Slow Year For IPOs From VC-Backed Companies
from the no-surprise-there dept
I’m sure it’s no surprise to most people out there that if you’re working at a private, venture capital-backed startup, your chances of going public in the near future are pretty slim. With the market continuing to struggle, this is no surprise. I tend to be an optimist on these things, though. The actual number of companies going public doesn’t indicate anything to me. Clearly, during the boom, VCs and investment bankers were pushing out half-baked (if they were baked at all) companies that had no business being in business, let alone pretending they were publice companies. Because of what the times were, there were very few companies being built in those days with solid foundations. Since the downturn, I believe that more private companies are being built on solid foundations, but it takes a long time before solid companies, with real business potential, are ready to go public. Where many VCs are being stupid these days is in not be willing to back even those companies. They still pine for the days of funding-to-IPO in six months, and are missing many opportunities to take an early lead and fund companies that will be the next IPO stars.
