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Amazon is clearly an outlier. Let’s not equate every unprofitable company with them.

by uptown 7y ago

barry-cotter 7y ago
Not every company is Amazon but Bill.com is showing 57% year on year growth this year after 71% last year, with over $35m in quarterly revenue for the last quarter. With those kinds of numbers they can invest less in customer acquisition and turn on the money tap any time they want. > Bill.com reported about $35.2 million in total revenue for the third quarter of 2019, representing nearly 57 percent year-over-year growth compared to $22.4 million in total revenue for the third quarter of 2018. For context, Bill.com’s total revenue grew 71 percent between the third quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of 2018. The company’s growth is slowing down, which isn’t unusual as companies mature.
- semi-extrinsic 7y ago
  I think the unclear part about this theory is the case where your customer acquisition cost is partly a customer retention cost. As long as you're sure that's not the case, go ahead.
- aguyfromnb 7y ago
  >With those kinds of numbers they can invest less in customer acquisition and turn on the money tap any time they want. Where does this notion come from that these companies can "make money whenever they want", but haven't done so in a decade or more? People point to Amazon as an analogy all the time: it took Amazon about 5 years to make a profit, and this was the early internet. Bill.com is not Amazon.com. That's a theory, a selling-point, and it comes from "Silicon Valley" itself. In reality, the growth tends to come from the customer acquisition spend, and growth will likely cease the minute customer acquisition spending stops. Growth is already slowing down, and this company has never made a dime. So what value do you put on it now? Where does the idea assumption from that these companies are "putting profits back into the company"? That money has to show up in the financials statements as well, it's not magic.
  - jackweirdy 7y ago
    If you have healthy free cash flow it’s up to you what you do with it. Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders on this topic (PDF warning) — https://ir.aboutamazon.com/static-files/2b0b9eb6-0e9d-40f9-8708-f9f73d1ed485 https://ir.aboutamazon.com/static-files/2b0b9eb6-0e9d-40f9-8...

Amazon is clearly an outlier. Let’s not equate every unprofitable company with them.

by uptown 7y ago

Amazon is clearly an outlier. Let’s not equate every unprofitable company with them.

Not every company is Amazon but Bill.com is showing 57% year on year growth this year after 71% last year, with over $35m in quarterly revenue for the last quarter. With those kinds of numbers they can invest less in customer acquisition and turn on the money tap any time they want. > Bill.com reported about $35.2 million in total revenue for the third quarter of 2019, representing nearly 57 percent year-over-year growth compared to $22.4 million in total revenue for the third quarter of 2018. For context, Bill.com’s total revenue grew 71 percent between the third quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of 2018. The company’s growth is slowing down, which isn’t unusual as companies mature.

semi-extrinsic 7y ago
I think the unclear part about this theory is the case where your customer acquisition cost is partly a customer retention cost. As long as you're sure that's not the case, go ahead.
aguyfromnb 7y ago
>With those kinds of numbers they can invest less in customer acquisition and turn on the money tap any time they want. Where does this notion come from that these companies can "make money whenever they want", but haven't done so in a decade or more? People point to Amazon as an analogy all the time: it took Amazon about 5 years to make a profit, and this was the early internet. Bill.com is not Amazon.com. That's a theory, a selling-point, and it comes from "Silicon Valley" itself. In reality, the growth tends to come from the customer acquisition spend, and growth will likely cease the minute customer acquisition spending stops. Growth is already slowing down, and this company has never made a dime. So what value do you put on it now? Where does the idea assumption from that these companies are "putting profits back into the company"? That money has to show up in the financials statements as well, it's not magic.
- jackweirdy 7y ago
  If you have healthy free cash flow it’s up to you what you do with it. Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders on this topic (PDF warning) — https://ir.aboutamazon.com/static-files/2b0b9eb6-0e9d-40f9-8708-f9f73d1ed485 https://ir.aboutamazon.com/static-files/2b0b9eb6-0e9d-40f9-8...