It’s a familiar scenario. Tech company toils away for 10 years, rides the ups and downs of its market, quietly bootstraps its way to profitability, lands some huge customers, and becomes an overnight success story.
I’m talking about Dyn, the Manchester, NH-based Internet infrastructure company that just raised a $38 million first round of financing from North Bridge Venture Partners, with Ric Fulop and Russ Pyle of North Bridge joining the board, along with entrepreneur and startup guru Jason Calacanis.
Raising money is not the main success here, of course. Over the years, Dyn has become a leader in e-mail delivery and DNS (Domain Name System) services—a critical part of the plumbing that keeps major sites like Twitter, Zappos, Spotify, and Zillow up and running. The company’s profits and leadership have made it very attractive to VCs, but until recently Dyn has resisted their overtures. I wondered what had changed, and what the deeper thinking was behind the latest move.
So I e-mailed a few questions to Dyn’s co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Hitchcock (pictured below). Here’s what he had to say about the decision to raise venture money, and how the deal will impact Dyn’s growth, strategy, and culture.
Xconomy: Can you talk about your decision to take a growth round? Why now?
Jeremy Hitchcock: We have bootstrapped Dyn for 11 years but we’re not quite satisfied. This investment symbolizes our commitment to double down on our efforts to become the global leader in DNS and e-mail delivery and to redefine the entire Infrastructure as a Service space.
X: Out of all your VC suitors, why North Bridge? And can you speak to what your new board members bring to the table specifically for Dyn?
JH: We have been lucky to receive a lot of attractive offers over the years, but we found North Bridge a partner that
