Monday, April 3, 2017

Report: Southern California Startups Focus More On M&A, Profit

A new report, issued by Silicon Valley Bank over the last week, has found that Southern California startups are far more focused on being acquired than on IPOs, and also on making profits, compared with most startups. The SoCal Startup Outlook compared the responses of entrepeneurs from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, versus the views of a total of nearly 950 entrepreneurs across the U.S., U.K., and China. In the report, SVB found that 58 percent of local startups believe the "realistic long-term goal" for the company is an acquisition, with only 4% seeing an IPO in their future; that compares with 16% nationally thinking an IPO is their exit, with 53% thinking an acquisition is the end goal. Among other interesting results is that Southern California startups are eagerto hire employees, with 73% looking to increase their workforce this year, and 54% believing this year will "be better" than last for business conditions. The full report is posted online. (Editor's note: Silicon Valley Bank is a major sponsor of this website, which does not affect our editorial coverage.)

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