this quickly. Besides

by deft 8y ago

Reading this whole article and it isn't until the end you find out what Domo even does. Can't believe they've built an 800million deficit this quickly. Besides the wasteful expenditures described in the article, where is the money going? This isn't like Uber where they have to spend to grow. They are a software-only company.

randyzwitch 8y ago
They are a BI dashboard company with lots of data integration connectors. They've been burning money with ads declaring 'spreadsheets are dead' and silly Domopalooza[1] lifestyle events [1]https://www.domo.com/news/press/domopalooza-2016-to-feature-flo-rida-award-winning-musical-artist-as-entertainment-headliner https://www.domo.com/news/press/domopalooza-2016-to-feature-... [2] https://www.domo.com/news/press/kesha-joins-the-domopalooza-2017-entertainment-lineup https://www.domo.com/news/press/kesha-joins-the-domopalooza-... [3] https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/15/1349133/0/en/Domopalooza-2018-Announces-Pitbull-as-Entertainment-Headliner-at-After-Hours.html https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/15/1349133/0/...
- reaperducer 8y ago
  >silly Domopalooza[1] lifestyle events Reminds me of a particular west coast startup I was associated with that took its final round of funding and blew most of it on a massive out-of-town party. Flew in all of the A-list bankers and tech types it could find. The idea was to make the (failing) app look like a huge deal in the eyes of investors and get bought, thus fulfilling its exit strategy. It worked.
  - tardo99 8y ago
    Is the identity of this startup a secret? Maybe someone with a throwaway account could post it? Super curious here...
    - cookiecaper 8y ago
      FWIW I had a startup as a contract client that sounds like they did something similar. Spent hundreds of thousands throwing a "relaunch party" to pander to investors. I assume this strategy is not rare. Only difference is that it didn't work for them and they went under a few months later.
    - toomanybeersies 8y ago
      Pied Piper?
soVeryTired 8y ago
>where is the money going? $1.8m leasing a jet from the CEO and $300k on catering from a restaurant owned by the CEO and his brother is part of it, according to FT Alphaville (free, but registration required): https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/06/05/1528193040000/What-is-a--Domo--/ https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/06/05/1528193040000/What-is...
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  Did you even look at those numbers? That's a drop in the bucket compared to $800MM. Very curious myself as to how that breaks down.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    The issue is not the amounts, but the flagrant self-dealing.
    - vinceguidry 8y ago
      Sure, but that stuff is ubiquitous in the biz world, it's just not usually done so flagrantly as you say. So it's not as interesting to me as the GP's question, how in the holy heck can a brand new company run through $800MM in 3 years? If this is routine, then shit, I'm wasting my life.
      - cookiecaper 8y ago
        Josh James got immediate and easy buy-in from investors because he founded Omniture, a $1B+ exit. So you'd probably need at least one successful exit to get this much leash. Presumably, investors will start to watch much more closely if he can't make good on Domo.
  - soVeryTired 8y ago
    > Did you even look at those numbers? Please give me the benefit of the doubt as per the forum guidelines. $1.8 million dollars on a private jet isn't exactly a standard expense for a tech startup. The profligacy is compounded by the fact that the CEO also apparently owns the jet, which suggests a conflict of interest in the lease. Smells like plundering and bad governance to me.
thousandautumns 8y ago
Having attended BYU and lived in the Utah Valley area for a while, I can say they were pretty extravagant. They have tons of billboards, many of which don't even really state anything about the business or the product. Just stupid, meme-like quips. They also would come to Career Fairs with 3x as many reps as any other company, most of whom didn't seem to really know what roles they were there looking for, and had tables of all sorts of Domo-branded swag. In general, the company itself kind of felt like a caricature of the ridiculousness sometimes found in tech these days. Kind of reminded me of the character Richard Hanneman from Silicon Valley.

by deft 8y ago

randyzwitch 8y ago

They are a BI dashboard company with lots of data integration connectors. They've been burning money with ads declaring 'spreadsheets are dead' and silly Domopalooza[1] lifestyle events [1]https://www.domo.com/news/press/domopalooza-2016-to-feature-flo-rida-award-winning-musical-artist-as-entertainment-headliner https://www.domo.com/news/press/domopalooza-2016-to-feature-... [2] https://www.domo.com/news/press/kesha-joins-the-domopalooza-2017-entertainment-lineup https://www.domo.com/news/press/kesha-joins-the-domopalooza-... [3] https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/15/1349133/0/en/Domopalooza-2018-Announces-Pitbull-as-Entertainment-Headliner-at-After-Hours.html https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/15/1349133/0/...

reaperducer 8y ago
>silly Domopalooza[1] lifestyle events Reminds me of a particular west coast startup I was associated with that took its final round of funding and blew most of it on a massive out-of-town party. Flew in all of the A-list bankers and tech types it could find. The idea was to make the (failing) app look like a huge deal in the eyes of investors and get bought, thus fulfilling its exit strategy. It worked.
- tardo99 8y ago
  Is the identity of this startup a secret? Maybe someone with a throwaway account could post it? Super curious here...
  - cookiecaper 8y ago
    FWIW I had a startup as a contract client that sounds like they did something similar. Spent hundreds of thousands throwing a "relaunch party" to pander to investors. I assume this strategy is not rare. Only difference is that it didn't work for them and they went under a few months later.
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    Pied Piper?

soVeryTired 8y ago

>where is the money going? $1.8m leasing a jet from the CEO and $300k on catering from a restaurant owned by the CEO and his brother is part of it, according to FT Alphaville (free, but registration required): https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/06/05/1528193040000/What-is-a--Domo--/ https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/06/05/1528193040000/What-is...

vinceguidry 8y ago
Did you even look at those numbers? That's a drop in the bucket compared to $800MM. Very curious myself as to how that breaks down.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  The issue is not the amounts, but the flagrant self-dealing.
  - vinceguidry 8y ago
    Sure, but that stuff is ubiquitous in the biz world, it's just not usually done so flagrantly as you say. So it's not as interesting to me as the GP's question, how in the holy heck can a brand new company run through $800MM in 3 years? If this is routine, then shit, I'm wasting my life.
    - cookiecaper 8y ago
      Josh James got immediate and easy buy-in from investors because he founded Omniture, a $1B+ exit. So you'd probably need at least one successful exit to get this much leash. Presumably, investors will start to watch much more closely if he can't make good on Domo.
- soVeryTired 8y ago
  > Did you even look at those numbers? Please give me the benefit of the doubt as per the forum guidelines. $1.8 million dollars on a private jet isn't exactly a standard expense for a tech startup. The profligacy is compounded by the fact that the CEO also apparently owns the jet, which suggests a conflict of interest in the lease. Smells like plundering and bad governance to me.

thousandautumns 8y ago

Having attended BYU and lived in the Utah Valley area for a while, I can say they were pretty extravagant. They have tons of billboards, many of which don't even really state anything about the business or the product. Just stupid, meme-like quips. They also would come to Career Fairs with 3x as many reps as any other company, most of whom didn't seem to really know what roles they were there looking for, and had tables of all sorts of Domo-branded swag. In general, the company itself kind of felt like a caricature of the ridiculousness sometimes found in tech these days. Kind of reminded me of the character Richard Hanneman from Silicon Valley.