I got LinkedIn, sort of. Reid Hoffman built a business over a long period of time that has slowly, methodically and carefully become a social network for the professional classes. It is really useful in business for lots of reasons and there are lots of ways it can make money from its activity over time.
AirBnB valued at a $billion? I can see the space being very valuable, but a $billion for a young company in a space where there is relatively little competition, but will be very soon, seems rich.
GroupOn files to raise $750 million in IPO. It better have a whole lot of impressive new stuff up its sleeves to make sense of that. Revenue growth is massive: 2008: $94,000; 2009: $30.5 million; 2010 $713 million. It lost $413m last year and spent $200 million on acquisitions including the Samwer brothers’ Citydeal.
These big IPOs are going to open the door for a whole lot of others too. One thing is for sure, if you want to know how the investment bankers in Silicon Valley are feeling right now, you should take a look at this insightful and thought provoking video that puts you inside their heads.