It’s rare that we get two trusted sources who have directly conflicting stories, but it happened today.
On the one hand, rumors have been flying through Silicon Valley saying that widget startup Slide is out pitching for another round of financing, and asking for a $200 million valuation.
The rumors make sense for a few reasons. Slide has 60 employees and is therefore spending $600k or more per month just on salaries – total burn rate may be nearer to $1 million/month. Their size of their last round, which was almost a year ago, was never disclosed. But speculation put it in the $20 million range with a valuation as high as $100 million. So while Slide probably still has some money in the bank, it is about time they’d start looking for new capital so they don’t cut it too close.
And we have a trusted source which says Slide did in fact pitch them for capital recently, asking for at least a $200 million pre-money valuation.
But on the other hand, Slide founder and CEO Max Levchin has gone on the record with us saying they have pitched no one for capital since their last round in 2006. He says they haven’t even updated their pitch deck.
What’s the real story? Perhaps it’s somewhere in the middle. Levchin says people have inquired about investing in the company. “I think this is a misunderstanding,” he said. Certainly he would have no reason to go on the record with us if the rumors were strictly true.
It sounds like it probably is. But those rumors persist, nonetheless. And one thing is certain – they don’t hurt Slide. Anyone thinking of acquiring the company may move sooner rather than later to get their hands on the company before that next round of financing.
What is their revenue model?
Ron Dixon,
You’re reading my mind.
60 employees to make widgets???
Good lord!!!
Time to get Amp’d !!
Average employee is earning $10,000/month? I have serious doubts.
200MD valuation for what? for a flash animation that does i/o to provide a few pics?
even if you put ads on the slides / links for seo or whatever you do with their volume it’s no where close to a 200MD valuation, guess they are looking for the right idiot to buy them, do I smell a big 60 employees bubble? this company is the no1 techcrunch’s dead pool nominee for the moment.
Those servers which serves photos are counted as employees son!
I hope News Corp. doesnt get their hands on Slide.
As far as valuation, I think you can look at how much News Corp acquired Photobucket for and get some idea how much Slide.com is worth.
I think $200M is a little high, if your talking about traffic.
That said, Slide.com is a much better application and leadership.
Good luck with that Web 2.0 bubble. $200mm pre-money?
wow…even entry level Google Software Engineer does not get paid $10,000 per month, unless you are including medical and other non monetary cost.
Furthermore, at $1 million per month in cost without any actual revenue model is suicide. I hope VC’s will think straight and not think like “congress”. (Sorry to be political)
@Chris
Take annual salary and tack on an additional 33% for benefits and taxes. 600k for 60 employees is right. Put in lease, servers, bandwidth, marketing, legal, other expenses and 1 mil burn rate isn’t that far off.
As for business model, Slide has 10 of the top 200 Facebook apps right now, which closes in to more than 100 million impressions. Some of their widgets have already begun monetizing, with graphic ads and clickthrough campaigns. That’s quite an inventory for a business model.
An exit though? Doubtful.
guys, this is not true…. check this out:
http://www.btle...info.asp?id=212
ok, i asked this at the begining and some of you might think i was joking. Mike
“And we have a trusted source which says Slide did in fact pitch them for capital recently, asking for at least a $200 million pre-money valuation.”
what did they pitch? #of users, time on the site? again i asked i am not trying to be cute here. is what is there revenue model?
Some please shed some light.
ok, i asked this at the begining and some of you might think i was joking.
Mike, “And we have a trusted source which says Slide did in fact pitch them for capital recently, asking for at least a $200 million pre-money valuation.”
what did they pitch? #of users, time on the site? again i asked i am not trying to be cute here. is what is there revenue model?
Am i reading that right?
If Slide is truly a profitable business, it will have signified a new era in web moneymaking – just as in ‘real life,’ people can sell widgets and make a profit on volume and variety.
I know you guys are going to kvetch until you can kvetch no more, but this is good news for the internet as a business opportunity – it means you don’t have to build something huge to make money. There will be lots of crap/dilution, just like in ‘real life’ again, but still… I take this as good news.
I use Slide on myspace; but i still do not see a $200 mil valuation.
seems like they need to layoff some workers. 60 is a bit crazy.
The best way to make a startup go under is having too many head in the field… hopefully they all pay for their worth because having that many employees is a very big drain in any VC sink.
Jon
SLIDE is a good example from the widget marketing which is develloping a brand new econonic model with all the plateforms and social networking from the Web ! The new market for developpers are now all this spaces like Facebook, MySpace who will soon open his application catalog and other players like the iGoogle, Vista widget bar and more !
Here’s an article on this widget marketing : http://patricea...dget-marketing/
Looking for other people working on this new model !