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Backblaze IPO

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Re: Backblaze IPO

#71

Post by anamexis »

FfejL wrote: post #34
braum wrote: post #15

Fidelity is handling the IPO and if you have been a customer of BackBlaze for a while apparently you will get to buy before public, up to 1,000 shares between $15-17 per share. That is my understanding.

Not sure where you're getting those numbers. I've been a Backblaze customer for 10+ years, and I was contacted about the directed share program. Have not heard about price or volume yet.

The S-1 does not detail any maximum number of shares for the directed share program, but it does have the expected price near the top.

> We expect the public offering price to be between $15.00 and $17.00 per share.

Re: Backblaze IPO

#73

Post by rsync »

matthewmcg wrote: post #40
rsync wrote: post #38

I find this part interesting - of the ~500,000 customers, 70,000 are B2 customers and 430,000 are "backup" customers ... which are flat-rate "unlimited" users. These flat-rate users are very fickle and price-sensitive. If you peruse subreddits related to cloud storage or online backup, etc., they are filled with very picky users who expect the product to be free - or close to free. It's a fools errand to pursue this…

"Fickle"? I've been a subscriber to the unlimited tier since seemingly forever, and I didn't realize it was now $7/mo instead of $5/mo. I think in the aggregate, subscriptions are pretty sticky due to inertia, etc.

""Fickle"? I've been a subscriber to the unlimited tier since seemingly forever, and I didn't realize it was now $7/mo instead of $5/mo. I think in the aggregate, subscriptions are pretty sticky due to inertia, etc."

I wish that were the case and I wish that all customers were like you.

However, I have been tracking - and discussing - these rates with this target market for longer than Backblaze has existed and this market segment is pretty ruthless. They expect google-quality infrastructure at $0-$5 per month and are constantly shopping providers.

We don't market to them at all anymore ... although, I personally can't resist posting in /r/datahoarder from time to time because I like the group ...

Re: Backblaze IPO

#74

Post by latchkey »

braum wrote: post #15

Fidelity is handling the IPO and if you have been a customer of BackBlaze for a while apparently you will get to buy before public, up to 1,000 shares between $15-17 per share. That is my understanding.

I was contacted about the directed share program. My last IPO participation was RHAT in 2000.

Apparently, Fidelity got my birthday wrong in their system from that last IPO and is now refusing to allow me access to their system until I fill out 5 pages of forms (which I can mail or fax in) or drive into a local office to sort things out.

Good times!

Re: Backblaze IPO

#75

Post by lugged »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #67
bpodgursky wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're confident, short it. Make some money.

Shorting it isn't a bet they'll fail. It's actually a bet they'll fail and the market will realize it, and in that time the value wont value the company higher to liquidate your position. See Gamestop for an example! It's also a bet that they will fail quick enough to make this the best opportunity for your money.

Yea but why let that get in the way of an ignorant and tired trope?

Re: Backblaze IPO

#77

Post by encryptluks2 »

austinpena wrote: post #59
kdasme wrote: post #6

Good luck Backblaze! It is a tough market for sure, especially with recent announcement from Cloudflare.

I think B2 and R2 target different market segments.

How so? Cloudflare R2 targets B2, but technically you're not supposed to use Cloudflare for free B2 egress unless you are on a paid plan.

Re: Backblaze IPO

#78

Post by crossroadsguy »

rsync wrote: post #38

I find this part interesting - of the ~500,000 customers, 70,000 are B2 customers and 430,000 are "backup" customers ... which are flat-rate "unlimited" users. These flat-rate users are very fickle and price-sensitive. If you peruse subreddits related to cloud storage or online backup, etc., they are filled with very picky users who expect the product to be free - or close to free. It's a fools errand to pursue this…

For a backup service they have too many ifs and gotchas. I’d personally stay as far away from them.

I’d rather want something that charges more and doesn’t offer that gimmicky unlimited storage and gives me unlimited versioning and external media and doesn’t delete anything as long as I’m paying and am within my storage limit. That simple.

That’s why I preferred CrashPlan which had a desktop app much less polished than Backblaze but they were a true backup service.

So Backblaze Personal Backup service is a bullshit wrapped in a sophisticated app. My aversion to them is on the same lines of of those VPN and cloud storage companies (pCloud, Koofr etc) offering lifetime plans.

And that’s an unsustainable rate!! I mean what else is there to be argued. Data hoarder crowd often use them.

Lifetime, unlimited are one word gimmicks which ought to be treated as red flags on giant billboards.

Re: Backblaze IPO

#79

Post by mey »

FfejL wrote: post #34
braum wrote: post #15

Fidelity is handling the IPO and if you have been a customer of BackBlaze for a while apparently you will get to buy before public, up to 1,000 shares between $15-17 per share. That is my understanding.

Not sure where you're getting those numbers. I've been a Backblaze customer for 10+ years, and I was contacted about the directed share program. Have not heard about price or volume yet.

How were you contacted? Been a customer for some time. Looking at my billing history looks like 2013. Must not be long enough :(

Re: Backblaze IPO

#80

Post by croutonwagon »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #68
henning wrote: post #8

> We have a history of cumulative losses, and we do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future. Fundamentals seem solid, gotta get me some of those shares!

That alone isn't enough of an argument - see Google (pre ads), Uber, Amazon, or anyone else looking to dominate a market. I'd be interested in what their strategy is and what they want to dominate. Corporate backups? The problem is corporate stuff is mostly in the cloud already. Home use it is handy but it is competing with Apple and Microsoft, and I use them mostly for the "Dropbox Reason" that they make it easiest…

They have an s3 api implementation.

We offload some of our Veeam backups to it.

I think they could compete with an S3 provider that’s better than Glacier or so. Especially if you can start presenting it to say…Linodes or something.

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