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Hm not sure if it’s much cause for celebration for the HT team...they raised $130m and probably sold at max their last valuation. Employees aren’t going to make

Hm not sure if it’s much cause for celebration for the HT team...they raised $130m and probably sold at max their last valuation. Employees aren’t going to make out with much and unclear if anyone is getting let go. Every OTA does last minute bookings now...reality is what they offer has been largely commoditized.

nedwin 8y ago
Got any data to back that up? My anecdotal understanding was that HotelTonight was doing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Some component of that $130m may have been secondary stock sale. I don't think we have enough data to determine what the price might have been, or how well employees will do.
- relaunched 8y ago
  Pass through revenue isn't a great metric to value off of. It's a fancy and deceptive way to pass off a broker like a software company. If you pass through 70%-80% of your revenue, your revenue is more accurately stated as a net revenue. It's more akin to how we value traditional retailers in brick and mortar businesses, with low margin - think Best Buy.
- randomacct3847 8y ago
  I’m referring to their last valuation of $400m in 2017. The company hasn’t hockeysticked since then, by any measure (e.g. App Store rank), so I think we can deduce the sale price was likely well below $1b, maybe 500m at very best but guessing lower. Factoring liquidation preferences for VCs and you get a small pie for most people involved.
  - krn 8y ago
    > Factoring liquidation preferences for VCs and you get a small pie for most people involved. Let's say HotelTonight was acquired for $500 mln. How much of that the founders could get at most based on the last valuation?
    - randomacct3847 8y ago
      I don’t know what the terms are or how much the CEO/founder has. Assuming a 2x liquidation preference there would be $240m left after investors take their share. If the CEO has 5% then that’s $12m.

nedwin 8y ago

Got any data to back that up? My anecdotal understanding was that HotelTonight was doing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Some component of that $130m may have been secondary stock sale. I don't think we have enough data to determine what the price might have been, or how well employees will do.

relaunched 8y ago
Pass through revenue isn't a great metric to value off of. It's a fancy and deceptive way to pass off a broker like a software company. If you pass through 70%-80% of your revenue, your revenue is more accurately stated as a net revenue. It's more akin to how we value traditional retailers in brick and mortar businesses, with low margin - think Best Buy.
randomacct3847 8y ago
I’m referring to their last valuation of $400m in 2017. The company hasn’t hockeysticked since then, by any measure (e.g. App Store rank), so I think we can deduce the sale price was likely well below $1b, maybe 500m at very best but guessing lower. Factoring liquidation preferences for VCs and you get a small pie for most people involved.
- krn 8y ago
  > Factoring liquidation preferences for VCs and you get a small pie for most people involved. Let's say HotelTonight was acquired for $500 mln. How much of that the founders could get at most based on the last valuation?
  - randomacct3847 8y ago
    I don’t know what the terms are or how much the CEO/founder has. Assuming a 2x liquidation preference there would be $240m left after investors take their share. If the CEO has 5% then that’s $12m.