The pandemic has ushered in a new era of venture capital, distinguished by record-breaking capital deployments and blockbuster exits. In this time of unprecedented opportunity and growth, it’s easy to lose sight of the often-arduous path to success for most tech startups.
For Teradici, an HP Company, the road was a winding one. The company traces its origins to just after the bubble burst and when building hardware was a lot more expensive. Teradici’s long journey was born from the thesis that server virtualization would flow inevitably to the desktop. On the hopes that the market would exist when the product was ready, Teradici went from the first chip tape out to finding early adopters and partners who shared a similar vision, and then to the more recent pivot into software, with a CEO transition along the way. Over 17 years, the startup has grown into one of the leading remote desktop and workstation software providers, trusted by top government agencies, media conglomerates, production studios, and financial institutions.
The company endured through all stages of the start-up lifecycle, going from concept in a PowerPoint deck, to helping create an entirely new category in software, and most recently, to executing a successful exit. Last week, the previously announced sale to HP Inc. closed, marking one of the most significant milestones in the Company’s history.
Looking back, working with Teradici was one of my most formative experiences as a new investor. Seeing the company’s progression underscored the importance of strong conviction in investing, even when it means going against the grain.
In the company’s early days, Teradici received a termsheet from a US-based VC, but because the company chose to remain in BC, this termsheet fell away, as did the other co-lead Canadian VC. Joe Timlin – who was my colleague at the Working Opportunity Fund at the time – and Geoff Catherwood of BDC stepped up and led the financing round. Skypoint Capital and Alta Berkely eventually joined the A round to provide the capital Teradici would need to tape out its first chip. Without this independent thinking and risk taking, Teradici may have never happened.
As Joe’s second on the file, I had the opportunity to see all of this from the formation stages and recently rejoined the board a few years ago to witness the most recent stage of success. A personal shout out to Joe as one of my early VC mentors (love pointing out how much older you are, Joe!).
Without continued support and tenacity from the Teradici team, board and investors, Teradici would have not made it through to its most recent successes including winning an engineering Emmy and solidifying a number of key partnerships, including working with Apple to enable high performance remote access for the Mac. We could not be more thrilled for Teradici’s team as it expands its global reach and continues to innovate with cutting-edge technology.
