Comments on: Beware the Spectacular B-Round Valuation

By: Dave Kellogg

Dave Kellogg — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:43:31 +0000

See http://www.askventure.com/pre-money-post-money-valuation-and-calculation-in-a-venture-capital-investment/

By: Nikolai Skatchkov

Nikolai Skatchkov — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Hello Dave,

I’m a student and the equity side is quite new to me. How can I calculate the pre-money valuation of a company after the first round but before the next one? Does the IRR differ to new investors or does the company offer always the same IRR (e.g. 35%)?

Best rgrds,

Nikolai

By: Why Palantir Makes My Head Hurt | Kellblog

Why Palantir Makes My Head Hurt | Kellblog — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:23:27 +0000

[...] I’ve blogged before about Palantir Technologies (e.g., The Next MicroStrategy, Beware the Spectacular B-Round Valuation), this will most probably be my last post about them because, since leaving MarkLogic, I am no [...]

By: Facebook Investor Peter Thiel: Palantir Is The Next Facebook Or Google - Oliver Chiang - SelectStart - Forbes

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:45:36 +0000

[...] million. Dave Kellogg, former CEO of business intelligence software maker MarkLogic, speculates in a blog post that “dumb money” might be involved here. “I think it means that… The [...]

By: Dave Kellogg

Dave Kellogg — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:07:02 +0000

Thanks Vic, I did see that this morning.

Best,
Dave

By: Facebook Investor Peter Thiel: Palantir Is The Next Facebook Or Google | Hack In The Box | Hacking and Computer security news

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:57:09 +0000

By: Vic

Vic — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:29:07 +0000

Hi Dave,

You probably know this already, but just in case you didn’t, this post just got mentioned on Forbes:

http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2011/02/28/facebook-investor-peter-thiel-palantir-is-the-next-facebook-or-google/

Best,

Vic

By: Best of Kellblog 2010 | Kellblog

Best of Kellblog 2010 | Kellblog — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:51:21 +0000

[...] Beware the Spectacular B-Round Valuation [...]

By: Gibbo

Gibbo — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:20:47 +0000

There’s a saying; revenue equals vanity, EBIT equals sanity. Perhaps this would be fitting here given the rounds of capital raisings that they’ve had.

By: Dave Kellogg

Dave Kellogg — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:19:35 +0000

Ken,

The question is on what basis are you deciding that they are doing well? Big events? Fancy offices? Lots of employees? … all those things cost money.

While I’m not sure about Palantir, the go big or go home strategy basically entails creating an illusion of a successful business by effectively buying revenue at up to 100% of more losses — e.g., I’m told that Exalead did around $20M in revenues but with $20M in losses — roughly speaking that cost s$20M/year … hence if you want to keep that sort of thing going you need to raise money and lots.

Main point: “doing well” is largely about perception that can be bought. Actually doing well, imho, entails creating a sustainable business.