The Next Wave of Tech IPOs: Business Software (WSJ)

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today about the changing image of B2B software firms.  Contrasting the image of Mark Zuckerberg in his hoodie is that of Marketo founder Phil Fernandez in his 2002 Honda Civic.  The article suggests that the IPO troubles of some marquee B2C tech firms (Zynga, GroupOn, etc.) has diverted attention from the business SAAS space, which has been quietly creating some really impressive products.  Interesting stuff.  Surely a company that sells marketing automation suites is never going to describe itself in the grandiose, world-changing terms of Google or Facebook.  But as we will see when we use some of this software for our products, these products create immense value for their customers, and in some cases, have market caps that are approaching those of some premium tech brands.  In general the article focuses maybe a little too much on Silicon Valley culture than about the businesses it references, but it's still an interesting read to learn a bit more about the shifting attention in the IPO and venture capital markets.  It also makes a case that it could be just as cool to work for a company with a name like ServiceNow or Guidewire Software as it could be to land at Facebook.