Case Study:
WebSideStory
Nearly tripled revenue in the four years following the tech collapse
Third SaaS IPO in history
Later acquired by Omniture, and then Adobe in 2009
When Summit invested in WebSideStory in 1999, it was a single-solution company providing a web analytics platform that it monetized through display advertisements. As the Internet advertising market deteriorated following the tech collapse in 2000, WebSideStory reoriented its business to a SaaS subscription model and began expanding its product offering to provide a full suite of on-demand digital marketing tools. To lead this transformation, Summit recruited industry veteran Jeff Lunsford as CEO.
How Summit helped:
- Recruited a growth-oriented management team, including a VP of Sales, a CMO and a CFO with public company experience
- Introduced WebSideStory to investment banks and helped it prepare for an IPO in the difficult market environment of 2004
- Assisted in the acquisitions of Atomz and Visual Sciences, extending the product line
Using capital raised in its IPO, WebSideStory made several significant acquisitions to expand its product line. The company continued growing and earned widespread recognition as it evolved to become a real-time analytics platform serving more than 1,500 enterprises worldwide. Summit exited the investment in 2006. A year later, the company changed its name to Visual Sciences and was acquired by Omniture, which was subsequently acquired by Adobe in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion.