Thursday, May 15, 2014

It's a ZEN day!

Today is a very special day for me as as an entrepreneur and investor. About an hour ago, Zendesk went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The last time I watched an IPO so carefully was when Shopping.com, the company that had bought my price comparison startup, went public – almost ten years ago.

Here are a few visual impressions of my love affair with Zendesk, which began six years ago:



Huge congrats and thanks to the entire Zendesk team – I couldn't be more proud of you guys!

14 comments:

Boyan Ivanov said...

Christoph, thanks for sharing! :) I wonder - according to the headlines you took Series B just 4 months after series A - why...or how does it happen like this?

chrija said...

Yes...the Series B came unusually quickly after the Series A. The Series A was quite small, and since things had started to take off we had the opportunity to raise a bigger amount from one of the top firms in the Valley.

Boyan Ivanov said...

wow great! I was actually thinking that: A) you either got noticed or B) the new investor kind of brought the next round? I can't imagine being in raising mode just after you closed Series A or? :)

Mark MacLeod said...

Congrats Christoph! Super happy for the Zen folks

shakalandy said...

Very nice to see some insights and communication!
Congratulations on the outcome.
And now holiday on Hawaii? :)

Georgi Kadrev said...

Congrats on the successful long run! :)
It would be Interesting to know how did they jump over the drama gap?, seems like taking approximately 8-9 months from the email and PR dates.
And how did they address the differentiation scepticism?

chrija said...

No, busy finding the next Zendesks! :)

chrija said...

Thanks a lot Mark!

chrija said...

I think the answer to both questions is "customers". They got more and more of them, and they loved the product.

Alex said...

This is very inspiring deck you made, Christoph. Red it in the morning and now full of energy!

Mikita Mikado said...

Great story. Remember using the Zendesk around 2008. I didn't think this company will grow so fast at the time.

Congrats, Christoph. Fun presentation, indeed.

Michael Folmer Hansen said...

Dear Christoph,



Many thanks for your support... we wouldn't have one it without you.


Cheers,
Michael

chrija said...

Thanks, Mikita!

chrija said...

Thanks Michael for the kind words, much appreciated!