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Links to the referenced 5, since one just dropped off the front page: Sumo Logic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24262251 https://news.ycombinator.com/ite

Links to the referenced 5, since one just dropped off the front page: Sumo Logic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24262251 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24262251 Asana: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265430 Snowflake: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24265041 JFrog: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24264478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24264478 Unity: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24261559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24261559 I understand the stock market very poorly and had the same question myself, so this may be way off the mark, but I wonder if it's because of pessimism in the economy that non-public investors are harder to milk right now. It's unusual to see this many S-1's on HN, even more unusual that I've heard of most of them before.

jonahbenton 6y ago
Macro assessments of "the economy" play some role in expectations, but the economy is not comprehensible as a monolith. The predictive value of assessments of the "economy" on any one specific business are basically useless. Rather, individual businesses are evaluated on their own individual trajectories, physics, prospects, and teams. Many of these have done well in COVID times and have stories aimed at convincing investors that improved performance will continue- independent of, or in inverse relation to larger negative macro assessments. I haven't read these S1s but am sure this is the case here. There are also technical- financial technical, not technical technical- reasons that make one moment better than another for seeking capital, and now is "good" for certain kinds of companies. It is also lifesaving for others- like Kabbage being bought by Amex a couple weeks ago. Their business (I believe) has basically been destroyed by the pandemic so Amex was able to get a good deal. You should just read the S1s. The stories they tell are in fairly straightforward language, amidst a lot of transparency and compliance gobbledegook. But if you know a little about the companies you can probably arrive at an opinion about their narratives. Cheers.

jonahbenton 6y ago

Macro assessments of "the economy" play some role in expectations, but the economy is not comprehensible as a monolith. The predictive value of assessments of the "economy" on any one specific business are basically useless. Rather, individual businesses are evaluated on their own individual trajectories, physics, prospects, and teams. Many of these have done well in COVID times and have stories aimed at convincing investors that improved performance will continue- independent of, or in inverse relation to larger negative macro assessments. I haven't read these S1s but am sure this is the case here. There are also technical- financial technical, not technical technical- reasons that make one moment better than another for seeking capital, and now is "good" for certain kinds of companies. It is also lifesaving for others- like Kabbage being bought by Amex a couple weeks ago. Their business (I believe) has basically been destroyed by the pandemic so Amex was able to get a good deal. You should just read the S1s. The stories they tell are in fairly straightforward language, amidst a lot of transparency and compliance gobbledegook. But if you know a little about the companies you can probably arrive at an opinion about their narratives. Cheers.