The Ledger
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Schuler: Up to 50% of tech IPOs will be flat or down
“So you'll see, I think, flat and down IPO rounds. Maybe up to 50% of the companies that are out there.”
Schuler: High late-stage tech valuations are not a dot-com bubble
“All these prices, all these unicorns, this must be just like the dot-com bubble was, when it's nothing like the dot-com bubble. You were probably quite young for those of us who lived through it, I was exactly, exactly. You have to read the history. We are the…”
Schuler: SolarCity succeeded post-IPO despite a flat-to-down offering
“We, SolarCity is a good example of an IPO we had where it was a flat to down IPO round. Everyone ended up putting money in to get that company public, and they did sensationally.”
Schuler: Low-traction late-stage unicorns will be acquired at down-round valuations
“The last group in that bulge are our companies that run out of the capital they've raised. They've not gotten the traction in the marketplace that they had hoped to. They still have value, and they're still important, and I would expect you'll see that smart a…”
DFJ Growth Prioritizes Cash-on-Cash Returns While Institutional LPs Focus on IRR
“Because in this business, when you're trying to generate returns, both cash on cash, you know, return multiple, which we tend to focus on, but also IRR, which a lot of institutional LPs focus on, really does start to hone your senses towards particular timefra…”
Growth Tech Investing Is Not Value Investing; Hyper-Growth Commands Premiums
“I'll tell you at the growth stage, I never feel like, you know, we're not a value investor. So I never feel like price we're getting is, is cheap. It's not a value play. We're investing in hyper growth companies. So there's a premium to pay for that.”
Schuler: DFJ Growth was founded on tech companies staying private longer
“This is back in 2005 where we saw an inefficiency in the marketplace. We felt companies were going to stay private longer. We thought they had to because of the markets.”
Schuler: DFJ Growth preemptively invested in Giphy when it wasn't fundraising
“Well, the most recent one, we did two toward the end of the year. One was unity and the second was Giphy, and Giphy, I had to get them to say yes. They actually weren't raising money, and one of the ways we like to operate is being a little preemptive, and we …”
DFJ Growth Targets Companies Three to Six Years Away From IPO
“And our strategy at DFJ growth really targets companies that have more of a three to six year Horizon to IPO.”