SuccessFactors IPO part II

The timing of the SuccessFactors IPO (Tuesday of Thanksgiving week) is odd: why go public during such a quiet period? In the future, though, we won’t remember when they floated. Instead we will have some answers to the speculation that the event has generated.

Opinion is divided between those who see it as taking a lead in an expanding market. For them, it’s a canny land-grab where getting there firstest with the mostest is all that counts. Others see it as a desperate attempt to feed a furious burn rate, and foresee the cash being spent within three quarters. Phil Wainewright at ZD Net outlines the two sides of this argument well.

SuccessFactors are off to a good start, as Jason Wood notes. Pricing at $10, the top of their forecast range, they closed the day at $13.25, having raised $108m. After some profit-taking, SFSF finished at $12.75 on Wednesday, before the holiday shutdown.

A good two days, then, but fortunes change. As Jason Corsello pointed out at the beginning of the month, Taleo (TLEO) recently recently surplanted Kenexa (KNXA) as the talent management poster child. Will SuccessFactors be next at the top of the slippery pole?