Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#21

Post by paulcole » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:10 AM UTC

whitepoplar wrote: post #17

john_moscow wrote: post #6

Decades ago companies competed in being the first to bring the product to the market, so enough prospects would try theirs first and become loyal users. These days the competition is about being the first to sell your story to the retail investor before the hype cools down and people get disillusioned about the entire business model (see GRPN, SNAP, etc). I'm truly wondering how sustainable is this and how hard the m…

My favorite thing about the public markets is that it doesn't matter how much hype a company garners on TechCrunch, where the founders went to school, or how slick the company office spaces are. A piece of shit is a piece of shit, and conversely, a diamond is a diamond. That's not to say that public companies can't run on hype--they absolutely can--but eventually hype wears off and a company must show that it's a rea…

Yes, no stock has ever been affected by hype.

It can take YEARS for the market to get things right.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#22

Post by wbl » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:10 AM UTC

koolba wrote: post #16

imustbeevil wrote: post #8

I'd confidently state that I love capitalism, but I'm not very happy with the idea that Uber could turn 17 billion dollars into 7 billion dollars and then hand the bag to retail investors. The thing I tell myself is that the money is all going to the same place anyway. Yeah, Uber is going to cash out and bomb from their IPO price, and everyone who buys will lose. But anyone who would buy Uber is going to do any numbe…

I have no lost sleep for retail investors who confuse speculation with investment. That’s their money and they do can as they wish. It’s the forced buy in by funds and pensions that I don’t like. Many are dictated by objective formulas like top N by market cap which may lead either Uber or Lyft to be included quite quickly. Biggest preventer for either may be the “four recent quarters of profitability” requirement. D…

Active vs. Passive over the 20th century shows that active management doesn't work for the customer.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#23

Post by cft » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

john_moscow wrote: post #6

Decades ago companies competed in being the first to bring the product to the market, so enough prospects would try theirs first and become loyal users. These days the competition is about being the first to sell your story to the retail investor before the hype cools down and people get disillusioned about the entire business model (see GRPN, SNAP, etc). I'm truly wondering how sustainable is this and how hard the m…

> sell your story.

Their main product is equity now. Notice how instead of positions they now hire for "roles".

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#24

Post by almost_usual » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

drannex wrote: post #7

almost_usual wrote: post #5

So are these companies rushing to IPO before a 'potential' recession occurs? Does anyone else not feel confident about this? It seems fear driven and not very calculated. Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture..

Launching before a recession is more ideal than before as funding would be easier to secure from the public vs private institutions especially if they continue losing money at this rate.

Right but all this tells me is that the company will implode without further investment. The fact they are rushing to IPO seems like the private investors are wanting the average joe to be holding the bag when it does implode.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#25

Post by sokoloff » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

imustbeevil wrote: post #8

I'd confidently state that I love capitalism, but I'm not very happy with the idea that Uber could turn 17 billion dollars into 7 billion dollars and then hand the bag to retail investors. The thing I tell myself is that the money is all going to the same place anyway. Yeah, Uber is going to cash out and bomb from their IPO price, and everyone who buys will lose. But anyone who would buy Uber is going to do any numbe…

By that article, Uber took in $17+ billion dollars, showed losses of $10+ billion, and created a company worth an estimated $70+ billion. Even give them a 75% haircut from there and they still broke even once you cash cow the company, harvest the tax losses in future years, and eventually wind it down. I'm not buying in at $72B, but it's not clear at all that they've destroyed investor value nor certain that they will in the future.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#26

Post by adventured » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:14 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #20

whitepoplar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite thing about the public markets is that it doesn't matter how much hype a company garners on TechCrunch, where the founders went to school, or how slick the company office spaces are. A piece of shit is a piece of shit, and conversely, a diamond is a diamond. That's not to say that public companies can't run on hype--they absolutely can--but eventually hype wears off and a company must show that it's a rea…

Have you met TSLA? Public markets are as much based on hype than anything else.

TSLA... the company that doubled its sales in the last three quarters and is outselling BMW and Mercedes in the US?

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#27

Post by sethherr » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:14 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #20

whitepoplar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite thing about the public markets is that it doesn't matter how much hype a company garners on TechCrunch, where the founders went to school, or how slick the company office spaces are. A piece of shit is a piece of shit, and conversely, a diamond is a diamond. That's not to say that public companies can't run on hype--they absolutely can--but eventually hype wears off and a company must show that it's a rea…

Have you met TSLA? Public markets are as much based on hype than anything else.

Have you seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18618365 ? It brought interesting insight into additional factors in TSLA’s valuation

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#28

Post by a_t48 » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:16 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #20

whitepoplar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite thing about the public markets is that it doesn't matter how much hype a company garners on TechCrunch, where the founders went to school, or how slick the company office spaces are. A piece of shit is a piece of shit, and conversely, a diamond is a diamond. That's not to say that public companies can't run on hype--they absolutely can--but eventually hype wears off and a company must show that it's a rea…

Have you met TSLA? Public markets are as much based on hype than anything else.

If that’s true, couldn’t you short it?

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#29

Post by woolvalley » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:18 AM UTC

almost_usual wrote: post #5

So are these companies rushing to IPO before a 'potential' recession occurs? Does anyone else not feel confident about this? It seems fear driven and not very calculated. Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture..

The prep and planning required for these IPOs were done months before these market drops happened.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#30

Post by tanilama » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:19 AM UTC

dman wrote: post #14

I am calling a market top here with the recent flurry of plans to IPO. Market has been shaky recently and I wonder if investors/founders are trying to get out ahead of a complete meltdown.

Exactly. If they are not getting out now, they might not exit ever.