Glassdoor: The Fundraising Journey (A)

By Robert E. Siegel, Amadeus Orleans
2019 | Case No. E673A | Length 18 pgs.

From his time as a young engineer at Microsoft in 1993, to the challenge of building Glassdoor from the ground up until it reached a valuation of over $1 billion, in 2018, Robert Hohman had come a long way. Now, from his spacious office with a picturesque view of Richardson Bay in Mill Valley, California, Hohman confronted one of the most important decisions of his life.

Glassdoor, the company he cofounded in 2007 with Rich Barton and Tim Besse, had grown consistently over the years. It had been fueled by multiple different investors and VC firms, under various circumstances and deal structures. Like most start-up founders, they expected to take the IPO route at some point. Then, in early 2019, when it seemed that the company was finally ready to go public, one of its largest competitors placed an offer that was hard to refuse.

Also see:  E673B: Glassdoor: The Fundraising Journey (B)

Learning Objective

The teaching objective of the case is to give students an overview of the fundraising decisions faced by a leader of a technology start-up.
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