re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesSorry, Gaston, but nearly all of your facts are incorrect. But then again, this is supposed to be a rumor board, right? Who needs the truth when rumors are so much more fun!
In respect of Kestrel's (and others) right to keep competitive information out of public forums, I'll defer to their press releases - whenever they decide to release them. However, anyone interested in working for one of these companies should rely on more reliable sources before making a decision.
re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesKeebler:
Thanks for responding to Gaston's comment regarding the above companies.But as per Gaston's comment -- Kestrel is not shipping the product. Is that a rumour? I think not. They have not yet shipped any product although they have been in field trials since Dec. 1999. There is no doubt that they have received huge funding, but again that was during the fiber optics frenzy.
They have a patent pending for FDM, not sure whether they were awarded the patent. Centerpoint is in the same space as Kestrel.
Your comment: However, anyone interested in working for one of these companies should rely on more reliable sources before making a decision
Do you know of any reliable source? Do you deny the fact that Kestrel does not have any revenue even though they have been around for nearly 3 yrs? Why are they just targeting only RBOCS inspite of the fact that RBOCS are pathetically slow to move?
re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesHi, I understand that joining a startup is always a risky proposition. Just wanted get an idea of how much the risk has increased in view of the way economy is doing and is expected to do over the next year or so.
To take an example, how risky would be joining Jasmine in the current situation? Would it last another year?
re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesNekca,
As a veteran of 4 successful start-ups, who's joining my 5th (soon to be successful!?!?!?) start-up - I offer the following:
You're right, joining a start-up anytime between now and the end of the year is going to be a risky proposition. Assuming you don't know too much about Jasmine (I certainly don't), you still need to ask yourself the following:
1. Does their product save their customer's money or does it promise new services to be offerred? If they can save customer's money, you're in much better shape since new services are rolled out very slowly - as opposed to cost savings are always a welcome proposition at anytime. Anything that takes a long time to deliver, is risky (Cash burn vs. meaningful revenue).
2. How close is Jasmine to delivering a product and generating meaningful revenue? Example: let's say they go Beta in June '01; GA in Sept '01- they'll need enough cash in the bank to carry them through at least March '02. Don't count on them, or anyone, raising new cash this year. Not that it's impossible - you just shouldn't COUNT on it. Make sure you understand their current burn rate and how much cash they have in the bank!!! (Maybe I should come up with some sort of ratio/index component to assess the risk???)
3. Of course, there's the whole range of issues re: their executive staff, previous execution, Board of Directors, sales channels, etc.... This information is usually the minimum set of questions that candidiates investigate.
4. Of course there's your own risk averseness. Where are you now? How old are you? Can you live off their base pay for at least a year? Don't count on cashing in any stock for 12 to 24 months. Are you prepared to stay there for at least 4 years (full vesting)?
Items 1 & 2 will mitigate most of the risk - however, you also need item 3 to ensure the possibility of a successful start-up.
re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesBBBOa:
Perfect advice. But where do you get all the info?eg. what is a company's burn rate etc? as a prospective employee can you ask them this question? Do you or anyone has any info about Allegro Networks? Is it a good time to join Allegro?
re: Light Reading's Top Ten Private CompaniesYou should be able to get the burn rate from your hiring manager and/or the CFO. They shouldn't have any qualms telling you the burn rate, how much cash they have in the bank, and when they expect to raise more cash (add'l private investments or IPO). These are perfectly reasonable questions. If they don't give you the exact numbers, at a minimum, they should tell you when they expect to raise more cash.
Regarding Allegro - I don't know anything about them. From the 5 minutes I spent looking at their web site, this is what I saw:
1. 1st round funding of $24M in Nov. 2000. This is good, because if you join prior to the next round, your option price should be less than a dollar - probably in the .50 range.
2. Company founded in April 2000. More than likely, they won't have a revenue generating product until Q1 2002 at the earliest.
3. 115 employees on board. My best guess is their burn rate is approx. $2M/month maybe slightly higher.
Conclusion: With the $24M raised in Nov, it's likely they have approx. $14M in the bank today. More than likely, they'll be out looking for more money toward the end of this year. David House can certainly raise the cash, it's just a matter of how much dilution will occur when they do raise the cash.
If I were you, I'd keep looking. This doesn't appear to be a clear cut winner. They're in a very crowded space.
RE: Tenor, blown??
So THAT'S where their latest round is going!