Zoom Crushes; Bill Gurley Called It in 1994
Zoom hosted their Q1 earnings call last week, and they announced $328M in revenue - compared to analyst estimates of $202M. Apparently, this is the largest beat vs. consensus estimates in the history of enterprise software.
One of my favorite responses to this news was Bill Gurley posting a link to an equity research report he wrote in 1994. Really fun to see the predictions he made back then, like:
- Yes, people will order PCs by phone, even though they don’t buy TVs that way
- Yes, PCs will become multi-function devices even though people don’t use combination blender/toasters in the kitchen
- And of course… Yes, people will use video conferencing as a sales tool even though people prefer the intimacy of meeting in person
I also love his commentary on Twitter: “Wrote about it 25+ years ago, & somehow still missed @ericsyuan as an investment. 🤦♂️”