Big Tech and the Hunt for the ‘Magic Number’
Some boring companies are safe. Others can be scary.
Banish thoughts of Uber Technologies Inc., Airbnb Inc., or whatever other flashy startup comes to mind when you imagine Silicon Valley riches. In what’s been a bumpy year for tech companies, the superdull are the few sure things.
These companies sell nuts-and-bolts software used by businesses or office workers and include Veeva Systems Inc., which makes programs that pharmaceutical reps use to keep track of their sales prospects, and Twilio Inc., which coders use to create automated smartphone notifications when, say, an Uber is arriving. Their sales tend to grow like weeds, making it easy for investors to fire up a spreadsheet and predict when the company might turn profitable. (It’s 2019: Even the safe startups are unprofitable.)