There are businesses that you just got to love. One of their key characteristics is that they solve a key problem (“got to have” mode, not “nice to have”) or help you develop an opportunity. In some rare cases, they do BOTH.
Back in 2000, when I started my first venture (called “PurpleFactory” 
, ah nostalgia! It was a middle-man business in the B2B marketplace scene) after leaving KPMG Consulting as head of e-business for France, I had a problem: I didn’t have business cards anymore. Well I didn’t even have a company, nor a commercial name, nor clients, no nothing. But your professional identity often starts with your business card. So what do you ? You either go to a public business card printer, or try to figure out which printer to call in the phone book.
A small company was founded a few years earlier by an INSEAD alumni : they solved just that problem. They even did something better: they gave away for free 250 B-cards, with the only catch of printing on the back that they were given away for free by Vistaprint.com. Great way to start viral marketing in those still First-Tuesday days. And so, I had my first purple business cards for PurpleFactory from Vistaprint.
A couple of years later, when I started RISC Partners with Ivan, I didn’t think twice: it was going to be a service from these guys again. Very simple value proposition, great value for money / time, good service.
Well, they went public 6 days ago. As Yahoo! finance reports:
“ Market Pulse: VistaPrint IPO debuting Friday after bullish pricing
Friday September 30, 7:36 am ET
By Steve Gelsi
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- VistaPrint Ltd. is debuting its initial public offering on Friday at a price of $12 a share, above its $9-$11 a share price range. The Lexington, Mass. printing firm is raising $120 million by offering 10 million shares with underwriters Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns.”
Simple ideas well executed can produce wonders.
Note: another great VC is also behind them: Fergal Mullen from Highland Capital Partners sits on the board with Vistaprint. He’s also the guy behind that recent 24m$ investment in Photoways.com that also works around printing. I would argue that here you have someone that understands Europe although working (still) from Boston, that likes Europe, and has a nose for great opportunities. I hear he’ll be in Athens next week…
