Healthcare IPOs rock on — are you in the wrong business?

When was the last time a West Coast Internet/Web 2.0 company went public?

Xtent, a Silicon Valley firm that develops a new kind of medical stent, has filed for a $103.5 million initial public offering of stock, and it would be the third largest IPO in life sciences this year, after Northstar of Seattle and Altus, of the East Coast. Silicon Valley venture firms, or at least firms with offices here, have invested in all of these, and are looking pretty smart. And comments to our last post that to appear to write off Kleiner Perkins‘ caution on Web 2.0 investing may be misplaced. When was last Web 2.0 IPO?

Xtent, of Menlo Park, seeks to raise up to $103 million in the IPO.

Moreover, the company has not generated any revenue. It reported a net loss of $14 million in 2005, so it’s not really that different from Web 2.0.

Many of us chasing Web 2.0 may be in the right business. There are lots of little sales going on, as start-ups are gobbled up by folks like Yahoo, Google and News Corp. But being acquired has become like winning a lottery ticket. Think long and hard about where you want to work, because there’s a lot of hype right now, and Silicon Valley is an echo chamber.

Put another way, if you are not a tech geek, an awesome programmer or engineer, and you are in this game to work hard and make some good cash, you may be better off kicking the tires on a healthcare company — check out its investors, read the literature — because the less-sexy bet is often the better one.

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