Filing an S-1 is like standing in front of a crowd naked and telling them your life story
Issue 10 - December 11th, 2020
I have picked up a fun hobby during the wild year that is 2020: reading the S-1's of amazing and fascinating companies dominating their industries today. Form S-1 is an SEC filing used by companies planning on going public to register their securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as the "registration statement by the Securities Act of 1933". I tend to prefer reading old school S-1 documents like Amazon, Microsoft, and other companies who came about during the first dot-com rush, but whatever vintage and industry you prefer you will find interesting no doubt. Why the hell do you like reading old school S-1 documents, Sam?
1. You get a moment in time peek at a company leading up to one of the exciting events in their company's lifetime.
2. You get to learn and dissect how the company leaders viewed their company at the time and how far they how come since that S-1 filing.
3. You can see where a company is in today's world and it makes you realize that companies start out much more focused and less dominant. Everyone takes baby steps in their early days and companies like Amazon are no exception. In their S-1 filing, Amazon really only mentions being an online book retailer...
Amazon.com is the leading online retailer of books. Through March 31, 1997, Amazon.com had sales of more than $32 million to approximately 340,000 customer accounts in over 100 countries. Average daily visits (not "hits") have grown from approximately 2,200 in December 1995 to approximately 80,000 in March 1997, and repeat customers currently account for over 40% of orders. Time magazine rated Amazon.com one of the 10 "Best Websites of 1996."
Some people assume that it is "magic or luck" when entrepreneurs become successful, but in most cases it traces back to hard work and being able to be super uncomfortable in the face of challenge and pushback. Starting a company is insanely difficult, but if you have a clear problem you are solving to make something easier/cheaper/more efficient than the status quo for your customers then you are usually on to something that will be super successful.
Newsworthy Links To Share
HomeLister raises $4.5 seed round with goal of cutting REALTOR costs from home sales. Lindsay McLean, who is the co-founder of HomeLister, got the idea for the company when trying to sell her home in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. The real estate agent she worked with put in about eight hours of work and walked away with a six-figure check, according to McLean. She was frustrated, and wanted to create a way for buyers to list their homes themselves without losing such a big cut to a real estate agent. Read more HERE.
Austin is a magnet for relocations from both coasts. In this Wall Street Journal article , Konrad Putzier says, "The pandemic and the prospect of working remotely have spawned an exodus from New York and San Francisco to sunnier, more-affordable cities. Few have benefited more than Austin. Texas’ capital is attracting more corporate jobs and remote workers than ever before, lured by lower costs and lower taxes. Business relocations to Austin announced this year are expected to create nearly 10,000 jobs. That is the city’s highest figure on record for a single year, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and is helping offset the hit from Covid-19 to the city’s tourist-dependent restaurants, bars and music venues." Read more HERE.
Thumbtack announces acquisition of Setter, a home maintenance company. Marco Zappacosta, CEO of Thumbtack, shares this information on Medium: " This is an enormous step for Thumbtack. We won’t just be the platform homeowners turn to when a pipe breaks. We’ll be the only app any homeowner needs for the care and maintenance of their home. For our pros, this means there will be more projects than ever on our platform." Read more HERE.
This week was a landmark week for Silicon Valley accelerator, Y Combinator, with both DoorDash and Airbnb going public. YC has been involved in a handful of world changing companies, but this week was especially historic. If you read or click any link in this email today, then I encourage you to watch this early pitch video from the DoorDash team and to read this article by Paul Graham about Airbnb. The takeaway from both of these stories for entrepreneurs is to dream big and always, no matter what, focus on solving a problem for a customer - nothing else matters when building a business in the early days.
Opendoor to start publicly trading on December 21st.The company will trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol OPEN. Prior to the official merger, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. II will continue to publicly trade under the listing IPOB — where its stock price has more than doubled to slightly more than $24 per share, ahead of the merger. Opendoor is one of the latest firms to use a SPAC as a vehicle to raise capital and become a publicly listed company, rather than going the direct route. Read more HERE.