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Oyster is shutting down

blog.oysterbooks.com

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Re: Oyster is shutting down

#61

Post by notatoad »

nstart wrote: post #38

Can someone explain the math here? 2012 they received 3M in seed funding. 2014 they received 14M USD. The picture on that boat shows 26 (?) people. So let's assume 26 people were always in the company just for kicks. Between 2012 October and 2015 September they ran out of 17M USD. That's a burn rate of 5.67M USD per year. For 26 employees, if we stupidly assumed no other costs, that nearly 218k USD salary per year. O…

Content costs money. It seems reasonable that most of that money went towards buying the rights to all the books they were renting.

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#62

Post by eots »

cbhl wrote: post #42
nstart wrote: post #38

Can someone explain the math here? 2012 they received 3M in seed funding. 2014 they received 14M USD. The picture on that boat shows 26 (?) people. So let's assume 26 people were always in the company just for kicks. Between 2012 October and 2015 September they ran out of 17M USD. That's a burn rate of 5.67M USD per year. For 26 employees, if we stupidly assumed no other costs, that nearly 218k USD salary per year. O…

I've heard that when you factor in office space, desks, computers, benefits, etc.; the cost of hiring an employee to the company is roughly 2x their gross salary. (As for income tax, at that bracket, it's something like 40-50%?)

Isn't income tax included in the gross salary?

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#63

Post by qq66 »

philtar wrote: post #59
tiffanyh wrote: post #41

I never understood Oyster business model. My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. He literally checks out nearly any book, all FOR FREE and reads it on his kindle. Maybe this is a US centric thing and Oyster was targeting international users. But local libraries have been offering this service of digitally checking out books (even current books) for free for n…

> My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. I am a full time professional software developer and I do a lot of technology things on the side and have a technology side business. It took me forever to connect a kindle to my library, and when I did, most of the books I wanted weren't available.

An example of "beginner's luck," which is often the tendency of experts to overthink things when just trying the most basic thing often works. :)

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#64

Post by cwyers »

benwilber0 wrote: post #28
ipsin wrote: post #14

Taken without any external context, this release is nonsensical, probably because they don't bother to say why they're shutting down or what the new opportunity is. "Looking forward, we feel this is best seized by taking on new opportunities to fully realize our vision for ebooks." By... shutting down? I would have appreciated a bit of plain-speaking here.

they ran out of money and Google hired-away a bunch of their staff. simple as that. happens.

That's the context that the post doesn't mention. (They don't say anything about Google at all, even.)

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#65

Post by ghshephard »

cbhl wrote: post #42
nstart wrote: post #38

Can someone explain the math here? 2012 they received 3M in seed funding. 2014 they received 14M USD. The picture on that boat shows 26 (?) people. So let's assume 26 people were always in the company just for kicks. Between 2012 October and 2015 September they ran out of 17M USD. That's a burn rate of 5.67M USD per year. For 26 employees, if we stupidly assumed no other costs, that nearly 218k USD salary per year. O…

I've heard that when you factor in office space, desks, computers, benefits, etc.; the cost of hiring an employee to the company is roughly 2x their gross salary. (As for income tax, at that bracket, it's something like 40-50%?)

Somebody needs to revisit the numbers for capital costs of technology. When a new employee in 1995 cost $50,000, and their Compaq LTE-5300 Laptop, Docking station was $3000 - cost of computer was an issue (Particularly as you needed a lot of service / repair to keep it running, configured) - And you were lucky to get 2 years of service.

In 2015, a new employee costs $150,000, and their computer still costs $3000 (or less) - and now lasts at least 2 years, and in many cases, can be stretched out to three years.

In Redwood City, industrial/quasi commercial space in 2007 was going for $1.50/sq/foot - figure * 200 per employee = $3600/year for office space.

Desk, chairs, cubes, etc.. cost around $1500/employee delivered/installed (Always buy used. Add an extra $600 if you want Aeron Chairs).

I would be interested in seeing if anybody has a soup-nuts assessment for all of the office costs for an employee in 2015 in the valley.

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#66

Post by jacalata »

tiffanyh wrote: post #41

I never understood Oyster business model. My 81 year old father figured out years ago how to connect is Kindle to his local public library. He literally checks out nearly any book, all FOR FREE and reads it on his kindle. Maybe this is a US centric thing and Oyster was targeting international users. But local libraries have been offering this service of digitally checking out books (even current books) for free for n…

My local library offers digital checkouts that have terrible availability, limited time only and a limited number of titles in the first place. Your dad is lucky, and/or his reading taste skews more available than mine.

