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Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

insideintercom.io

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Re: Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

#31

Post by zeroDivisible »

duggan wrote: post #6

Intercom's story has been a wonderful one to watch. They're a particular inspiration for those of us in Ireland; they've consistently aimed high, have set high standards for themselves, and generally raised the bar for Irish companies. Their blogging has been interesting since before Intercom was even incorporated (at their consultancy company, Contrast's[1], blog). They're also a bunch of smart, down to earth people…

Not only the story is wonderful to watch, but I really like their attachment to the community here, in Ireland. Being present on most (all?) of the major events, lending their offices (& time) to host Dublin Code Kata meetings - I was taking part in few of those last year and they had been a blast, promoting TTD and hacking while solving interesting problems. Only time and amount of things to finish in my projects had stopped me from going on those meetings - but I will continue with the nearest opportunity.

I didn't had a chance to use their products, but hearing the opinions about it - and knowing their attitude - I'd vote with my both hands if having the opportunity to do so.

Great job, Guys!

Re: Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

#33

Post by dclara »

blackdogie wrote: post #5

There's some real gold in some of those blog posts on there. Well worth reading.

I think they are really a winner from the following perspective:

1. Have a large enough vision and market 2. Maintain high quality of user engagement 3. Hire a talent team 4. Found the right investors

These are pretty much what every successful startup company needs. But I'm curious about

1. How did they obtain a user base (especially enterprise level accounts in the US) and keep them from the competitors, especially when they didn't have any marketing hiring yet?

2. How are they able to attract the talented team members even they were small? The same for investors.

Looks like they have extremely good luck.

Can you refer some of them which may cover the above questions?

Re: Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

#34

Post by pbreit »

manishsharan wrote: post #20

I have always wondered what is the common definition for a billion dollar company . Is it the annual gross or net revenues or is it the valuation ? If it is valuation, what P/E multiple ?

Valuation. And no P/E since high growth companies have negative earnings (almost by definition).

Re: Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

#35

Post by patio11 »

michaelochurch wrote: post #19
patio11 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very difficult to make the math work out for Series A/B/C if you exit at $50 million. If a VC firm invests $5 million and gets a 3rd of the company, then you sell for $50 million, they get ~$15 million on that deal. Yay. Unfortunately, to get there, they had to spend $30 million on 10 similarly situated company, in excess of half of which have a liquidation value of zero. Absence of yay. I think the parlance for…

The problem is that no one can predict the future, so VCs end up backing people who promise billion-dollar potential. More realistic people who say, "yeah, this could do $50 million, maybe a little more", get hosed. But the either/or dichotomy ($50M lifestyle business vs. billion-dollar world-changer) is stupid. There's nothing that says that one can't get to the $50M point and then, once out of the gravity well, mak…

Suffice it to say that, because the trajectory of a company which goes to $10 million a year in sales and then exits at $50 million is quite different than one which IPOs, including having likely a far smaller number of employees and stock grants set more by "what a founder felt appropriate for his five closest friends" rather than "how to split 20% 200 ways", a $50 million exit can and has been a motivating event for some employees.

For more detail on this, talk to people.

Re: Intercom raises a Series B round of $23M

#36

Post by sunir »

Just to play the armchair investor game...

With 2000 customers, what might be their annual revenue (they say in the millions)? $2-4 million?

Their evaluation must be a huge multiple of revenue. I therefore imagine their belief is they have conversion down so now it is time to buy marketshare?

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