Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
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Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
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Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#2"If you think about it like we’re driving a car, we want to go extremely fast at an extremely high speed, and go very far,” [CEO] Conrad said. “And if you want to do that you’re gonna burn a lot of gasoline. So this round we had to do the mother of all pit stops for gas and beef jerky, to continue building at the speed that we’re going."
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#3"If you think about it like we’re driving a car, we want to go extremely fast at an extremely high speed, and go very far,” [CEO] Conrad said. “And if you want to do that you’re gonna burn a lot of gasoline. So this round we had to do the mother of all pit stops for gas and beef jerky, to continue building at the speed that we’re going."
I wonder what Marc Andreessen thinks of this statement...
Context: http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-on-startup-bu...
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#4$4.5B Valuation for an SaaS business that doesn't charge for it's service and makes money from commissions?
Did they invent something no one else can do? Why would insurance companies not just scrap the middle man and build their own thing?
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#5$4.5B Valuation for an SaaS business that doesn't charge for it's service and makes money from commissions? Did they invent something no one else can do? Why would insurance companies not just scrap the middle man and build their own thing?
I don't know about other insurance companies, but the ones I know are incredibly bad at building software (I don't know any in the healthcare or HR business though).
Still, they're burning a very worrying amount of money.
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#6[deleted]
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#7$4.5B Valuation for an SaaS business that doesn't charge for it's service and makes money from commissions? Did they invent something no one else can do? Why would insurance companies not just scrap the middle man and build their own thing?
I suppose for the same reason supermarket companies are different from food companies.
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#8A fella named Kevin from Zenefits sent me email once asking about our human resource needs.
I told Kevin that we have no need for human resources since our company was run entirely by strong AI. I signed it, Yours in the Singularity.
Kevin never emailed me back.
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#9$4.5B Valuation for an SaaS business that doesn't charge for it's service and makes money from commissions? Did they invent something no one else can do? Why would insurance companies not just scrap the middle man and build their own thing?
I don't know about other insurance companies, but the ones I know are incredibly bad at building software (I don't know any in the healthcare or HR business though). Still, they're burning a very worrying amount of money.
Zenefits are one of the few companies where the burn rate is probably inevitable. They're trying to get a secure foothold in a market that has slow-moving, largely technologically ignorant companies who are very wealthy. That wealth could be used to leverage the incumbent companies' dominant position if someone successfully starts to disrupt things. They need to get to a position where they can't be crowded out by the big players fast. That means spending a lot. Growing slowly isn't an option.
Uber was the same. PayPal was the same. They were both so successful at it that the incumbents in their respective markets have just accepted the loss of market share without any return strategy. I imagine that's Zenefits aim too.
Re: Zenefits (YC W13) Just Raised $500M at a $4.5B Valuation
#10Does anyone know of a Zenefits like business that serves the UK?
I've not come across anything close and HR administration is just as big of pain in the UK as the US. I recognise the business model (commissions on health insurance) wouldn't work in the UK, but I'd be happy to pay. Our health insurance costs are so much lower anyway....