HR Technology Companies: Is Raising Money Always A Good Thing?

Over the last few years, we’ve seen unprecedented investments in HR Tech, Learning Tech, and SkillsTech. Analysts like HolonIQ and CBInsights believe more than $10 Billion has been invested in these markets and as I wrote about a few weeks ago, more and more HR tech companies are reaching Billion dollar valuations. And these valuations are real: public companies like Coursera, Workday, Docebo, and many others are achieving these valuations in the public market. But at this time of highly frothy markets (the stock market is at an all-time high, driven largely by low interest rates), should you as a vendor keep taking more cash? Many CEOs tend to celebrate these fund raising events as if they are truly business achievements in themselves. As I describe in this podcast, taking in a lot of investment capital is a great thing, but it has costs too. So at this particularly risky time in the stock market, I wanted to just talk about the risks. And yes, I”m a capitalist and feel very strongly about the value of capital and investors in the market. But for entrepreneurs and CEOs, remember that there is always a “cost of capital” to consider. I also talk about the growth of “platform business models,” and why they are so powerful but not necessarily as easy as you think.