3 ms·

Revenue in 2014 was approx $100 million. Maybe growth numbers were not doing well...

solve 11y ago
Companies valued purely based on revenue streams alone will typically sell for 2x to 5x their yearly revenue. This is a big part of why it's SMART for most consumer startups to avoid earning revenue at all. Doing so will often cap their potential exit price, in practice. Still, this at least was at the higher end, for purely revenue-based valuations.
- msie 11y ago
  Heh, Silicon Valley (the show) talks about maintaining a pre-revenue state.
  - TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
    How many SV VCs would have turned him down because his team and his pitch deck weren't cool enough, and they "weren't looking for investments in that sector"? I'd love to see more examples of successful bootstrapped and/or lifestyle businesses, but - unlike PoF - most of them they don't get the same PR as the mainstream startups, which makes them harder to find/follow.
  - solve 11y ago
    Likewise, a cap on a convertible note may be used by investors in the next round as an anchoring point to restrict the valuation in the next round. Both of these effects are what a layman would think "shouldn't be real". From experience, both are extremely real. Too bad that the TV shows present these as sort of jokes. That disappoints me. No joke, these are dead real.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      Jokes are often about reality.
kitcar 11y ago
Online dating is a mature industry with lots of M&A and therefore historical multiples -
- x5n1 11y ago
  For someone like Facebook or Google that does not matter. It doesn't look like he shopped it to enough buyers. Or perhaps this was a quick and easy deal, he would have to wait on others. Also perhaps he was afraid of losing to mobile.
  - giarc 11y ago
    Shopping the site around to get more than $500 million is just ego boosting at that point. That's more than enough money to do whatever you want for the rest of your life.

solve 11y ago

Companies valued purely based on revenue streams alone will typically sell for 2x to 5x their yearly revenue. This is a big part of why it's SMART for most consumer startups to avoid earning revenue at all. Doing so will often cap their potential exit price, in practice. Still, this at least was at the higher end, for purely revenue-based valuations.

msie 11y ago
Heh, Silicon Valley (the show) talks about maintaining a pre-revenue state.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  How many SV VCs would have turned him down because his team and his pitch deck weren't cool enough, and they "weren't looking for investments in that sector"? I'd love to see more examples of successful bootstrapped and/or lifestyle businesses, but - unlike PoF - most of them they don't get the same PR as the mainstream startups, which makes them harder to find/follow.
- solve 11y ago
  Likewise, a cap on a convertible note may be used by investors in the next round as an anchoring point to restrict the valuation in the next round. Both of these effects are what a layman would think "shouldn't be real". From experience, both are extremely real. Too bad that the TV shows present these as sort of jokes. That disappoints me. No joke, these are dead real.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    Jokes are often about reality.

kitcar 11y ago

Online dating is a mature industry with lots of M&A and therefore historical multiples -

x5n1 11y ago
For someone like Facebook or Google that does not matter. It doesn't look like he shopped it to enough buyers. Or perhaps this was a quick and easy deal, he would have to wait on others. Also perhaps he was afraid of losing to mobile.
- giarc 11y ago
  Shopping the site around to get more than $500 million is just ego boosting at that point. That's more than enough money to do whatever you want for the rest of your life.