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I'm happy for them, but I'm worried about what this means for the product and its future. They now need to hit $1BB or die trying. And most of the time that mea

by joshmn 7y ago

I'm happy for them, but I'm worried about what this means for the product and its future. They now need to hit $1BB or die trying. And most of the time that means die. Maybe they might have some life-changing enterprise thing up their sleeves. I don't know. We don't know. I'm wishing them well, I just am bracing for impact.

AmericanChopper 7y ago
> They now need to hit $1BB or die trying What are you basing this off exactly? The only case where failing to hit valuation targets can kill a company, is when the company is reliant on continued funding to operate. A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses.
- gruez 7y ago
  >A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses. ...until those investors are not satisfied with those low returns, and installs a new board/executive focused on milking their existing customers.
  - woah 7y ago
    Depends on whether or not the control the company.
  - AmericanChopper 7y ago
    I didn’t read that Accel had acquired a controlling stake. Can you point me to the source that makes that claim?
    - gruez 7y ago
      "Accel" wasn't even mentioned in my original comment. Quit putting words in my mouth.
      - AmericanChopper 7y ago
        You said: > They now need to hit $1BB or die trying And alluded to “those investors” being able to take over management of the company. As 1Password is already profitable, and has not been acquired, I’m just trying to figure out what reason you have to make those claims.
        gruez 7y ago
        >You said: >> They now need to hit $1BB or die trying I didn't, actually. Note the usernames. My reply was regarding the more blanket statement of >A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses. Also, it's not too unreasonable to assume that a controlling stake was obtained considering that the article said "[this is] a gigantic Series A even by today’s standards", and "The company declined to provide its valuation". Elsewhere in the comments someone mentioned that almost 2/3rds of the money was a "cash-out", rather than an investment to the company. Both statements suggest that a large stake was acquired.
        AmericanChopper 7y ago
        I see, so the discussion has simply devolved into pointless generalities. I don’t see any sources claiming the company has been acquired (other HN comments don’t count), even if it was I haven’t seen any evidence that the investors are interested in undermining the sustainability of the business model. All of the doom and gloom comments in this thread are completely unsubstantiated, and seem to be mostly based on misunderstandings of how businesses actually operate. A company reliant on funding to operate needs to be very concerned with its valuation, a profitable company doesn’t to be to anywhere near the same level. Comments that amount to nothing more than “VC bad” should probably not get a free pass in a community supposedly devoted to “gratif[ying] one's intellectual curiosity”.
ummonk 7y ago
SaaS companies in 1Password’s level of maturity rarely die trying to hit $1BB.
matt_the_bass 7y ago
I was surprised too at those values. But then realized that is only about 30,000,000 paying users. Yes that’s a lot of people. But maybe they can get to that many world wide.

by joshmn 7y ago

AmericanChopper 7y ago

> They now need to hit $1BB or die trying What are you basing this off exactly? The only case where failing to hit valuation targets can kill a company, is when the company is reliant on continued funding to operate. A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses.

gruez 7y ago
>A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses. ...until those investors are not satisfied with those low returns, and installs a new board/executive focused on milking their existing customers.
- woah 7y ago
  Depends on whether or not the control the company.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  I didn’t read that Accel had acquired a controlling stake. Can you point me to the source that makes that claim?
  - gruez 7y ago
    "Accel" wasn't even mentioned in my original comment. Quit putting words in my mouth.
    - AmericanChopper 7y ago
      You said: > They now need to hit $1BB or die trying And alluded to “those investors” being able to take over management of the company. As 1Password is already profitable, and has not been acquired, I’m just trying to figure out what reason you have to make those claims.
      - gruez 7y ago
        >You said: >> They now need to hit $1BB or die trying I didn't, actually. Note the usernames. My reply was regarding the more blanket statement of >A profitable company is free to disappoint it's investors in any way it chooses. Also, it's not too unreasonable to assume that a controlling stake was obtained considering that the article said "[this is] a gigantic Series A even by today’s standards", and "The company declined to provide its valuation". Elsewhere in the comments someone mentioned that almost 2/3rds of the money was a "cash-out", rather than an investment to the company. Both statements suggest that a large stake was acquired.
        AmericanChopper 7y ago
        I see, so the discussion has simply devolved into pointless generalities. I don’t see any sources claiming the company has been acquired (other HN comments don’t count), even if it was I haven’t seen any evidence that the investors are interested in undermining the sustainability of the business model. All of the doom and gloom comments in this thread are completely unsubstantiated, and seem to be mostly based on misunderstandings of how businesses actually operate. A company reliant on funding to operate needs to be very concerned with its valuation, a profitable company doesn’t to be to anywhere near the same level. Comments that amount to nothing more than “VC bad” should probably not get a free pass in a community supposedly devoted to “gratif[ying] one's intellectual curiosity”.

ummonk 7y ago

SaaS companies in 1Password’s level of maturity rarely die trying to hit $1BB.

matt_the_bass 7y ago

I was surprised too at those values. But then realized that is only about 30,000,000 paying users. Yes that’s a lot of people. But maybe they can get to that many world wide.