I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
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Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#12So, $250M actually falls short of the $292M they are burning through every year. The net loss of $168M a year means the $250M buys them almost 18 months of runway. Their growth looks less impressive when you consider they spent $292M to only grow revenue $65M. In short, they are spending $5 to make $1. It's possible the customer LTV is actually $6 over a period of years, but they might not be able to borrow enough to…
Could this reflect pressure from investors for a payday? If they feel this is a moment the market believes the business still has "opportunity" even if they don't expect to see it, so they want the liquidity event.
Completely agree about the unflippable profitability switch. Profitability is a direction, not a destination.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#13[deleted]
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#14I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
Isn't that insanely many people compared to what they deliver? Many more than DropBox (300+?) and JottaCloud (~10) without me being able to see why.
Edit: You were before me, so added my comment as a reply to you instead.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#15I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
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Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#16I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
Well, it kind-of explains why they have the losses they have.
In business, usually it's possible to achieve whatever revenue you want; the hard part is getting there without a headcount/other expense basis that makes you bleed money instead of earning it.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#17I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
One word: Sales.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#18So, $250M actually falls short of the $292M they are burning through every year. The net loss of $168M a year means the $250M buys them almost 18 months of runway. Their growth looks less impressive when you consider they spent $292M to only grow revenue $65M. In short, they are spending $5 to make $1. It's possible the customer LTV is actually $6 over a period of years, but they might not be able to borrow enough to…
My understanding of Box is that they focus on enterprise customers more heavily than their competitors. Given upgrade cycles in many large companies, a LTV > $5 is possible.
The difficulty and expense of selling a new product to large companies might also explain the marketing budget.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#19Odd, some numbers are "whited out": "Based on shares of our capital stock outstanding as of January 31, 2014, upon the completion of this offering, a total of shares of Class A common stock and" Can't figure out the valuation.
I think the idea is they fill in these numbers when they get closer to the offering, using values that make sense given the indicated demand.
Re: Box files for $250M IPO on full-year revenue of $124M, net loss of $168M
#20I'm somewhat astounded to hear they have 972 employees. I would have guesstimated somewhere below 200. Even with a huge marketing push, I'm a little at a loss for what they all do.
Isn't that insanely many people compared to what they deliver? Many more than DropBox (300+?) and JottaCloud (~10) without me being able to see why. Edit: You were before me, so added my comment as a reply to you instead.
They have a much higher-touch enterprise sales process, so my guess is that most of the extra employees vs. DropBox are sales, customer service, relationship management, etc. Even after the sell, big clients tend to want dedicated account managers, dedicated support staff they know by name, etc. (Still, it does seem like a lot.)