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Atlassian Acquires Loom

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Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#341

Post by andrewstuart »

pyrophane wrote: post #88
andygcook wrote: post #2

For anyone else curious, Loom raised $205M with the last round at a $1.5B valuation. This deal is for $975M in cash. Sources: - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/loom - https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenli1/2022/03/14/nearly-bro... - https://twitter.com/andrew__reed/status/1712458243883110599?... (Edit: formatting)

Without knowing the specific of their last round, does anyone have an idea of what selling at roughly 2/3 of their previous valuation likely means for their employees? I know that VCs typically have some kind of "upside protection" in later rounds that guarantees them first money out in the event of a sale on some multiple of their investment, but I don't know what terms are common.

I'm listening to the audiobook of "Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist "

https://www.amazon.com.au/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capit...

It's worth listening to if you want to understand this stuff better.

Having just listened to this book, I would guess that this sale has not been a great outcome for the founder and employees.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#344

Post by killingtime74 »

neilv wrote: post #331
gangstead wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The startup system is pretty rigged against accidentally making anyone rich who is a mere employee. That money is for the investors, not the working class. The days of the office assistant making millions on stock are long gone. There's options with huge tax implications, long vesting periods, the investors get preferred stock, they get guaranteed multiples, if there's a down round there's a carve-out that you won't…

If I want to found a VC-funded startup for which a successful exit is much more fair to the employees, how do I do that? Will the investors insist that it all come out of the founders' percentage of the pie, or can I argue that the better-incentived employees mean a bigger and more likely pie, so VC terms shoudl be less grabby? Will VCs react negatively to "being soft on" employees, even if it all comes out of founde…

First find a VC fund that agrees with you

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#346

Post by wutwutwat »

segasuperstar wrote: post #129
habosa wrote: post #122

Loom is probably the simplest billion-dollar piece of software, but it's also excellent software and I am happy they're getting paid. Screen recording before Loom was a pain. You had to open up some program, start it, save the file, upload the file somewhere, and share it. And if you had to edit the recording at all ... probably start over. With Loom it's all one click and it's ready to share the instant you hit the…

My immediate reaction was that value-wise it was a joke, how can they be worth $1 billion? I agree with what you're saying here though, one click, ACL controlled and simple to use videos. Concur with the enablement of the remote culture. I would have thought Atlassian could clone that so simply. The Loom software is super buggy though, I have to open their site or extension or desktop app multiple times before it sta…

> My immediate reaction was that value-wise it was a joke, how can they be worth $1 billion?

It's probably way more about the in to the large install base of users to start pushing other Atlassian suite products on.

"Hey there happy Atlassian (formarly Loom) customer, since you're now in our ecosystem where products go to die, may we interest you in a Jira or a Confluence? They come with a complementary week of consecutive downtime on the house!"

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#347

Post by malfist »

HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #277
malfist wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to drink the koolaide to be a productive member of the team. Drinking the koolaide doesn't mean you'll be a productive member of the team. Pretty pointless of a filter

Maybe in a big company, but actually I completely disagree with this in the context of a small startup. In that context, having a tight team of people who are highly passionate about the product is _essential_.

I think you can be highly passionate about solving complex problems without being highly passionate about the product

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#348

Post by cj »

neilv wrote: post #331
gangstead wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The startup system is pretty rigged against accidentally making anyone rich who is a mere employee. That money is for the investors, not the working class. The days of the office assistant making millions on stock are long gone. There's options with huge tax implications, long vesting periods, the investors get preferred stock, they get guaranteed multiples, if there's a down round there's a carve-out that you won't…

If I want to found a VC-funded startup for which a successful exit is much more fair to the employees, how do I do that? Will the investors insist that it all come out of the founders' percentage of the pie, or can I argue that the better-incentived employees mean a bigger and more likely pie, so VC terms shoudl be less grabby? Will VCs react negatively to "being soft on" employees, even if it all comes out of founde…

> how do I do that?

The only good answer to this is 1) don't raise more VC money than you really need, and 2) don’t raise money at a valuation way above what your company is actually worth.

The problem in the scenario here is that they sold for below the valuation of their last funding round, and the size of their last funding round was ginormous.

When you raise hundreds of millions at a $1.5b valuation, you’re expected to sell above $1.5b at some point in the future. Any less and you didn’t live up to the opportunity that you pitched investors (and the financial outcomes for everyone deteriorates when you sell for way less than your valuation).

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#350

Post by bentcorner »

mayormcmatt wrote: post #238
Legion wrote: post #191

Ask me about LOOM

So, tell me about LOOM.

You mean the sensational platform for video messaging and screen recording from the geniuses at Loom™? Ah, it's a revolutionary experience that'll transform how you communicate in the business landscape! Boasting an intuitive interface that even your grandma can use, jaw-dropping video quality, and super-speedy sharing capabilities. We're talking about top-notch encryption, folks, not to mention screen and camera recording with pixel-perfect clarity! No more tedious emails or confusing Slack threads. Simplify your life! Beat the rush! Go out and buy Loom™ today!
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