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One week ago, Pluralsight filed for the most confidential of IPOs. A few days later, Recode reported Domo and CEO Josh James had a meeting about Domo gathering its data and revenue numbers onto the Domo bus, then preparing to drive everything straight to the SEC. Now Forbes is reporting that Qualtrics would like to join the party, they’ve strapped on festive hats and started blowing those weird sound tubes with flaps to celebrate a new acquisition: Delighted, a Bay Area startup that created one-touch ratings for Uber and Postmates.
According to Forbes, the acquisition of Delighted is one more baby step towards a Qualtrics IPO and we all know Forbes never lies. Never. Not even as a joke or a white lie when its spouse asks if they look fat. Forbes is truth boiled down to its purest form, a business conglomeration of lists and sharp quotes that consumers eat like well-dressed Tide Pods. It’s a fine line to walk, dangerous even, if you read too much Forbes even business elite can succumb to its truthful siren call. I’ve walked in on many an executive passed out at a standing desk, eyes dilated to the size of pinpricks, web browser warped by the sheer volume of open Forbes tabs. I avoid this fate by reading only the headline and first 24 words, that’s the exact point when my heart rate rises and I’m forced to throw my computer in the nearest dumpster.
Anyway, here’s truth straight from the horse’s mouth: Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, who was quoted in Forbes with the most truthful of bombs.
Earlier this year at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit I said you would see at least three or four IPOs come out of Utah this year, and I think you’re seeing that. We have always said that our plan is to go public. That hasn’t changed. That said, the end goal isn’t to go public, it is to be a great public company.
Great goal, well said, this IPO craze has me thinking about one of the most iconic photos in world history:
In a sad but believable twist, only one of these men is planning on running a private company for the foreseeable future. I know him, it’s the guy in the red hat whose net worth doesn’t equal even one of the stars on Josh James’ shirt. At least the other three fellows in the photo are doing fine, their professional exploits and IPO tendencies are getting Utahns hot and bothered in the most businessy of ways. I will admit I’ve caught the fever, any mention of IPO or 10+ minutes of studying a spreadsheet and I’m done, blood rushes straight to my head and I have to suck on ice cubes for the rest of the day. Even acquisition news is getting me riled up, when I first caught wind of Qualtrics circling Delighted I lost feeling in my legs and spent the remainder of my day being wheeled around by red hat guy. I better hurry and get this quote out before I lose feeling in my fingers and cannot complete this article, read these wise words from Delighted CEO Caleb Elston and go about your weekend in peace.
“Working with Qualtrics, we will continue to help thousands of companies create great customer experiences at the beginning of their CX journey while also providing a path to a full experience management program. Helping organizations get started on the self-service end of customer experience can be a complex process. At Delighted, we are the best at making that experience simple and fast. We’re excited to bring that innovation to Qualtrics as we work together to democratize experience management.”
