4 ms·

The valuation is eye-popping, does anyone have a reasonable explanation of how that could be sustained?

The_Beta 5y ago
Too much money floating around amongst funds
Canada 5y ago
I have to second this comment... I really like the Postman software (I don't use it with an account). I really want to understand how this kind of valuation can be justified.
- tempest_ 5y ago
  I've actually found it has felt bloated for a while now and switched to insomnia. I'm not a full time frontend dev though so perhaps they would be more willing to pay.
  - Canada 5y ago
    Thanks, I didn't know about this.
baybal2 5y ago
Printing presses switching into high gear around the world. LBO shops follow. Money have never been cheaper, ever
connoljo 5y ago
VCs really like bottom up SAAS
- defaulty 5y ago
  > bottom up SAAS What does that mean? Is there a top down SAAS?
  - tofuahdude 5y ago
    Bottom up = individual users sell to decision makers Top down = decision makers force individual users to use
bastardoperator 5y ago
No clue. I dropped Postman for Insomnia and haven't looked back.
tofuahdude 5y ago
In the post they say: > There are now 17 million developers on the Postman API Platform, and the Postman app has been downloaded more than 60 million times so far. That's a significant user base for a b2b oriented app in a very monetize-able space. Throwing out some numbers to try and math it out: - At $5 / yr / user, that's 85mm revenue. 5.4B = 64x rev - At $10 / yr / user, that's 170mm revenue. 5.4B = 32x rev - At $20 / yr / user, that's 340mm revenue. 5.4B = 16x rev All depends on how effectively they monetize. There's definitely a credible-to-vc's story that this is a large company in the making.
- boringg 5y ago
  Valuation seems out of whack - that said money is cheap and trying to find a home right now. VCs need returns so why not?
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
  Does that "17 million users" include people like me who use the app but have never given them any money?
  - tofuahdude 5y ago
    Oh, 17mm for sure it includes everyone who ever uses it.
- ren_engineer 5y ago
  the problem with these estimates is that freemium products are lucky to get 1% conversion to paid tier
- joshribakoff 5y ago
  Perhaps it’s unrealistic that they’ll be able to monetize 100% of those users?
  - tofuahdude 5y ago
    I'm going with averages here just to ballpark it. I think they can make significantly more per year for enterprise users, in the $100+ per user range.
timwaagh 5y ago
Everything these days has a billion or more in valuation.
dandanua 5y ago
Haven't you read the announcement? strong management team point to a future for Postman with virtually unlimited possibilities
zomglings 5y ago
The only justifications I can see for this valuation: 1. 17 million developers using Postman. This is impressive for any developer tool. 2. Public API network. This is something that could easily turn into an API marketplace, which sounds like it could excite investors. I am curious how they calculate #(developers using Postman). I have had Postman accounts associated with my emails at a few different companies. In every case, we moved away from Postman. I probably account for 5 different Postman accounts, all inactive.
- SahAssar 5y ago
  Those sounds like the exact justifications for Dockers valuation and that didn't seem to pan out.
  - mohanmcgeek 5y ago
    Docker's valuation didn't pan out because they tried to swim against Kubernetes.. compare that to CoreOS and openshift. In this case it should be compared to valuation of tools like figma
    - SahAssar 5y ago
      Figma is a lot harder to replace than postman and it's primary users are not developers (although they often consume the result of the primary users). I think developers are more fickle than designers as a customer, especially for tools that are not central to the end result. If I deploy my app and it works it does not really matter if I tested/documented it with postman, it's not central to the app at runtime. I also think that postman's core product is a lot easier to replicate (they were not even the first to do it) than figma and there are a number of open source projects that do. When it comes to their API gallery I would expect that any serious API would come with a non-proprietary definition or documentation (in something like OpenAPI or at least just good docs) too. I don't know, I just have a hard time to see why this product (and by extension the company) is worth 5.6B.
      - 5y ago

Too much money floating around amongst funds

I have to second this comment... I really like the Postman software (I don't use it with an account). I really want to understand how this kind of valuation can be justified.

tempest_ 5y ago
I've actually found it has felt bloated for a while now and switched to insomnia. I'm not a full time frontend dev though so perhaps they would be more willing to pay.
- Canada 5y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know about this.

baybal2 5y ago

Printing presses switching into high gear around the world. LBO shops follow. Money have never been cheaper, ever

connoljo 5y ago

VCs really like bottom up SAAS

defaulty 5y ago
> bottom up SAAS What does that mean? Is there a top down SAAS?
- tofuahdude 5y ago
  Bottom up = individual users sell to decision makers Top down = decision makers force individual users to use

bastardoperator 5y ago

No clue. I dropped Postman for Insomnia and haven't looked back.

tofuahdude 5y ago

In the post they say: > There are now 17 million developers on the Postman API Platform, and the Postman app has been downloaded more than 60 million times so far. That's a significant user base for a b2b oriented app in a very monetize-able space. Throwing out some numbers to try and math it out: - At $5 / yr / user, that's 85mm revenue. 5.4B = 64x rev - At $10 / yr / user, that's 170mm revenue. 5.4B = 32x rev - At $20 / yr / user, that's 340mm revenue. 5.4B = 16x rev All depends on how effectively they monetize. There's definitely a credible-to-vc's story that this is a large company in the making.

boringg 5y ago
Valuation seems out of whack - that said money is cheap and trying to find a home right now. VCs need returns so why not?
Rebelgecko 5y ago
Does that "17 million users" include people like me who use the app but have never given them any money?
- tofuahdude 5y ago
  Oh, 17mm for sure it includes everyone who ever uses it.
ren_engineer 5y ago
the problem with these estimates is that freemium products are lucky to get 1% conversion to paid tier
joshribakoff 5y ago
Perhaps it’s unrealistic that they’ll be able to monetize 100% of those users?
- tofuahdude 5y ago
  I'm going with averages here just to ballpark it. I think they can make significantly more per year for enterprise users, in the $100+ per user range.

timwaagh 5y ago

Everything these days has a billion or more in valuation.

dandanua 5y ago

Haven't you read the announcement? strong management team point to a future for Postman with virtually unlimited possibilities

zomglings 5y ago

The only justifications I can see for this valuation: 1. 17 million developers using Postman. This is impressive for any developer tool. 2. Public API network. This is something that could easily turn into an API marketplace, which sounds like it could excite investors. I am curious how they calculate #(developers using Postman). I have had Postman accounts associated with my emails at a few different companies. In every case, we moved away from Postman. I probably account for 5 different Postman accounts, all inactive.

SahAssar 5y ago
Those sounds like the exact justifications for Dockers valuation and that didn't seem to pan out.
- mohanmcgeek 5y ago
  Docker's valuation didn't pan out because they tried to swim against Kubernetes.. compare that to CoreOS and openshift. In this case it should be compared to valuation of tools like figma
  - SahAssar 5y ago
    Figma is a lot harder to replace than postman and it's primary users are not developers (although they often consume the result of the primary users). I think developers are more fickle than designers as a customer, especially for tools that are not central to the end result. If I deploy my app and it works it does not really matter if I tested/documented it with postman, it's not central to the app at runtime. I also think that postman's core product is a lot easier to replicate (they were not even the first to do it) than figma and there are a number of open source projects that do. When it comes to their API gallery I would expect that any serious API would come with a non-proprietary definition or documentation (in something like OpenAPI or at least just good docs) too. I don't know, I just have a hard time to see why this product (and by extension the company) is worth 5.6B.
    - 5y ago