8 ms·

I'm sure it's just in my head, but it feels like the first tech IPO in several years where there actually seems to be a viable business model.

groundlogic 7y ago
It's quite refreshing, right?
Areading314 7y ago
This is a sure sign that: * You won't get allocated any shares * Trading will start at a ridiculously high valuation, maybe 10x sales or more
- groundlogic 7y ago
  GOOG and FB also seemed overpriced a week after their respective IPOs.
mikeyouse 7y ago
Zoom stands out in this category too. Random blog on Medium, but the points all stand: https://medium.com/@alexfclayton/zoom-ipo-s-1-breakdown-119249acadd3 https://medium.com/@alexfclayton/zoom-ipo-s-1-breakdown-1192... Growing >100% YoY, profitable, generating cashflow, NPS above 70, just an all around solid business.
- thinkloop 7y ago
  Zoom has very little defensible tech, it's more about packaging/marketing. Cloudflare is very difficult to duplicate.
  - ec109685 7y ago
    Zoom has network effects. If a company has deployed zoom in their conference rooms, talking to non-zoom shops stinks.
  - steve19 7y ago
    Not true, Zoom has developed and deployed very sophisticated malware which would be hard to replicate on purpose or through incompetence.
  - sciurus 7y ago
    > Cloudflare is very difficult to duplicate. Unless you're one of their many competitors, like, say, AWS. From the S-1: "Our current and potential future competitors include a number of different types of companies, including: • on-premise hardware network vendors, such as Cisco Systems Inc., F5 Networks, Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., FireEye, Inc., Imperva, Inc., Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Juniper Networks, Inc., and Riverbed Technology, Inc.; • point-cloud solution vendors, including cloud security vendors such as Zscaler, Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. through Umbrella (formerly known as OpenDNS), content delivery network vendors such as Akamai Technologies, Inc., Limelight Networks, Inc., Fastly, Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. through Edgecast, domain name system vendors services such as Oracle Corporation through DYN, NeuStar, Inc., and UltraDNS Corporation, and cloud SD-WAN vendors; and • traditional public cloud vendors, such as Amazon.com, Inc. through Amazon Web Services, Alphabet Inc. through Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Corporation through Azure, and Alibaba Group Holding Limited through Alibaba Cloud. "
    - nezgar 7y ago
      >"on-premise hardware network vendors..." Wow, they grammar goofed "on-premise" 33 times on their filing. (should be on-premises)
      - ksec 7y ago
        Not sure why the above getting downvoted, unless On-Premises is wrong? ( Honest Question, I have always used On-Premises ) Edit: And Now I am getting downvoted for asking a question.
        nezgar 7y ago
        "on-premises" is indeed correct in this context. "premise" is a thought or idea. "premises" is a location, like your servers can be "on-premises". Completely different meanings. I hear lots of people these days mistakenly saying "on-premise" during hybrid-cloud conversations and in documentation when they really mean "on-premises". (And yes, looks like I've been down-voted for my first hacker news comment too.)
  - pjkundert 7y ago
    You would think... But, every competitor that I’ve tried to use is a train wreck. Zoom just works. All the time, every time.
    - erichurkman 7y ago
      The fact that Zoom has gotten software engineers to _like_ Zoom is a testament. Most engineers I know detest almost all video conference solutions. Hangouts eats batteries for breakfast, Cisco products are clunky and expensive, Skype is ancient, etc.... but Zoom just works.
antcas 7y ago
Zoom and Twilio as well.
- jmtulloss 7y ago
  Also fastly, which has the same business model
dsl 7y ago
> where there actually seems to be a viable business model. It has carried them this far, but the real money will be when they turn to advertising (which investors will eventually figure out and insist on). Remember all the crazy marketing data ISPs wanted to collect, then we pushed everyone to move to TLS? Well Cloudflare unwraps TLS for all their clients and is in a position to collect all the same data.
jonas21 7y ago
How about Slack, PagerDuty, Zoom, Crowdstrike, or Pinterest? These were all in the last few months.
- groundlogic 7y ago
  Exactly - relatively little technical depth.
  - jonas21 7y ago
    I was responding to buildzr who wrote: > I'm sure it's just in my head, but it feels like the first tech IPO in several years where there actually seems to be a viable business model. The companies listed above have what appear to be viable business models. I didn't intend to comment on technical merits, but I think you may be underestimating the technical depth of what some of these companies are doing.
- adventured 7y ago
  You can also add DocuSign (last year) to that list. They're heading toward a billion in annual sales and they offer a straight-forward and useful service.

groundlogic 7y ago

It's quite refreshing, right?

