Couple of clarifications/answers based on comments below:
1. We look at cash-on-hand along with scores from a technology we've built called Mosaic which looks for signals of strength or stress at private companies (a bit more on Mosaic here - http://www.cbinsights.com/mosaic/). So while cash remaining is an important input, we look at other measures (industry health, investor quality, HR activity, etc) to ultimately create the list.
2. Startups are not the intended customer for the list. However, corporate M&A teams, corporate HR teams/recruiters/VCs looking to recruit talent and IP buyers are the customers. The list is a shortcut for their efforts.
3. We're seeing a lot of the above folks buy the report which is a function of (a) it's not easy to find info as we've got the most seed data out there and (b) it is cheaper than alternatives, i.e. recruiters, consultants, trying to do in-house
4. 0% of the data is from Crunchbase. We started a company initially called ChubbyBrain and the CB in our name is a tribute to our humble roots.
If any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out or ask in the comments. Happy to help.
I guess the only way for a startup not to die is to raise funding, I mean it's not like it's going to make tangible profits or anything over 13 months.
I assume they are pulling from Crunchbase, but it's not like people have any incentive to keep Crunchbase updated (in a lot of cases, you don't want people to know you just raised $1.5mm a year or two after your initial seed money).
To channel Biggie Smalls via Ben Horowitz, "don't you know Bad Boys move in silence and violence?". If competitors don't know you're well funded, they're more likely to ignore you. On a more practical level, it keeps the bottom feeder companies which troll crunchbase/techcrunch/etc and spam you with recruiting/etc. offers for months away. There's not a lot of upside in letting people know you're funded before a product is launched.
Probably where the information come from. The price seems to be more a function of the limited market of potential customers than anything amazing about the data contained.
The problem I have with this list is you might not need to raise further capital. Capital for equity is the most expensive form of money compared to say a bond or loan from a bank.
Does anybody know where to get something similar to this, but not focused on startups? That is, a more general "dying companies" list? That seems like something that could be useful... are there services that generate that sort of thing, or are you limited to just "the rumor mill" and what-have-you?
Less rounded numbers seem slightly more considered and thus a justified cost rather than a number pulled from the air.
In this case though I think it would've happened like this:
"How much?"
"What about almost $5k but not quite $5k?"
"$4,995?"
"No, people will know that's basically $5k."
"$4,895?"
"Yeah OK, let's run with that and see if anyone bites."
It creates the implication in some people's minds that it's based on the content. I.e., x companies that are likely to sell if you offer to pay for their lunch and take on their debt at $50 each, y companies that will need to pay back their moms, aunts, and grannies at $25 each, and z companies that will end up in a bidding war with the other people buying the list to look for cheap acquisitions at $10 each.
Couple of clarifications/answers based on comments below:
1. We look at cash-on-hand along with scores from a technology we've built called Mosaic which looks for signals of strength or stress at private companies (a bit more on Mosaic here - http://www.cbinsights.com/mosaic/). So while cash remaining is an important input, we look at other measures (industry health, investor quality, HR activity, etc) to ultimately create the list.
2. Startups are not the intended customer for the list. However, corporate M&A teams, corporate HR teams/recruiters/VCs looking to recruit talent and IP buyers are the customers. The list is a shortcut for their efforts.
3. We're seeing a lot of the above folks buy the report which is a function of (a) it's not easy to find info as we've got the most seed data out there and (b) it is cheaper than alternatives, i.e. recruiters, consultants, trying to do in-house
4. 0% of the data is from Crunchbase. We started a company initially called ChubbyBrain and the CB in our name is a tribute to our humble roots.
If any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out or ask in the comments. Happy to help.