Earlier quoted context omitted.
None of what you said is true :-).
So he doesn't use GitHub and he's not cautious about using it?
You're right -- let me reword -- nothing that he wrote is true except for the first half of the third paragraph.
Github Raises $100 Million
181–190 of 230 posts
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#182I can't help but think that this investment marks the Pets.com point in this investment cycle. GitHub is essentially a web interface to a single open-source DVCS. The switching costs to using another DVCS such as Mercurial (which I personally prefer) or another Git hosting provider are minimal. There are no barriers to entry since Git is and always will be free. There are very few network effect benefits to using Git…
Go use Bitbucket and tell me it's comparable. It's not. On every level.
I think Bitbucket is pretty good, and has some advantages--most notably that I can have private repositories there without paying. Yes, this may identify me as a cheapskate, but, well.
If anything, I suspect this investment is to make Github more competitive with Bitbucket -- remember, BB's parent company is Atlassian, which has pretty deep enterprise experience they can leverage. You may like GH's issue system better than BB's free one, but a paying BB customer can integrate it seamlessly with Jira and other Atlassian tools.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#183I'm a little surprised by all of the anti-VC sentiment in this thread so far, especially from this community. I'm perhaps even more surprised by the "what do they need 100 million dollars" sentiment that is being floated around. Github is an impressive company that has, so far, blown away its competition in many aspects. The fact that they have been self-bootstrapped up until this point and that they are profitable t…
> With 0 dollars, a couple of guys built something amazing. I can't wait to see what they can do with 100 million. Since substantial funding wasn't a contribution to their first success, nor apparently even their goal, there's no reason to expect that throwing money at them would lead to something even more amazing.
Except that virtually every big company that we admire has successfully used the cash that they've raised to build awesome things that they otherwise couldn't have afforded without considerable risk or years of building up a war chest.
Cash is a tool. Disciplined companies CAN use cash intelligently.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would make AH look like complete fools, judging by the blog post. Not happening.
Why would they look like fools? Investors got 2X in a couple of weeks in insagram's case IIRC.
From github's announcement:
"They (AH) clearly have no interest in the status quo of venture capital."
"we're excited to partner with Andreessen Horowitz to help us make it happen"
"They want to help founders build great companies."
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
So he doesn't use GitHub and he's not cautious about using it?
You're right -- let me reword -- nothing that he wrote is true except for the first half of the third paragraph.
> GitHub is essentially a web interface to a single open-source DVCS.
Maybe I'm missing something, but does GitHub support something other than Git?
> The switching costs to using another [...] Git hosting provider are minimal.
$ git clone git://github.com/jbarham/stathat-line-counter.git
$ cd stathat-line-counter/
$ git remote add bitbucket ssh://git@bitbucket.org/jbarham/stathat-line-counter.git
$ git push -u bitbucket master
> There are no barriers to entry since Git is and always will be free.
> yields on 10-year Treasuries are currently under 2%
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5ETNX
I've worked in investment management. I know that investors with $100 million to throw around don't have a lot of good places to put their money. No pressure. Good luck.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#186"finally" raises funding. In my mind the $750M valuation is still actually pretty consevative. GitHub has a long long way to go and I see so many great things ahead for the team, but I don't understand why they would raise $100M? Is this a deal for the founders to take some money off of the table? I don't see what benefits $100M will have for them. (Don't shoot me for my opinions on this one), but I think it's also r…
Some people prefer BitBucket because it offers free private repos.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Go use Bitbucket and tell me it's comparable. It's not. On every level.
I do use Bitbucket and it does exactly what I need: track changes to my private source code repos and manage issues. Does GitHub do some things better than Bitbucket? Sure, but I don't believe that those differences justify a valuation approaching a billion dollars.
Indeed. I use both and have to say that there's nothing killer about both of them. I have my private projects on bitbucket, but feature wise they are interchangeable.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes some cash can help you execute faster on the plan you already have. As illustrated by the scene form "The Social Network" where Zuckerberg says he wants to expand to 100 schools, and Parker says "'I'll put you on two continents."
So, with this $100M, they can really dominate the code hosting market? There's a reasonable case to be made that they're either going to or already dominate the code hosting market anyways, depending on how big you define it. The only way $100M makes sense is if they're expanding into one or multiple other things.
Thinking too small - for a $100M raise to make sense, valuation has to be $1B or higher, and need a 10x total market for VCs to be interested. So $10B to $100B is the target, and they need very large goals to justify it.
[Edit - I guessed $1B-$10B valuation; WSJ says unnamed source cites $750M. If true, congratulations to A16Z, they got a steal.]
Most of github's mission is removing friction in collaboration around code.
Following this theme, likely expansions: removing transactional overhead to add liquidity to the development market ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem ) which is badly inelastic in the face of great demand. Less audacious, they may just domainate the recruiting market.
Still on the theme, continuing to push on the need to colocate to be productive - online editing, tools in support of code review, user testing, in-app feedback, platform building/distribution.
Build farms, integration tooling, and support markets also seem plausible but more difficult to see (in the current market) how they could get sufficient uptake to justify the target valuation.
One more, less optimistic: IP/patent/code provenance - lots of money attached to those things.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#189Many people do not realize that Github has an enterprise product called github:enterprise. Aside the money they raised for this round, there are also help comes together from the VC, Andreessen Horowitz in this case. I don't have any experience in enterprise sales. But, from what I know, enterprise isn't a market that the best product always wins. Yes, Github definitely has one of the best products out there. But, th…
enterprise sales are radically different than open source evangelism, b2c sales, and small biz sales. The difference is (literally and metaphorically) there is are suits involved. A few key thoughts which are likely to apply: - Per-customer customizations - $100K+ per sale per customer - 3 month to 3 year sales cycles - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). - Certifications/audits (e.g., ISO9001). I can easily…
For what it's worth, 30 guys at $150k per year is only $4.5MM per year.
Re: Github Raises $100 Million
#190I can't help but think that this investment marks the Pets.com point in this investment cycle. GitHub is essentially a web interface to a single open-source DVCS. The switching costs to using another DVCS such as Mercurial (which I personally prefer) or another Git hosting provider are minimal. There are no barriers to entry since Git is and always will be free. There are very few network effect benefits to using Git…
Go use Bitbucket and tell me it's comparable. It's not. On every level.
I do honestly prefer Unfuddle.