The NetLedger IPO: A Case Study

NetLedger is a major vendor of on-demand, Internet-based business software. The company's major products include Accounting/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and Ecommerce software. Founder and Chairman Evan Goldberg, a protégé of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, started NetLedger after leaving Oracle. Backed by Ellison, Goldberg founded NetLedger at the height of the dot-com boom, when almost any company with the word "Net" in its name could attract venture capital and quickly move to an Initial Public Offering (IPO). NetLedger was founded in 1998, making it old by Silicon Valley startup standards. Ellison himself became a multi-billionaire when he took Oracle public during an earlier Silicon Valley market boom.