Posted by unregistered user at 6/20/08 4:44 p.m.

Revenue Science - great company. DigiMine - Interesting product.

But it seems the management thinks the company is going to be bigger than it is (i.e. they're waiting for the $500m or $1b buy out offer).

Posted by unregistered user at 6/20/08 8:31 p.m.

Classic example of how crazy valuations lead to poor judgment. Great technology, great customers, great market, great team that knows how to operate. Yet, somehow, not a success. Hmmmmm...

Ben Elowitz, are you paying attention? What's your plan to deal with your insane valuation? Where's your exit?

Posted by unregistered user at 6/21/08 8:57 a.m.

This is what some entrepreneurs describe as the inherent problem with taking VC money. If digimine/revenue science was able to grow with a much smaller up-front investment, it would largely be considered a success. I bet it's growth has been impressive and it's profitable (or near so).

But when someone expects a 5-10x return to justify their risk in investing millions, they're not going to be happy with incremental revenue growth. So after $80 million invested, they're looking for Revenue Science to sell for $500m-$1billion.

Which ain't gonna happen. That's the rarest of exits (Bebo, YouTube, IPO companies like amazon) and proves there's just far too much VC money floating around. We probably need more/better angel funding and less big-money VC deals.

Posted by unregistered user at 6/21/08 12:54 p.m.

What's going to happen to this company? Good sales growth in the last 12 months, solid technology, experienced management team, etc. But, they need more funding to grow. Are they going to be acquired for 200-300 millions? Or they will keep going for IPO? (very unlikely.)

Posted by unregistered user at 6/22/08 9:26 a.m.

elowitz may have already made his money....who knows how many of his own shares he sold to mohr, second ave etc. at teh $70 million valuation......

Posted by unregistered user at 6/22/08 9:58 a.m.

re: elowitz making his own money... that's fine for him, but not exactly a path to success for the company.

How many stories are there of execs that come in and raise a ton of money, pay themselves hefty salaries and bonuses, but never create value for the investors, employees, customers, or other stake holders.

That's not exactly my definition of a successful entrepreneur.