Sycamore, co-founded with MIT researchers by the well-known entrepreneur Desh Deshpande, went public in 1999 and reached a market capitalization of $18 billion. The company, oft-described as "once high flying" in its obits this week, now has a market cap of $166 million, and its stock price has fallen to under $6, whereas it once lived in the $20s and $30s.
this week is littered with farewells and sad good-byes from those who worked at or with the company. On a personal note, I recall Deshpande and CEO Dan Smith, along with colleagues, attending a monthly schmoozefest I used to run with a local VC at North Bridge Venture Partners and basking in the exciting growth local telecom and enterprise switching just before the dot-com bubble began to burst.
Years later, Sycamore was hit hard by the 2008 economic downturn and never recovered, piling up mounting losses, including nearly $13 million in fiscal 2012.
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