More industry news- Convio plans to go public

Convio, a maker of website software for non profits, announced last week that they are planning to go public, joining Blackbaud (BLKB) and Kintera (KNTA). Unfortunately, they also had to disclose their financials, and once again showed just how difficult it is to operate profitably in the non profit market space. (They lost $12.5 million last year and are on track to lose another $12 million this year)

I've had the good fortune of working with Convio as we both share numerous clients- both large and small- and I've also met several times with Vinay Bhagat, who founded Convio in 1999. I generally think that they have pretty good software and good customer support. We've had some minor integration issues over the years, but nothing that couldn't be worked out between us.

Their aquisition of Get Active earlier this year seemed to drive their need to go public or get bought out. In addition, as I mentioned in previous postings, the time frame for the VC money to cash out was approaching, and something had to be done. Based on these facts, it's not at all surprising that they took the step to go public.

But will this step be good for the nonprofit community? On one hand, having more public companies that focus on our community is probably a good thing as it will increase the attention our sector desparately needs. On the other hand, like Kintera and Blackbaud, Convio will be forced to bend to the pressures of Wall Street and increase their profits, and it may come at the expense (and not benefit) of their customers.

I do wish Convio good luck with the process and be assured that we'll be there for our joint customers as Convio rides the inevitable roller coaster ride of regulatory filings and paperwork.