S-1 Teardowns: 6 themes from 6 recent S-1s of data companies

Ah, late Q4, a time for strategic planning across the corporate world. At Antenna, we were no different. In preparing ourselves for the future, we looked to the giants of the data world. What were their principles, strategies, and results? What lessons did their corporate histories have for us?

After hours poring over dozens of S-1s, I found 6 that really spoke to me, and our company. Each of these companies is a data company at its core. And each is focused on enabling an ecosystem of brands: whether it’s AppLovin, focused on enabling mobile app developers; or ZoomInfo, focused on enabling enterprise software; each of these data companies empowers their customers with data and helps them grow.

Why does this matter? As you can see below, these are all massive, iconic brands. Enabling an industry with data is thankless work — but the payoff can be immense.

So what did I learn?

1. The mission is about enabling brands and the ecosystem

Enablement is at the core of each of these companies. But this is one of those industries (like ad-supported media) where you have two constituencies. Like any other B2B company, customers come first. But it’s not just about customers: the health of the ecosystem matters too. Each of these brands provides a ‘measurement standard’ which lifts the entire ecosystem, even at the expense of a specific brand. This is clear from each of their vision statements.

2. Each ecosystem has a singular winner that provides a one-stop shop

Why? Each of these companies is dealing with inherently unfalsifiable information, which means that the brand needs to carry implicit trust as well. In addition, each of these companies is built with a singular customer persona in mind. As a result, they obsessively solve every problem that user may have, becoming a one-stop shop as a result

Nothing illustrates this better than this graphic from ZoomInfo’s S-1. ZoomInfo is laser focused on the B2B Sales & Marketing motion. As you can see, they fulfill a beautiful feedback loop:

1. User learns about a new promotion from ZoomInfo org charts

2. User obtains contact info for newly promoted exec from ZoomInfo

3. User connects their workflows with ZoomInfo to send outbound email & make contact with new exec

The combination of vital information with actionability is a deadly weapon.

3. Slowly at first, then all at once

We all know that an “overnight success” in the technology world is 7-10 years — but patience is even more of a virtue in the data world. Why? This is a two-sided business: demand (customers) and supply (data); getting both of those right takes time but the payoff is huge. Here’s SimilarWeb’s path to $100M in ARR: exponential growth in action.

Another example: in its first 10 years in existence, Qualtrics achieved $35M in ARR; by the next 10, it was up over $700M in ARR.

4. First the tools, then the intelligence to power them

The past decade has seen an explosion in B2B SaaS workflow tools. As Eric Stromberg of Bedrock Capital outlines in this Screenshot Essay, the top 5 B2B SaaS companies were worth a combined $19B in 2010. Today, the top 5 are worth a combined $926B. The average company uses over 100 different SaaS tools.

But as the saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” The ZoomInfo S-1 puts it plainly:

If the past decade was the “workflow revolution” the next decade will be the “intelligence revolution” whereby data companies improve the quality of workflows.

5. When it comes to data strategy, complexity is a moat

Much attention is paid to proprietary access to data. However, as we see across data companies, 1st party data is just part of the story. Often the largest source of data is publicly available 3rd party data, where the brilliance is not in unique access but rather in unique classification of freely available data. Some data companies reach a level of utility where customers even contribute data in order to access the service. Like a three-legged stool, without any one of these legs, the entire data supply chain falls apart.

6. It’s impossible (until it’s not)

“Number 6 shoulda been number 1 to me.” When you’re early into a ~10 year journey, you hear NO a lot. It helps to hear the Founders of Decacorns reflect on their early days. These are a couple powerful statements from those Founders:

Let that sink in. The Founder of a $30B+ company scored a 0% success rate in convincing investors that he was onto something big 10 years ago. There’s hope for us all.