The filing of the Groupon S1 has resulted in a lot of discussion about Groupon’s business model. Most of the comments were negative, going as far as calling Groupon a “Ponzi Scheme,” although there were a few defenders, such as Steve Cheney. I was particularly intrigued by a thorough analysis by Yipit that shows that Groupon’s economics appear to be deteriorating in a more mature market such as Boston. If that is indeed the case, then it supports my previous contention that Groupon does not r...

The filing of the Groupon S1 has resulted in a lot of discussion about Groupon’s business model. Most of the comments were negative, going as far as calling Groupon a “Ponzi Scheme,” although there were a few defenders, such as Steve Cheney. I was particularly intrigued by a thorough analysis by Yipit that shows that Groupon’s economics appear to be deteriorating in a more mature market such as Boston. If that is indeed the case, then it supports my previous contention that Groupon does not r...

Yes, I realize that’s a contradiction, but it seems to capture the essence of deals such as Goldman’s investment in Facebook at a $50B valuation and Groupon’s half-complete $950 million fundraising effort. These deals are designed to provide significant liquidity for insiders (especially early investors and employees), provide a piggy bank for continued aggressive growth and establish a share price for use in acquisitions. Those are all the things that companies traditionally got from an IPO....

Yes, I realize that’s a contradiction, but it seems to capture the essence of deals such as Goldman’s investment in Facebook at a $50B valuation and Groupon’s half-complete $950 million fundraising effort. These deals are designed to provide significant liquidity for insiders (especially early investors and employees), provide a piggy bank for continued aggressive growth and establish a share price for use in acquisitions. Those are all the things that companies traditionally got from an IPO....

Despite their best efforts to screw up the Mac client, I still love Skype both as a consumer service and as an independent company. Back when eBay decided to spin out Skype to private investors instead of waiting and spinning it out to eBay holders I was surprised (to put it mildly). Now I am equally surprised at the thought of Skype selling to Google or Facebook instead of going public. Does the team behind Skype have so little faith in their ability to be a meaningful independent company? S...

Despite their best efforts to screw up the Mac client, I still love Skype both as a consumer service and as an independent company. Back when eBay decided to spin out Skype to private investors instead of waiting and spinning it out to eBay holders I was surprised (to put it mildly). Now I am equally surprised at the thought of Skype selling to Google or Facebook instead of going public. Does the team behind Skype have so little faith in their ability to be a meaningful independent company? S...

Super detailed post by Bill Gurley about IPOs followed by a riff from Fred with more good reasons why could and should see more IPOs from Internet companies. So I am piling on with an IPO post as well, but one about how (at least some) Internet companies should be doing IPOs. And since yesterday I used 3.0 (with regard to photo sharing), I figured I’d throw in another version number today. The 2.0 reference here is not gratuitous though. The term “Web 2.0” has gone out of vogue some time back...

Super detailed post by Bill Gurley about IPOs followed by a riff from Fred with more good reasons why could and should see more IPOs from Internet companies. So I am piling on with an IPO post as well, but one about how (at least some) Internet companies should be doing IPOs. And since yesterday I used 3.0 (with regard to photo sharing), I figured I’d throw in another version number today. The 2.0 reference here is not gratuitous though. The term “Web 2.0” has gone out of vogue some time back...