How many companies ask you not to take pictures of them on the day they have their $100 million IPO? I can think of only one: Kayak, the online travel software firm based in Connecticut and Concord, MA.
Kayak debuted on the Nasdaq this morning to great fanfare. As of 3:30pm ET, shares were up about 30 percent from their opening price of $26. The tech firm, which started in 2004, becomes the latest in the area to join the billion-dollar-valuation club.
It’s a historic day for the company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:KYAK]]), and for the New England consumer-tech scene. Since Kayak and I are practically neighbors in Concord—I just moved this week—I thought I’d stop by the company’s technology center, about an hour after co-founders Steve Hafner and Paul English rang the bell at the stock market this morning (see photo below).
Much to my chagrin, the person who greeted me at the office asked me “on behalf of the company” not to take any pictures—not even from outside Kayak’s office door—lest they “get in trouble.” (No offense taken since they weren’t expecting me. Sometimes, in the cutthroat world of travel tech, it pays to be paranoid.)
For a big engineering operation, the company keeps a pretty low profile in its Concord office park, with no splashy signs, logos, and so forth. But suffice to say there were plenty of engineer-types milling around a central gathering spot down the hall, and the office had a celebratory air.
So here are some shots from outside and around the Kayak office on its big day. And, as a good neighbor, maybe I’ll bring over a pie next time.
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| Kayak goes public—Co-founders Steve Hafner (left) and Paul English (right) rang the bell at the Nasdaq on the morning of July 20, 2012. The IPO netted $91 million, and Kayak is currently valued at more than $1 billion. | |
| Photo courtesy of Kayak |
