Thoughts on Zapier?
They’ve done one seed round back in 2012 ($1.4M raised), but nothing since. A story then came out early this year where Sequoia bought on the secondary market. That valued Zapier at $5B. I’m used to companies doing constant seed rounds and raising money. What gives for this company? I wonder what selling in the secondary market means compared to just raising capital in a seed round.
Company has been profitable for a while and founders had been happy enough to grow slow(ish) through cash flow rather than take investors. This seems to have changed. I find the $5B valuation high, but who knows these days. I would echo what was said above; founders have been slow to give up control. For better or worse. The equity program could be nice, but I don’t know much about how it will all work. I’m not sure if they have put out any more info on it.
Any updates on the equity program?
Zapier has grown through revenue and profit. The company has been very profitable for some time and just hit over 500 employees. Biggest upside is that there is no external VC pressure seeking a premature exit—we are in control of our future and roadmap. Downside is that hiring may be slower than you may want because funding is allocated elsewhere. Additionally founders have been VERY slow to give up control (equity program is being built, very few employees currently have shares)