Meetup, a web service that enables people to organize and manage real life get-togethers, has proven to be a popular tool that people are willing to pay for. TechCrunch has obtained a slide deck that the company used for an August 2009 shareholder update, revealing its current financial situation and past revenue forecasts. The document shows the New York-based company is performing well, having reported its first (mildly) profitable month last July.
Financial results actually fell short of forecasts put forward last year, when Meetup aimed for 50% growth in both meetups and revenues by this Summer. Despite the fact that growth was actually more like 35-40% over 2008 in its main metrics, Meetup (unexpectedly) hit profitability last July on net income of $30,000.
Interestingly, the company informed its investors that it wasn’t actually aiming for profitability this soon, referring to it as a ‘byproduct of hard work’, and remains cautious about predicting future profitable months. In fact, they’re clearly stating that an increase in ‘Successful Meetup Groups’ (SMUGs) has priority over revenues and profits at this point. The company’s biggest challenge right now? Hiring staff fast enough to keep up with growth.
Let’s dive into the numbers.
Year over year, Meetup’s cash sales went up 37.2%, from $558,576 in July 2008 to $776,495 in July this year. At an annual run rate, that means Meetup is currently clearing about $9.2 million in revenues. The number of meetup groups increased from about 19,700 groups to 27,500 in the past year, which is relevant because organizer fees make up the bulk of the company’s income. Approximately 85% of Meetup’s income comes from meetup organizers who pay for the service; the rest comes from sponsorships and on-site text advertising.
Meetup still has $8 million left in the bank, having raised $20.1 million in venture capital since its 2002 Series A round.
Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman had earlier confirmed some of the numbers on Twitter.
I love profitablity.
I love appreciation.
You love seeing your stupid posts online
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
hmmmmmmm
Another successful group of Americans following their American Dream and helping others to be successful along the way. Just makes sense when you think about it.
Note to CEOs: send your investor updates with password-protection on the PDFs.
The passwords would get forwarded too.
Could, but usually investors are too lazy, or realize it crosses the line, if they ALSO send the password — vs. just forwarding the email
Nice try.
You’re welcome to try http://www.watchdox.com. No passwords, no setup, no client required. And full control over your document after it left your hands.
You are assuming they truly do not want the info to be forwarded.
I agree wholeheartedly! These types of documents need protection… This is exactly the reason why I started InDorse Technologies… We have client-less protection on files in Office and PDF formats which is easy-enough to use by an executive like me! If you are interested, send me an email… We’re GA!
your company don make sense
Finally, a place where I can organize my D&D parties…
this is great. Congrats on profitability.
btw – the confidential please do not forward located at the bottom of the slide deck is classic
Congrats! Very cool.
Love the SMUG acronym.
Congrats Heif! Another milestone
Grats. I would say you leaked that yourself. I would have given that I was profitable in this environment. Good job, and certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.
And by the way if your naked pictures are as good as these financials then you might have a second career.
Wake up and Smell the Coffee…
I have to doubt those numbers.
Meetup was founded in January of 2002, and has just NOW made it to profitability?
also, CSS stolen from cnn.com?
I remember a lot of griping back in the day when Meetup started charging for its meetups. I remember the predictions of gloom and doom (some of them mine), that nobody was going to keep using Meetup now that they had to pay them money.
I used to go to a few meetups in my area, but the few local meetups for things I was remotely interested in petered out after nobody was willing to pay the fee necessary to host them.
But I guess that wasn’t true for everywhere else.
experience design or the evoking of meaning seems to be the turn of the 21century’s business model.
big up. meet up!
Can someone explain to me what EXACTLY they are spending $675,000 on EVERY month!?
These guys are doing some good things and deserve the success.
Jason – 57 employees salaries, hosting cost for hundreds of servers, office space lease on Manhattan, electricity, food, travel…
Otis, I don’t care, $675,000 is insanity for A MONTH. HUNDREDS OF SERVERS?!? For what? Even 100 servers @ $1000 / month hosting is 100k. I’d be floored if that operation needed more than a dozen with some SAN storage and even that is pushing it.
What are they paying all 57 employees $100,000 a year? I mean come on here, what the hell are they even doing with that many employees. So the total is now at $575,000. So I guess an office lease and electricity is $100,000. Gotcha.
I question these things, because these numbers never add up for these startups. Totally off the wall expenses, it’s no wonder they never make any money.
Jason – there are other things like legal fees and marketing that could add up quickly…
“Approximately 85% of Meetup’s income comes from meetup organizers who pay for the service”
“There are 3 price plans:
•USD $12 a month for 6 months (a single $72 charge)
•USD $15 a month for 3 months (a single $45 charge)
•USD $19 per month”
So let’s assume all 27,495 SMUGs are paying the FULL $19/month (doubt it), that’s 522,405. That’s 68%… and I’m guessing the number is closer to something like $15/month, which would equate to 54%. Do they have other premium services they charge for? Or are there more paying groups besides the SMUGs?
Jason – I would argue that the ratios look relatively good, year on year.
Increasing sales 37% but increasing expenses only 7% and headcount 16% seems OK in this climate for a service that I (personally) wouldn’t pay for.
If you follow your line of argumentation (don’t invest, don’t increase staff) you will end up with a company that stays small for ever.
Big congrats. Very well done Meetup!
Their history is a very healthy reminder to all entrepreneurs and investors, even companies that were great from day one do not grow in time frames that easily within 24-48 month windows.
Mark your presentations with who you are sending them to. Makes a person less likely to leak them if their name is embedded in the pdf.
It is a great way to get more exposure for your company and can be a way to disclose your financials when initial investors have requested you dont.
Accidents happen but looks like Meetup will benefit from the exposure. Im not saying its a bad thing but is there any company documents TC won’t publish?