Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 120 posts

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#61

Post by logicallee »

adventured wrote: post #25
lostsock wrote: post #12

> Since launching in 2009, Pinterest has raised $764M dollars; once this round closes (whether or not they raise the full $578M), they’ll have surpassed the billion dollar mark. For the sake of this comment let's assume that Pinterest has never had any income at all... can someone please explain what they have spent, or plan on spending, over $1B on? If there isn't a plan to spend this money, what other motivations c…

If the stock market melts down - which it's prone to do once or twice per decade - the ability for Pinterest to IPO and take advantage of favorable market conditions will close, perhaps for years. Simply put, raising money in this environment is extraordinarily favorable, a company may only get this window once every seven to ten years. The Fed has yet to raise interest rates, but may choose to this year. The end of…

this is a good point. if they didn't raise money now, they might have to resort to revenue.

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#62

Post by [deleted] »

taylorbuley wrote: post #17
sharkweek wrote: post #11

You know when you hear about a lot of insane valuations and your jaw sort of drops in disbelief? I feel the opposite when I think about Pinterest. My immediate reaction here is "yeah, makes sense." I guess it must stem from my marketing agency days. I had SO MANY clients begging me to get them into Pinterest ads when they released. I also sit at home and see how much time my wife spends on the site and how dedicated…

The pre-business model unicorn thing still confuses me. The kicker in your comment -- scratching the surface of profitability -- is what I find interesting. What if they start digging to find there's no depth behind this surface? http://www.wsj.com/articles/viewers-dont-add-up-to-profit-fo...

[deleted]

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#63

Post by balls187 »

lostsock wrote: post #12

> Since launching in 2009, Pinterest has raised $764M dollars; once this round closes (whether or not they raise the full $578M), they’ll have surpassed the billion dollar mark. For the sake of this comment let's assume that Pinterest has never had any income at all... can someone please explain what they have spent, or plan on spending, over $1B on? If there isn't a plan to spend this money, what other motivations c…

The prevailing wisdom I was told, if you can raise money on favorable terms, do so.

In any business, and "startups" in general cash is king.

The money could be used to fuel acquisitions, pay early investors, or a number of things.

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#65

Post by jaronheard »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #48
jaronheard wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misleading comparison. Armenia's GDP is the estimated economic worth produced annually by Armenia. Pinterest's valuation relates to the economic value produced by Pinterest for all future years, not annually.

I get the feeling no matter what comparison I make, you'd call it misleading, because that's really splitting at hairs. The thrust of the comment and the point of referencing Armenia's GDP was the scale of the figures. I've now edited it out since apparently nobody can address my point without slapping around the GDP comparison, as if it's important I get every word of my comment exactly right regardless of the point…

I'm not trying to split hairs, it's a difference of 10x magnitude at least. It's a pet peeve of mine when people compare annual amounts to present values. I'm actually sympathetic to your argument about what society values, but if you want people to listen to what you are saying, you might want to be a bit more careful making comparisons like that.

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#66

Post by AtmaScout »

callmeed wrote: post #53
sharkweek wrote: post #11

You know when you hear about a lot of insane valuations and your jaw sort of drops in disbelief? I feel the opposite when I think about Pinterest. My immediate reaction here is "yeah, makes sense." I guess it must stem from my marketing agency days. I had SO MANY clients begging me to get them into Pinterest ads when they released. I also sit at home and see how much time my wife spends on the site and how dedicated…

Agreed 100%. There's so much purchasing intent on Pinterest. I think it could be a stronger platform than Facebook for advertising non-digital goods. Every bride uses Pinterest (and now most wedding vendors and bloggers). My mother-in-law uses it every day to plan all her home remodeling projects and she's 60-something.

I have a family member who described a wedding she went to as a Pinterest wedding. Every thing from food to decorations seemed like it came from the site.

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#67

Post by lisa_henderson »

ptio wrote: post #49
hnnewguy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Seems like a no-brainer that this one is going to end up crossing the IPO finish line at some point" On what planet is an IPO the finish line ?

For founders, employees, and investors that will make significant financial gains from the IPO.

You should run away from any company where "founders, employees, and investors" regard an IPO as the finish line. Run away as fast as you can.

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#68

Post by [deleted] »

jaronheard wrote: post #65
jsmthrowaway wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling no matter what comparison I make, you'd call it misleading, because that's really splitting at hairs. The thrust of the comment and the point of referencing Armenia's GDP was the scale of the figures. I've now edited it out since apparently nobody can address my point without slapping around the GDP comparison, as if it's important I get every word of my comment exactly right regardless of the point…

I'm not trying to split hairs, it's a difference of 10x magnitude at least. It's a pet peeve of mine when people compare annual amounts to present values. I'm actually sympathetic to your argument about what society values, but if you want people to listen to what you are saying, you might want to be a bit more careful making comparisons like that.

[deleted]

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#69

Post by kenko »

nl wrote: post #33
taylorbuley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pre-business model unicorn thing still confuses me. The kicker in your comment -- scratching the surface of profitability -- is what I find interesting. What if they start digging to find there's no depth behind this surface? http://www.wsj.com/articles/viewers-dont-add-up-to-profit-fo...

I'm not sure what your point is? 1) Youtube isn't profitable, but it's taking more and more "hours watched" out of the TV market. Google can keep it running at break even for as long as they want, and then adjust the ad prices up very, very slightly and start making profit based on the huge audience. 2) Video watching (usually) has very little commercial intent, especially in terms of some kind of "commercial value p…

> where a very significant amount of usage has almost direct purchase intent.

But how do you know that it isn't actually 99% window-shopping and fantasy, until you actually put the theory into action?

Re: Pinterest Raises $367M at $11B valuation

#70

Post by bottled_poe »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #48
jaronheard wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misleading comparison. Armenia's GDP is the estimated economic worth produced annually by Armenia. Pinterest's valuation relates to the economic value produced by Pinterest for all future years, not annually.

I get the feeling no matter what comparison I make, you'd call it misleading, because that's really splitting at hairs. The thrust of the comment and the point of referencing Armenia's GDP was the scale of the figures. I've now edited it out since apparently nobody can address my point without slapping around the GDP comparison, as if it's important I get every word of my comment exactly right regardless of the point…

Welcome to the free market. Either deliver what people want or fail. If influencing human behaviour is more important to you, then you may be in the wrong profession.
Post reply on HN