> This is why I could never be a tech start up investor.
> Every new app like this that I see, I dismiss as
> useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that.
(edit: This is why there seem to be so many "bad ideas" that get funded.)
Another majorly significant tactic of investment is to buy your potential competitors early and often. Find the upstarts that pose a threat to your business and make them an offer.
This is why I could barely use many new apps like this I see. I don't have time to waste on something useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that. Then it gets used by million of people after a year later. :)
Actually there are lot of competitors creating online conversations tools, so maybe it's not that useless. And they are the lucky guys being picked.
How about having something really new and useful? Let me know whether it also falls into "why would anyone use that": http://bingobo.info/blog/table-of-contents.jsp.
http://mobile.theverge.com/2014/1/13/5303702/facebook-acquir...
For those who don't know, it used to be a place to share links and discuss them with friends.
We will be forming Facebook's Conversations group, based in New York City, with the goal of helping people connect with others around their interests. Their pitch to us was: "Build Branch at Facebook scale!"
Although the products we build will be reminiscent of Branch and Potluck, those services will live on outside of Facebook. A more thoughtful note and details to come soon but I am writing this haphazardly from a mountain in Japan (I was tipped that the story was going to leak while on vacation).
In the meantime, a huge "thank you" to our investors. Especially, Jason Goldman, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Ryan Freitas, John Borthwick, and Jonah Peretti, who all spent an extraordinary amount of time with us.
Most importantly though, a big congrats to my eight teammates who have worked tirelessly, often behind the scenes. So much and admiration: http://branch.com/company#team - on we go!"
Or was it closer to: "Want $15M?"
I like Pocket a lot for the first piece of that puzzle, but it lacks discussion capabilities. Facebook is my de facto solution for the second part, but it's not good for letting people bring in their friends who aren't my friends. So I suppose my dreams may come true if Facebook really is interested in letting the Branch team continue to pursue the problem.
Reddit?
So I guess the school was private after all and it got bought out by another private school.
You know, those students are eventually going to grow up and they're going to realize that private corporations are using (abusing?) their time and conversations to their own advantage.
#Irritated