11 ms·

Given that they haven't ever taken any VC money, I wonder if they're doing this so the founders can cash out.

by jonursenbach 14y ago

joshu 14y ago
They had ~ 70 employees. This implies real revenues. What makes you think the founders couldn't cash out?
- jonursenbach 14y ago
  Why else would they be raising money at this point after being so staunchly against it in the past?
  - k-mcgrady 14y ago
    They have plans to grow, which they need money for. If it was obvious they were just trying to cash out no VC would invest.
    - jmathai 14y ago
      Agreed. I'm thinking they're looking to expand Github's services outside of "code".
  - drumdance 14y ago
    You can do a little of both. I've seen companies do rounds that put cash in the founders pocket but still want to grow.
  - joshu 14y ago
    Generally, to grow more quickly. Where have they said they were against it? I think they are often held up as an exemplar of bootstrapping by other folks, but I don't recall too much from them directly either way.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - petercooper 14y ago
    Acquisitions? There are quite a few developer tools (and the developers of such) that would be useful to the company. For example, things like https://sifterapp.com/ https://sifterapp.com/ or even developers of apps like TextMate, Sublime Text 2, companies like http://www.panic.com/ http://www.panic.com/, time tracking apps, etc - anything that the average GitHub developer would be likely to use, even. My list might be a bit frivolous, but money would give options, at least. (Edit: Actually, why not Heroku style cloud hosting too? The code's already on the service ready to roll..)
    - iamleppert 14y ago
      That's exactly what is wrong with companies. You don't need to acquire every whiz-bang app there is. Focus on your core competencies and on improving your product. Acquiring stuff for show and because it's "in your market" seems strategic on the surface but often times (unless for the talent) is the first mistake.

Given that they haven't ever taken any VC money, I wonder if they're doing this so the founders can cash out.

joshu 14y ago

They had ~ 70 employees. This implies real revenues. What makes you think the founders couldn't cash out?

jonursenbach 14y ago
Why else would they be raising money at this point after being so staunchly against it in the past?
- k-mcgrady 14y ago
  They have plans to grow, which they need money for. If it was obvious they were just trying to cash out no VC would invest.
  - jmathai 14y ago
    Agreed. I'm thinking they're looking to expand Github's services outside of "code".
- drumdance 14y ago
  You can do a little of both. I've seen companies do rounds that put cash in the founders pocket but still want to grow.
- joshu 14y ago
  Generally, to grow more quickly. Where have they said they were against it? I think they are often held up as an exemplar of bootstrapping by other folks, but I don't recall too much from them directly either way.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- petercooper 14y ago
  Acquisitions? There are quite a few developer tools (and the developers of such) that would be useful to the company. For example, things like https://sifterapp.com/ https://sifterapp.com/ or even developers of apps like TextMate, Sublime Text 2, companies like http://www.panic.com/ http://www.panic.com/, time tracking apps, etc - anything that the average GitHub developer would be likely to use, even. My list might be a bit frivolous, but money would give options, at least. (Edit: Actually, why not Heroku style cloud hosting too? The code's already on the service ready to roll..)
  - iamleppert 14y ago
    That's exactly what is wrong with companies. You don't need to acquire every whiz-bang app there is. Focus on your core competencies and on improving your product. Acquiring stuff for show and because it's "in your market" seems strategic on the surface but often times (unless for the talent) is the first mistake.