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Comment by jstanley | Hacker News Reader

This sounds like great news for Rocket Internet, but having read the article I don't even have a cursory understanding of what they do. I think it would have been beneficial to include a sentence or two about what they do beyond "clone factory".

EDIT: This seems to be them: http://www.rocket-internet.de/

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They're a global company that creates e-commerce startups in emerging economies. Not sure if 'startup' is really the right term here, but it's what they use. While they bill themselves as an accelerator, it's more that they ship in talent to emerging economies and try to become a big name in the e-commerce sector in those economies.

Seems to be working out for them, but I'm guessing the 'going public' is a way for the founders to cash out as quickly as possible in case it goes belly-up?

Thomas already wrote down a quick analysis of the potential IPO: http://tropicalconsiderations.com/2013/01/05/rocket-unleashe...

Pretty good analysis. I disagree about the last validation point though - no matter how much money they raise, they are still non-profitable. I think the only way they're going to get real validation is when they're well out of the red. Applies to any business...

I guess there will be 'validation' in lots of interesting in the company from random people looking to get some of that extra free flowing cash for themselves?

In a nutshell: take successful US start-up ideas and create a European version of the exact same thing.

you forget the part were US startups won't go abroad, ignoring non-US users. Who is to blame?

It's everyone's fault and no-one's fault.

I'm not trying to cast aspersions... just to state facts.

I understand, but US startups have a wrong sense of entitlement. They might come up with the idea, but if their execution falls short why should others be stopped?

I'm not just talking about European startups, but this also happens within the US ecosystem. Take the latest and greatest: SnapChat vs Poke.

Additionally, if a US startup does not service the rest of the world (specially in e-commerce, which is what Rocket Internet focuses on) they are giving others an opportunity; and others have the right to execute this. Take Gilt copying Vente Privee; VP is not calling Gilt a copy cat.

Your "facts" are unfortunately wrong. Most of their ventures are e-commerce sites i.e. not exactly unique ideas, and doesn't even target the European market.

Not just europe - they're in brazil and a couple of asian countries too.

Among the "gems" in Brazil, they have a zappos clone (with an awful customer service), a ZocDoc and a Square clone.

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