

WP Engine hints at IPO with hiring of Bazaarvoice’s Heather Brunner as its COO - cwilson
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/03/wp-engine-hints-at-potential-ipo-with-hiring-of-bazaarvoices-heather-brunner-as-its-coo/?fromcat=all

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rdl
This makes approximately zero sense. The rule of thumb is $100mm in revenue
(maybe as low as $50mm in annual, or $75mm in run-rate, if things are growing
fast) and 3-5 years operating with revenue for IPO now.

From the figures I've seen, WPEngine is about 1% of that. (EDIT: oops, that
was just their first year; didn't realize they've been around since 2010)

I haven't seen any credible news source pushing the "IPO" story here, just a
bunch of "weird" news sources (maybe within the wordpress industry niche?)
which TNW picked up. Or, a writer at TNW wrote a really breathlessly positive
article about a company he personally liked, and threw the IPO thing in to
make it interesting.

I'd bet on this being a weird marketing strategy for the WPEngine product;
fake IPO rumors around a fairly mundane HR decision to get buzz and customers.
If so, well played!

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dotBen
no, we're not going to IPO any time soon. But, we're a lot more than 1% of
$100mm in revenue. We actually did $1mm in revenue in our first year, and
we're supporting our team growth based on revenue.

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rdl
Ah, I thought this _was_ your first year. I guess I'm off by a year or two on
your growth. (I didn't mean to be particularly critical of WPEngine, just of
the "IPO" thing)

~~~
dotBen
_"I guess I'm off by a year or two on your growth"_

or three :). We've been around for a lot longer than folks realize - just been
very "heads-down" building a strong business rather "TechCrunch Hype" focused,
etc.

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saddington
No way. IPO soon? NO WAY.

<http://wpdaily.co/wpengine-ipo-rumor/>

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cubictwo
Congrats on the hire. Best of luck in your growth and success!

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ryanduff
Woah. Been hiring a lot recently. Not surprising.

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perezbox
Congrats guys

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brandondove
Wow, movin' and shakin'. Congrats WPE!

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jackomo
Awesome! Congrats everyone!