Areading314 7y ago

This is a sure sign that: * You won't get allocated any shares * Trading will start at a ridiculously high valuation, maybe 10x sales or more

groundlogic 7y ago
GOOG and FB also seemed overpriced a week after their respective IPOs.

mikeyouse 7y ago

Zoom stands out in this category too. Random blog on Medium, but the points all stand: https://medium.com/@alexfclayton/zoom-ipo-s-1-breakdown-119249acadd3 https://medium.com/@alexfclayton/zoom-ipo-s-1-breakdown-1192... Growing >100% YoY, profitable, generating cashflow, NPS above 70, just an all around solid business.

thinkloop 7y ago
Zoom has very little defensible tech, it's more about packaging/marketing. Cloudflare is very difficult to duplicate.
- ec109685 7y ago
  Zoom has network effects. If a company has deployed zoom in their conference rooms, talking to non-zoom shops stinks.
- steve19 7y ago
  Not true, Zoom has developed and deployed very sophisticated malware which would be hard to replicate on purpose or through incompetence.
- sciurus 7y ago
  > Cloudflare is very difficult to duplicate. Unless you're one of their many competitors, like, say, AWS. From the S-1: "Our current and potential future competitors include a number of different types of companies, including: • on-premise hardware network vendors, such as Cisco Systems Inc., F5 Networks, Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., FireEye, Inc., Imperva, Inc., Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Juniper Networks, Inc., and Riverbed Technology, Inc.; • point-cloud solution vendors, including cloud security vendors such as Zscaler, Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. through Umbrella (formerly known as OpenDNS), content delivery network vendors such as Akamai Technologies, Inc., Limelight Networks, Inc., Fastly, Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. through Edgecast, domain name system vendors services such as Oracle Corporation through DYN, NeuStar, Inc., and UltraDNS Corporation, and cloud SD-WAN vendors; and • traditional public cloud vendors, such as Amazon.com, Inc. through Amazon Web Services, Alphabet Inc. through Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Corporation through Azure, and Alibaba Group Holding Limited through Alibaba Cloud. "
  - nezgar 7y ago
    >"on-premise hardware network vendors..." Wow, they grammar goofed "on-premise" 33 times on their filing. (should be on-premises)
    - ksec 7y ago
      Not sure why the above getting downvoted, unless On-Premises is wrong? ( Honest Question, I have always used On-Premises ) Edit: And Now I am getting downvoted for asking a question.
      - nezgar 7y ago
        "on-premises" is indeed correct in this context. "premise" is a thought or idea. "premises" is a location, like your servers can be "on-premises". Completely different meanings. I hear lots of people these days mistakenly saying "on-premise" during hybrid-cloud conversations and in documentation when they really mean "on-premises". (And yes, looks like I've been down-voted for my first hacker news comment too.)
- pjkundert 7y ago
  You would think... But, every competitor that I’ve tried to use is a train wreck. Zoom just works. All the time, every time.
  - erichurkman 7y ago
    The fact that Zoom has gotten software engineers to _like_ Zoom is a testament. Most engineers I know detest almost all video conference solutions. Hangouts eats batteries for breakfast, Cisco products are clunky and expensive, Skype is ancient, etc.... but Zoom just works.

antcas 7y ago

Zoom and Twilio as well.

jmtulloss 7y ago
Also fastly, which has the same business model

dsl 7y ago

> where there actually seems to be a viable business model. It has carried them this far, but the real money will be when they turn to advertising (which investors will eventually figure out and insist on). Remember all the crazy marketing data ISPs wanted to collect, then we pushed everyone to move to TLS? Well Cloudflare unwraps TLS for all their clients and is in a position to collect all the same data.

jonas21 7y ago

How about Slack, PagerDuty, Zoom, Crowdstrike, or Pinterest? These were all in the last few months.

groundlogic 7y ago
Exactly - relatively little technical depth.
- jonas21 7y ago
  I was responding to buildzr who wrote: > I'm sure it's just in my head, but it feels like the first tech IPO in several years where there actually seems to be a viable business model. The companies listed above have what appear to be viable business models. I didn't intend to comment on technical merits, but I think you may be underestimating the technical depth of what some of these companies are doing.
adventured 7y ago
You can also add DocuSign (last year) to that list. They're heading toward a billion in annual sales and they offer a straight-forward and useful service.