If the Shoe Fits: Poor Baby vs. AppLovin
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here
A founder I know is complaining that almost it’s impossible to achieve unicorn status with investment dollars so tight.
Really?
I guess nobody told the founders of AppLovin, who just sold a majority stake in the 115 person company for $1.4 billion.
The mobile ad network was founded in 2011 by Adam Foroughi, Andrew Karam and John Krystynak and has never taken traditional venture capital funding.
“I couldn’t find anyone to give us an investment at what I thought was a reasonable starting point valuation (maybe $4 million or $5 million) and, by the end of our first year of operations, we were profitable and doing over $1 million a month in revenue,” he explains. “So I put together a round with angels not really because we needed the cash, but because I thought these were influential people who could help us grow.” —Adam Foroughi to Forbes’ Dan Primack
Easy money made for high valuations sans revenue.
These days you need actual revenue as opposed to users, promises, and sunny predictions.
My reaction can easily be summed up in one word.
Tough.
Image credit: Hiking Artist
