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Github Raises $100 Million

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Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#31

Post by blhack »

Okay, a question:

I have a github (http://github.com/blhack -- nothing too interesting there), but only use it in the "free" way; saving my javascript stuff, and keeping track of some arduino projects.

"Github" and "money" in the same thought here triggered me wondering about maybe buying a monthly plan from them, and letting them host all of my code for work, play, etc. (stuff I'm too embarrassed to release, ha)

Maybe I'm just naive, but how large are most git repos?

You can get a full pizza box, in a rack, with power and data, and plenty of storage for $50/mo.

You could get two redundant linodes for $40/mo.

What are people getting out of github that they are willing to spend as much money as some of these plans cost?

(What I mean is: if this was $5/mo for unlimited repos, I'd have a plan now. But $7/mo for 5? That seems steep)

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#32

Post by azylman »

brown9-2 wrote: post #16

CEO Tom Preston-Werner said the company hopes to develop new features but also improve existing ones, such as web applications for different operating systems. "web applications for different operating systems"?

My guess is they're talking about the various Github desktop clients and he was misquoted...

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#33

Post by yan »

leftnode wrote: post #12

https://github.com/blog/1189-investing-in-github Straight from them. Congratulations on building such a great business.

I love GitHub, but anyone else felt it was a little immodest for TPW to say they'd "hire Marc" if they could? Can't put it into words, but I don't feel that Tom is in the position to make that statement.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#34

Post by jakebellacera »

yuvadam wrote: post #21

I hate to crash the party, but this is a very odd move for an awesome company and a service that I use and Github has always been against taking money. Actually, TPW has used some very harsh words criticizing startups that choose to take VC money. Now, Github raises 100 gazillion dollars? How the f*ck do they plan on spending that wisely? Sure, it's nice to have that sum in the bank. But, in all honesty, someone has…

I can only imagine that there is a lot of money in Enterprise. A solid support team is exactly what big companies are looking for when they choose to host their code with Github.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#36

Post by djloche »

count wrote: post #9
tubbo wrote: post #3

2 months ago github was all "we don't need VC funding we're completely profitable"...

What better way to pitch?

Yep. I was involved in a local 'pitch your startup to a room full of investors' conference. Guess who 'won' the contest and had everyone talking about it? The three college kids with a mobile app that flat out said, we don't need your money, we're profitable, we have big deals with major corporations and we're growing fast. We're here to work on our product pitch to people outside our niche for continued growth.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#37

Post by anon808 »

swombat wrote: post #19

WTF? Why? What for? What are they planning to do with so much money?

"Because we want to be better. We want to build the best products. We want to solve harder problems. We want to make life easier for more people. The experience and resources of Andreessen Horowitz can help us do that."

I guess they didn't think they were able to build the best products without outside investors.

goes without saying, I hope it doesn't change github for the worse; eventhough history has plenty of counter examples. good luck github.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#39

Post by brntbeer »

blhack wrote: post #31

Okay, a question: I have a github ( http://github.com/blhack -- nothing too interesting there), but only use it in the "free" way; saving my javascript stuff, and keeping track of some arduino projects. "Github" and "money" in the same thought here triggered me wondering about maybe buying a monthly plan from them, and letting them host all of my code for work, play, etc. (stuff I'm too embarrassed to release, ha) Ma…

TPW (or some early GH employee) has posted somewhere that yes, the cost of servers on your own is cheaper.

However, the original goal of GitHub was to build a tool that allowed collaboration easier. You pay for the experience and the tools and the network IMO.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#40

Post by chimi »

yuvadam wrote: post #21

I hate to crash the party, but this is a very odd move for an awesome company and a service that I use and Github has always been against taking money. Actually, TPW has used some very harsh words criticizing startups that choose to take VC money. Now, Github raises 100 gazillion dollars? How the f*ck do they plan on spending that wisely? Sure, it's nice to have that sum in the bank. But, in all honesty, someone has…

There are a couple metaphors here:

1) Burn the ships By committing so strongly to an anti-VC ideology, they forced themselves to focus on profitability. They required themselves to make a sustainable company without the expectations that eventually someone would expand their runway. In the process, they created a very attractive investment opportunity for the trillions of dollars out there sitting on the sidelines looking for the next big thing.

2) Everything has a price

Don't consider this a strike against the github folks, I'm sure they are strong and ethical people, but everything has its price. $100 Million is a lot of money and I'm sure it left the founders with a lot of peace-of-mind that will allow them to focus on building an IPO worthy company.

They haven't done anything immoral and no one gets hurt, rather many people may greatly benefit from this move. They changed their mind like everyone in the world does in the face of smaller sums of money than this.

Good luck Github.

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