Featured Videos

Scaling a Pre-IPO Enterprise Software Company: Anaplan CEO Fred Laluyaux (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

This story traces the mechanics of scaling an enterprise software company that is close to $100 million in bookings in 2014, and is contemplating an IPO soon.

Sramana: Fred, let’s start out this story by learning a bit more about you. What is your backstory?

Fred Laluyaux: I was born and raised in Paris, France. I started my first business as a DJ when I was in college. I went to a business school in France between 1988 and 1992. I tried to launch a company around the music business and I was tempted to run that as a business. I enjoyed technology although my degree was in business. I did, however, do a training program in the US with a technology company as part of my college work. That is how I gained my passion for technology. I stayed in touch with the CEO of that company and he acquired the exclusive rights for their technology, which was developed by some folks from MIT and Harvard. >>>

Buliding a Venture Scale Analytics Platform Company: Birst CEO, Brad Peters (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What was your original estimate of the TAM for your application in the financial services area? As the market was shifting, what did you estimate it down to that made you explore other verticals?

Brad Peters: The TAM for each application was probably $100 million. It had to be $100 million to get into it. The idea would be you could find multiple of these $100 million segments. We weren’t sure, but we figured that there are roughly 100 financial services institutions and 150 to 200 minor ones. If we could get a reasonable percentage of them, we’ll probably hit 50% of the TAM, or about $50 million. >>>

Building a Healthcare Company from Rhode Island: ShapeUp CEO Rajiv Kumar (Part 7)

Sramana: What has your overall financing strategy been for the business? I know you raised $1.3 million in your early angel rounds. Have you raised additional funds?

Rajiv Kumar: We raised $8 million dollars during our first Series A, and this past fall, we did a $5 million Series B.

Sramana: Where are you in terms of revenue run rates?

Rajiv Kumar: We are well into the 8 figure revenue run rate. We were EBITA positive last year and we grew our top-line business by 60% last year. We are projecting similar growth for 2014.

Sramana: When you bring in new capital, what levers are you pushing with that capital? >>>

Buliding a Venture Scale Analytics Platform Company: Birst CEO, Brad Peters (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Was the seed that you got enough to get you to the next milestone or did you have to raise?

Brad Peters: We raised seed financing before we started. We couldn’t afford to make the mortgage payment without a little bit of seed financing. We got a little bit of seed financing from some VCs and paid ourselves next to nothing, just enough to keep the lights on.

Sramana Mitra: In terms of raising the seed money, what did you sell the VCs? What was the investment thesis that you sold the VCs?

>>>

Building a Healthcare Company from Rhode Island: ShapeUp CEO Rajiv Kumar (Part 6)

Sramana: Was the transition process contentious or was it something that happened naturally?

Rajiv Kumar: It was not contentious, although it was not easy. Change is hard, but it felt like the right thing to do. The ideas I was presenting and my evangelism were compelling. It took some planning, but I was impressed with how well that transition went. It was generally a very smooth process.

Sramana: Where was the business when you came back in 2012? What were the metrics that you were tracking?

Rajiv Kumar: The business was in the mid seven figures in terms of run rate. It was experiencing double digit growth rates. The product was starting to lag behind and a lot of competitors were starting to emerge. >>>

Buliding a Venture Scale Analytics Platform Company: Birst CEO, Brad Peters (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What did you do in 2005 when you started this company?

Brad Peters: We needed to do two things. We had to get some funding because we didn’t have personal savings to be able to survive very long. We needed some seed capital. We spent a lot of time thinking through markets where, with a single sale, we could get enough customer traction to fund the company for a period of time. >>>

Buliding a Venture Scale Analytics Platform Company: Birst CEO, Brad Peters (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You were at Siebel through that acquisition?

Brad Peters: No, I wasn’t. You could see the writing on the wall. Analytics was exploding. We were doing really well, but the rest of the company was not doing so well. It was actually shrinking. You could tell that the company was on a collision course with something else. It just wasn’t adapting to newer technologies and architectures. There were a couple of observations that came out of that experience. We had this analytics product that was doing really well, which was basically tackling the idea that normal business people in organizations need data to make decisions and that seemed to be something that was insatiable and was going to continue to grow for some time. There was huge demand for that. >>>

Building a Healthcare Company from Rhode Island: ShapeUp CEO Rajiv Kumar (Part 4)

Sramana: Was there any kind of targeting or segmenting that you were doing when approaching enterprises?

Rajiv Kumar: Absolutely. We had a very specific approach for employee wellness. We learned that it was an uphill battle for companies that did not believe in employee wellness to begin with. If they were not already investing in the health of their employees, then they were not good prospects. It is a major effort to change people’s minds about wellness and that is not something we were financed to do. Instead, we went to the companies that had already committed to their employees health to show them how they could get even more out of their existing programs. >>>