Topic
16 facts from 6 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2007
The Roblox deal was referred to Altos Ventures by a lawyer at Wilson Sonsini, who later joined Roblox full-time as general counsel.
“the deal was referred to us by Mark Weinstra, who actually works for Roblox now full-time as a general counsel.”
2007
Roblox's early paid subscription was called Builder's Club and was priced at $5.99 a month, the same as Club Penguin's membership.
“We called it Builder's Club. That's what it was. Same exact pricing as Club Penguin, $5.99 a month.”
2008
Altos Ventures negotiated its Roblox investment over the 2007 holidays, and the deal closed in February 2008.
“This is in 2007. The deal closed in February of 2008. But when we were negotiating was going to the holidays in 2007 to 2008.”
2008
Altos Ventures offered $2 million for a Series C round in Roblox, and Roblox took $1.5 million instead.
“yeah, $2 million is too much, but we'll take $1.5 million from you guys.”
2021
Fajt notes Roblox was valued at about $40 billion on public markets in 2021, versus about $4 billion a year earlier.
“Roblox is a $40 billion company on the public markets today. A year ago, it was a $4 billion company.”
2021
Brad Gerstner said Altimeter anchored Roblox's direct listing, Confluent's IPO and Grab's listing through a SPAC in the prior year.
“We anchored Direct List like Roblox. We anchored IPOs like Confluent. We anchored our own IPO like Grab by way of SPAC.”
Undated
Fajt says Roblox uses a separate app, Roblox Studio, for building, unlike Rec Room, where players build in the game itself.
“Roblox has another app called Roblox Studio, which is where you go and build.”
Undated
Fajt says Roblox's players skew nine to twelve while its creators are mostly in their mid twenties or older, whereas Rec Room targets teens who both play and create.
“there's nine to 12 year old players. And then the creator base is probably like, you know, mid twenties, thirties, maybe older.”
Undated
Altos Ventures invested in Roblox out of a fund of about $86.5 million, and became Roblox's largest shareholder by the time of its IPO.
“It was $86.5 million fund. And you became the largest shareholder at the time of IPO.”
Undated
Altos Ventures sold 15% of its Roblox position to return cash to its investors and remained the largest shareholder afterward.
“And so we decided to sell 15% of our Roblox position.”
Undated
Altos Ventures raised a $125 million special-purpose vehicle for the Roblox round valued at $2.5 billion, and a second $125 million vehicle for the later $4 billion round.
“When we did the $2.5 billion, it was $125 million SPV, right?”
Undated
Roblox's pre-IPO round was priced at $45 a share, implying a market value of about $30 billion, far above the $8-10 billion that rumors had suggested for an IPO.
“it should be at least $45 a share, which is 30 billion market cap way higher than that”
Undated
Reid Hoffman says Roblox is among the Greylock investments in networks that reshape social life, alongside his co-founding of LinkedIn.
“It's part of the reason I created, you know, LinkedIn with my co-founders, things that we've done and various other investments at Greylock, including like, for example, you know, like, take Roblox”
Undated
Mitch Lasky says Roblox is the most highly taxed app store on earth because developers are paid in Robux, which is taxed on each conversion.
“Roblox is the most highly taxed app store on earth, right? I mean, because you get paid as a developer in Robux, right?”
Undated
Mitch Lasky says he last calculated Roblox's gross tax on developer earnings at somewhere close to 60%.
“I think the last time I calculated the total tax, the gross tax, was somewhere close to 60%.”
Undated
Reid Hoffman says Roblox, a Greylock investment, took longer than the usual five-to-seven-year timeframe to look obvious.
“Now, occasionally it's longer, like one of the the Greylock investments is Roblox, and that took longer.”
Episodes