GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by danieltillett on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @07:16PM (#9972277)

The most interesting thing about all these massive fund raisings is why. It is almost as if the managers of these companies think we are about to enter a period where raising funds will be impossible, revenue from servicing the startup economy will dry up, and they will need a massive war chest to survive.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by patio11 on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @10:13PM (#9972870)

revenue from servicing the startup economy will dry up

One of the salient differences between the 90s tech bubble and our current state of affairs is that in the 90s Yahoo sold to startups justifying a higher valuation for Yahoo justifying more startups... and this largely doesn't happen now.

I haven't worked with Github but I have worked with many companies which are "strikingly similar" to Github. Their median customer is a boring business which sells things to people for money. If the entire Bay Area slid into the sea, most software companies wouldn't notice until their pull requests stopped getting accepted.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by danieltillett on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @11:48PM (#9973080)

I know SV is the center of the current tech boom, but one of the things this time around is the startup economy is much larger and more wide spread. There seems to be many more startups outside of the traditional centers which is good.

While I agree with you that things are different this time, I still suspect that there is a fair bit of growth acceleration coming from startup dollars being recycled back through the startup economy.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by tptacek on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @09:55PM (#9972823)

If you build a machine that reliably turns $1.00 into $1.10, your next moves are (a) try to turn the next dollar into $1.15 and (b) find as many new dollars as you can to feed the machine.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by idlewords on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @09:58PM (#9972829)

Why not just loop the dollar through and live comfortably on the surplus?

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by tptacek on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @10:01PM (#9972843)

More money > less money?

Don't look at me. We didn't raise VC either. Nor will we, until I take off this "WWMCD" bracelet.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by nulltype on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @10:33PM (#9972918)

I'm pretty sure he'd go to Antarctica.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by cpach on Thursday July 30, 2015 @07:17AM (#9974219)

Starfighter should take funding, open up a local antarctic branch and hire Maciej as the office manager.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by simplyluke on Thursday July 30, 2015 @12:19AM (#9973151)

Because looping $250m through gives you a lot more surplus to live off of. If we're talking in terms of investment/compound interest, a larger principal is obviously desirable

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by danieltillett on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @11:38PM (#9973057)

This is assuming that there is no such thing as market saturation or diminishing returns :)

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by e40 on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @07:22PM (#9972301)

Sometimes fundraising is to get cash to founders, early investors.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by danieltillett on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @11:38PM (#9973058)

mmm - insiders trying to get out is never a good sign.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by e40 on Thursday July 30, 2015 @12:22AM (#9973160)

Well, it happens all the time, so obviously lots of investors, VCs and founders disagree with you.

I can be a very bad sign, under certain conditions, sure. It's not meaningful all by itself, though.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by Anderkent on Thursday July 30, 2015 @12:37PM (#9976151)

People wanting to rebalance their portfolio isn't really a warning. Someone selling out completely perhaps is; but people need money for things.

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by hermanmerman on Wednesday July 29, 2015 @09:36PM (#9972763)

Why wait to find out, when there is money on the table right now?

Also, sometimes they have to take a lot of money, as later-stage investors want to control a sizable chunk of the company (in this case, 12.5%).

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Re:GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation by danieltillett on Thursday July 30, 2015 @01:10AM (#9973257)

Well I don’t think any company has to take any money, but I agree that it might not be a decision the founders have any control over (board level decision).

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