The bank that took Evolve public — and the board seat that cost it
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The technology investment bank co-founded by Bill Hambrecht, which underwrote the IPOs of Apple, Amazon and a long list besides. Dan Case became chief executive at thirty-six, took the firm public in 1996, and merged it with Chase Manhattan in 1999.
Its diligence on Evolve, led by Dan Case, produced an investment and put Bill Hambrecht on the board — which Jonathan Hare took at close to half the valuation Benchmark had offered.
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The Evolve offering was originally underwritten by CSFB and Deutsche Bank for May 2000 — $200m at a targeted $5bn. It was pushed to August at $50m, peaking near $2bn, after what Hare describes as ill-advised manoeuvring by the H&Q staff who had replaced Bill Hambrecht on the board.
He had traded valuation for a board member, and then the board member was replaced. The signal was real while the man was in the seat; the seat outlasted him.
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Led the diligence that put Bill Hambrecht on Evolve's board. Died at forty-four.
Open →Hambrecht made the introductionTheir first major technology financing was Evolve
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