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

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#31

Post by almost_usual » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:21 AM UTC

woolvalley wrote: post #29

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.

Right but why now? Why would I want to invest in a company that would implode without private investment when we might be facing an economic downturn?

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#32

Post by artursapek » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:21 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.

Tesla is definitely hyped, but that's not the only reason for its market value right now. They are _the_ electric car company, nobody wants other electric cars nearly as much as they want a Tesla.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#33

Post by dmix » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:24 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…

This first-to-market strategy has largely been discredited in the business world.

I remember reading a Harvard Business Review article many years ago about how it was the go-to strategy for companies launching products in the 80/90s. To gain the "First mover advantage". Turns out there's far too much risk for too little (potential) reward, which the graveyard of countless dead first-mover companies/products attests to.

The dot-com boom really put a nail in the coffin of that idea. Especially for tech companies and any industry with highly capitalized organizations who can move quickly is far more valuable than being the first available.

Plus you get to learn from the expensive mistakes the first companies almost always make.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#34

Post by john_moscow » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:26 AM UTC

boxcardavin wrote: post #19

I've noticed a surge ofex-uber folks looking to angel invest having been popping up in the past few months. I'm excited for this IPO purely for the money that will be invested in transportation this next year.

>I'm excited for this IPO purely for the money that will be invested in transportation this next year.

Not really. More like U.S. pension fund money being used to pay off the Saudi investors, or whoever is behind the SoftBank laundromat.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#35

Post by admax88q » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:27 AM UTC

a_t48 wrote: post #28

paxys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

Shorts only work if the market corrects fast enough for it to be worth while.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#36

Post by admax88q » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:28 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..

Most big tech IPOs these days are just for the founders to cash out. Look at facebook's, they were essenitally done growing and innovating, the IPO was just a means for execs to cash in their stock at inflated rates.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#37

Post by thatoneuser » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:32 AM UTC

woolvalley wrote: post #29

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.

I would assume that when we’re talking about billions of dollars that the people in charge of creating an IPO strategy are a bit more ahead of the markets than the rest of us right? Full disclosure I’m not knowledgeable in this area, but it would seem to me that this is the case and having made plans months before the market turns isn’t necessarily proof that it isn’t being done with market knowledge. Just a thought.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#38

Post by pmart123 » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:35 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…

Twitter was just added to the S&P 500 this year. Facebook wasn't added until 2013.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sp500-facebook/facebook-t...

The chances of Uber getting into a major index quickly is very remote. On the bright side, Uber has a CFO now :). I doubt many institutional investors will be forced to buy the stock. It will be interesting to see what percentage Uber tries to float though.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#39

Post by isoskeles » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:37 AM UTC

sethherr wrote: post #27

paxys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't understand how this brings insight into "additional factors" in their "valuation", as the article mentions nothing about their valuation, just that they have efficient batteries.

Re: Uber Joins Lyft in Race to Tap Investors

#40

Post by markus_orlandis » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 2:39 AM UTC

adventured wrote: post #26

paxys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Just because they've been performing does not imply that they're not overvalued. TSLA has been overvalued for years. That doesn't mean it's a bad investment, it just means it brings along higher risk.