Gawker: valleywag, zach nelson

Inside Larry Ellison's Pacific Heights mansionette

Owen Thomas — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison doesn't really live in his multimillion-dollar house in San Francisco; he mostly keeps it around for parties, like the rager of a dinner party PR schemestress Brooke Hammerling threw for the 10th anniversary of NetSuite, an online-software company which Ellison has backed since it was a startup. Kara Swisher did one of her let-the-CEO-yammer interviews with NetSuite's Zach Nelson. Videographer Richard Blakeley cut her clip down to just the real-estate porn. It works a lot better with the intro theme from MTV Cribs, doesn't it?

P is for Parker, the Valley's bad boy

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Sean Parker has had a hand in some of the Valley's biggest successes. His first company, Napster, took the world by storm, but didn't make Parker rich. His second, Plaxo, just sold to Comcast. And his third, Facebook — well, say no more. Except for the bit about him getting kicked out, according to Mark Zuckerberg's legal testimony, for a cocaine arrest. (Parker characterized the incident as "a misunderstanding.") That and more is covered in the 21 pages Sarah Lacy devotes to Parker in Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, new book about Web 2.0. The index page where Parker is listed:

Previously:

A is for Adelson, who cofounded Digg

B is for Botha, who sold YouTube big

F is for Fitzpatrick, and "hookers and blow"

L is for Levchin, who never goes slow

Yahoo reporter knifes NetSuite CEO on air

Owen Thomas — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:41:26 EST

In this Tech Ticker segment, correspondent Sarah Lacy laughs and smiles and pitches softball questions — "Salesforce.com is going to become Siebel, and you're going to become SAP?" (Siebel was swallowed up by Oracle, while SAP is Oracle's chief rival.) The flattery is effective: Lacy lets NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson talk, and talk, and talk. He spins a tale of how his company is poised for greatness; Salesforce.com, for obscurity. And then the financials pop up on screen: Salesforce.com is profitable, unlike NetSuite, and has nearly five times NetSuite's annual revenues. A ruthless evisceration. Nelson didn't even know he was being filleted. The full video:

The selling of NetSuite

Owen Thomas — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:29:41 EST

In every startup's life, before it can go public, there's a ritual called the roadshow. NetSuite, an online-software company backed by Larry Ellison, may begin its run as soon as Thursday, having filed an updated prospectus with the SEC detailing its plans to issue shares to the public. The total: As much as $99 million from the sale of 6.2 million shares. One unlikely buyer has already put his money in: Salesforce.com board member Craig Ramsey, who bought $3.5 million from company CEO Zach Nelson and founder Evan Goldberg. Silicon Alley Insider reports that Ramsey's son works at NetSuite, but the purchase is still curious. Also playing the field: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who put money into Goldberg's NetSuite and Benioff's Salesforce.com.

Silicon Valley's secret matchmaker

Owen Thomas — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:24:09 EDT

These days, a startup raising $1.5 million hardly seems noteworthy, so I was inclined to dismiss the news that Curbed Network, a New York-based blog franchise, had brought in that modest amount. This despite the fact that Lockhart Steele, Curbed's cofounder, is a friend and helped recruit me to Valleywag when he worked at Gawker Media, and Nick Denton, Valleywag's owner, is one of the investors in this round. No, I was more intrigued by the name of another investor: Zach Nelson, the Larry Ellison protégé who's CEO of NetSuite, the Web-based software company which has filed to go public. How could these two have possibly connected? A quick reading of the social graph revealed only one candidate: Brooke Hammerling, the hyperconnected founder of Brew PR and Valleywag's original Snacky Flack. The coast-swapping Hammerling says her career as a yentapreneur began when she invited Steele, a baseball fan, to an Oakland A's event hosted by Nelson. Hope you got a cut, Brooke.

Zach Nelson's Sweet IPO Dream

lock — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:45:10 EST

LOCKHART STEELE — Why is Zach Nelson smiling? Because he'll soon be able to afford another Bentley or two. Fresh off a glowing Business Week profile, more details leak via TechCrunch about the impending IPO for NetSuite, the business software firm Nelson heads. Today's news: the firm's reportedly going with just Credit Suisse as its banker, which took it on the chin to snag the business. Reports TC, "Our understanding is that the company may have negotiated a lower fee for the IPO than the standard 7%, which is extremey rare." (As previously reported, the IPO hopes to raise about $100 million at a $1b valuation.)

Nelson and team aside, the other big winners? Early NetSuite backer Larry Ellison (BW: "After the IPO he's still likely to own over 50% of the stock")—and all those who dream of that IPO moment, a dream deferred lo these last, er, few months since titular domain registrar GoDaddy pulled its filing in August. Onward, etc.

NetSuite's Going Public, Looking for $1 Billion Valuation [TechCrunch]
NetSuite Gets Ready for its Close-Up [Business Week]

BONUS: Speaking of GoDaddy, Business 2.0's Paul Sloan pens a long piece about the firm and its irascible CEO, Bob Parsons. Per the canceled IPO, "Parsons says he'll come back to Wall Street eventually." Oh, they always do. (Over/under: May '07.) [Business 2.0]

Zach Nelson buys Larry's Bentley

ndouglas — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:22:24 EDT

Zach Nelson doesn't hide his hero worship, does he? The Netsuite CEO pulls off the kingly pose of his company's founder, the CEO of Oracle, just right. And a reader says Zach's riding dad's wheels too:

Which pre-IPO CEO just bought a Bentley you ask? Perhaps it was preowned by none other than Larry Ellison? Netsuite, thats who.

Tipline, for anyone with details, is tips@valleywag.com. Would it be crass to ask for pics? It would be crass to ask for pics. Please, if you see Zach's car, take pics.