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#67

Post by rahimnathwani »

zzzmarcus wrote: post #60
rahimnathwani wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Kindle Unlimited has a killer feature Oyster never had -- Kindles." That, and an enormous selection. "Reading books on phones is awful." It depends on the phone. Many people are perfectly happy reading for hours on a phone screen, particularly if they can choose the foreground/background colours (e.g. white on black for someone with an AMOLED screen). "Reading them on Kindles is the closest screens can come to readi…

I pay for Kindle Unlimited and can say first-hand that it has a terrible selection of mostly self-published and second rate books. Kindle itself of course has the best selection, but that's on a pay-per-book model. The brilliant thing about Oyster was that they have so much first rate material in their "unlimited" model. There are plenty of arguments to be made about how many books you can read a month etc., but thos…

The way you feel about Oyster is the way I feel about Safari Books Online. It's just so awesome for books about software and IT. I wish there were an equivalent for other areas in which I have deep interest.

BTW I also really like Blinkist (a book summary site). They don't have as wide a selection as GetAbstract, but the Blinkist folks are thoughtful about the books they add, their summaries don't feel jarring, and the iPad app is smooth as butter.

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#68

Post by hollerith »

cwyers wrote: post #49
zzzmarcus wrote: post #13

Oyster was something that Google Play or Amazon Kindle Unlimited will almost certainly never be. The beautiful design and focus on details was just the surface. It felt like a company run by people that are passionate about reading and surfacing great books in engaging ways. There were no competing interests--it was about the books and while they weren't perfect, that passion was evident in everything they did. I, fo…

Kindle Unlimited has a killer feature Oyster never had -- Kindles. Reading books on phones is awful. Reading them on Kindles is the closest screens can come to reading on books.

I have a (first generation) Kindle Paperwhite and don't understand why people rave about screen.

I prefer the screen on my 13-year-old computer monitor and would continue to prefer it even if it were the same size as the Paperwhite's screen provided that it were on a device as portable as the Paperwhite.

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#69

Post by verinus »

hollerith wrote: post #68
cwyers wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindle Unlimited has a killer feature Oyster never had -- Kindles. Reading books on phones is awful. Reading them on Kindles is the closest screens can come to reading on books.

I have a (first generation) Kindle Paperwhite and don't understand why people rave about screen. I prefer the screen on my 13-year-old computer monitor and would continue to prefer it even if it were the same size as the Paperwhite's screen provided that it were on a device as portable as the Paperwhite.

funny. i own one too and it blows every computer screen- especially when i want to read on the couch or in bed or on may veranda or in my garend- in short in sunlight...

Re: Oyster is shutting down

#70

Post by x0x0 »

nstart wrote: post #53
zaroth wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wages are at most 70% of the cost of an employee to a business, and possibly as low as 50% of the fully burdened cost. For an employee to gross $100k on their paystub (before their own taxes), a competitive employer in NYC is likely paying a full burden (with payroll taxes, insurance, other benefits, admin overhead, office space, and supplies) not too far from $218k.

Wow. That's amazing. I genuinely had no idea that the costs of running could be that high. Thanks for sharing that info. It boggles my mind as to how much money startups probably need just to stay break even.

I think the parent's estimate is a little high, but here's what I know. w2 employers are responsible for

- 6.2% SS + 1.45% medicare fica taxes

- health insurance, of which the employer's share can easily run $1k/mo for a couple in their 30s

- 1.5% payroll tax if in sf, or 0.34% payroll tax for mta in nyc;

so if someone makes $100k in sf, the employer pays

   (1.0 + 0.0765 fica + 0.015 city payroll tax) * 100k
   + 12*1k health insurance
   + 12 * $1200 monthly rent
   + 12 * $100 snacks/office supplies
   + maybe $500/year for unemployment insurance and various other fees
totaling (1.0765 + 0.015) * 1e5 + 12*(1e3 + 1.2e3 + 100) + 500 = $137k. That doesn't include any activities, hardware, or meals. If you buy lunch, a former employer budgeted $14 per person day, so assuming 250 work days = $3500/year
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