Zeevo – Looking back

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 Agenda

The Company -- History,

timeline and some key notes
Market assessment and
other companies
Perspective – looking back
Take-aways

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 The Idea
Founded in Sep 1999
Vision was to drive the cost down of wireless chip by doing
SOC’s with radios in CMOS technology
The first market: Bluetooth
– Short range wireless standard
Value proposition was a single chip Bluetooth solution with
– Embedded processor and associated SOC
– Bluetooth link layer
– Bluetooth radio
– Lower layer BT software stack
The founding team comprised of four people with the following
background:
– 1 Marketing
– 1 Systems
– 1 RF IC
– 1 Digital

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 Rounds of Funding

5 rounds of funding
– Series A: Sequoia Capital -- 1999
– Series B: Raza Ventures -- 2000
– Series C: Dell Ventures -- 2001 
Highest
– Series D: WK Tech -- 2002
– Series E: Winbond Electronics -- 2004
Total raised $85 million
Acquired by Broadcom: $32 million
-- 2005
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Notable milestones and
stats
Key Milestones
– First Employee: Oct 99
– First Tapeout: Nov 99
– “Peak sentiment”: Mar 01 (see next slide)
– Sampled to customers: Apr 01
– Shipped millionth chip: Nov 03
– Exit – Mar 05
Misc
– Number of employees at peak: 90
– Key Customer: HP
– Names: 3
– Number of layoffs: 3
– Number of building moves: 3
– Number of CEO’s: 3

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 The peak

Mar 2001
Solution was
about to sample
to customers –
everyone was
optimistic
Highest number
of employees
Coming out party
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 The Nadir

Sep 04
Burn rate was still going to be greater
than profits
– Another RIF was coming
– Another round of funding looked necessary
Lot of team members had been with the
company for about 4-5 years and were
getting tired
Investment banking firm was hired soon
after
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Investment Bankers

Help companies decide on strategy

involving
– Mergers and Acquisitions
– Capital financing
For startups
– Generally means  help us get
acquired
SVB Alliant was the investment
banker hired by Zeevo
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 The Acquisition Process
Initially
– Lots of preparation
• Slides, demos, individual meetings
– Different suitors want different things
– Exciting
• Since change is imminent (one way or the other)
Once a deal is in the works, more activity
– Reviewing all contracts
– Deeper dive into the technology
– Employment offers
– Incentive packages (if applicable)
Not an easy process – lots of hard work and
tension

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 Post-Acquisition
Things don’t stop
Have to deal with
– New environment
– New culture
– New Chiefs
– Possibly new direction
– Possibly new technology
Establish credibility all over again
Got to prove the acquisition out…

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 How did the market do

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
How did other companies do

Company Exit When Notes

CSR IPO Jan-04 ~ 200 million/quarter
Innovent Acquired -- Broadcom Jul-00 440 million
Pivoltal Technologies Acquired -- Broadcom May-00 250 million
Transilica Acquired -- Microtune Dec-01 170 million
Silicon Wave Acquired -- RFMD 4-Apr 11 million
Signia Tech Still Around
GCT Still Around

Bigger companies
– Ericsson – exited the market
– Intel – exited the market
– TI – in play
– Infineon – in play

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 Few things that went
wrong
Development
– Too much risk in too many areas
– Too conservative in some others
– Stumbled in a few places
Marketing
– Not very targeted
– Never went after the highest volume market – Cell
phones
• Ultimately targeted a niche segment (stereo
headphones) in a huge market that never took off
– Did not effectively identify real opportunities from
the noise
Under-estimated the competition
Did not leverage or outsource well
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 More..
Operations
– Could never get the cost under control until it was
too late
Management
– Was inexperienced in certain areas
– Did not curtail spending in the early days
• Including hiring
– Did not make hard decisions quickly enough
People
– Some were not startup material
Communication
– Did not have a very good meeting culture
– We always gave the good news or put it in good light

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006
 What did we do well
Good architecture
– Good technical team
– Came up with creative solutions
As a small company, we were able to keep up
with BT spec changes
Hired people with diverse skill-sets to create a
company identity
– RF, Digital, Firmware, Application, Packaging
Generally good work atmosphere
– Excellent retention rate
– We had fun
Attempted to communicate a lot
When things did not go well, team showed
resilience
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Personal Learning's
Strong experience in the overall process
to deliver wireless systems
– Exposed to a broad swathe of technical and
business issues
Appreciation and understanding of the
application of technology in the context
of the customer
Took the opportunity to participate in
Marketing and Operations roles
Learned about the
– Workings of a company, people-issues,
governing influences, self
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Parting shots
Don’t get carried away by
technology
– Its about the return to the investors
Not every problem has a
technological solution
Don’t take more risk than you
should
– Keep things simple
Standards always take longer to
get adopted than projected
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Parting shots (Cont.)…
Experience counts – listen to the
experts
Take one step back to take two forward
If it seems wrong, it is! No one knows
any better
– Speak your mind
Align with other founders and the
investors OR don’t
Spend the money as if it were your own
Put the right folks in the right places
and get the wrong ones out – ASAP!
BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,
2006
 Summary

Doing your own venture is a great

opportunity and experience
– The journey is eventful and the
outcome could be fabulous

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org) August 26,

2006