Garage.com - (IPO Certificate) Delaware

Beautifully engraved RARE certificate from the garage.com . This historic document was printed by United States Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of the company logo. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, Guy Kawasaki and Secretary. The certificate was printed in anticipation of an IPO which was eventually withdrawn.


Certificate Vignette

From Garage.com IPO prospectus:

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read the entire prospectus carefully, including "Risk Factors" and the financial statements, before making an investment decision.

Garage.com operates an online business-to-business marketplace that helps entrepreneurs and investors create, build, and fund promising early-stage technology startups. We target our services at startups seeking to raise initial financing of between $0.5 million and $5 million. These startups are often underserved by the current venture capital market. We receive cash and the right to buy stock in our client companies as compensation for our services. During 1999, we assisted:

- 28 client companies raise more than $90 million, for which we received cash fees and the right to buy their stock as compensation. Immediately following these financings, we owned or had the right to buy at a nominal price, an average of 4% of these clients' outstanding capital stock.

- 12 other client companies with financing and marketing activities for which we received the right to buy their stock as compensation. These companies raised approximately $10 million.

We acted as placement agent in these transactions. The cash placement fees we received for these transactions accounted for 42% of our total revenue in 1999. We also derive revenue from our Bootcamp for Startups events, which are an integral part of our marketing and branding strategy. During 1999, these conferences accounted for approximately 41% of our total revenue. We anticipate that as our business develops, the percentage of our revenue that we receive for acting as placement agent will increase relative to our event revenue.

The existing venture capital market, and the market for early-stage financing in particular, is highly fragmented and unstructured. As a result, we believe the market is inefficient in matching supply and demand for venture capital. Our online platform allows startups to confidentially submit their business plans in a standardized format. This allows us to review business plans quickly and cost-effectively. We then select early-stage startups that we believe are promising to list in the password-protected section of our website known as the "Portfolio". Prior to listing these companies in the Portfolio, we assist them in refining their business models, developing their teams, and creating an effective communications strategy. Finally, we help these portfolio clients secure financing from qualified investors.

We enable startups to simultaneously present their investment opportunities to more than 2,000 of our client investors with experience in high technology investing, management, and operations. These investors include venture capital firms, corporate investors, and angel investors. We enable these client investors to access select early-stage investment opportunities without expending significant search time and resources.

Our mission is to revolutionize and democratize the venture financing process for entrepreneurs and investors. Our strategy to achieve this goal includes continuing to:

- create a competitive Internet-based marketplace providing startups with efficient access to venture capital;

- enhance the quality of startups by providing strategic guidance, marketing and promotion, education, training, and executive and technical recruiting services;

- improve our client investors' access to select early-stage investment opportunities;

- establish Garage.com as the leading brand for online venture capital matching startups with venture capital, corporate and angel investors;

- leverage our technology platform and extensive database of startup companies and investors to increase the efficiency of our marketplace; and

- promote collaboration and networking among client companies, entrepreneurs, and investors.

In 1999, we generated $5.9 million in total revenue and net income of $694,000. However, we expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future as we continue to expand our operations.

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From company press information:

Garage Technology Ventures started as Garage.com in October, 1997. The co-founders, Guy Kawasaki, Craig Johnson, and Rich Karlgaard, created the company in order to help entrepreneurs raise angel and venture capital.

Operating as an investment bank, over the next five years, Garage completed over 80 transactions and raised nearly $400 million for companies such as Tripwire, Claria, Lefthand Networks, and Digital Envoy. Garage also produced a highly acclaimed series of events including Bootcamp for Startups, The State of the Art, and Silicon Valley 4.0.

When the supply of early-stage venture capital dried up in 2002, Garage shifted its business model from fee-based investment banking to direct investing as a venture capital firm. Its current fund is called the Garage California Entrepreneurs Fund; CalPERS is the principle limited partner of this fund.