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SoundCloud's Collapse

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Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#111

Post by dkersten »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #104
codegladiator wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For it to be a startup, you have to have a large target market. Making up your own definition of startup ? A start-up is just a newly established business.

Actually, I'm using http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html That's like calling a newly established barber shop a startup. It's not. The GP is working on a podcast hosting company. The market for people who want to host podcasts is miniscule. Large enough to sustain a company, sure. But that's not a startup.

While I personally buy into that definition too, it IS very much a valley centric definition that much of the rest of the world doesn't follow. At least, not to the letter. So be aware that you may be speaking to people outside of your bubble when throwing around black or white definitions like this, because they may have their own differing definitions.

Besides, there have been multiple "podcast startups" (by the valley-definition of startup) in the past.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#112

Post by bartread »

fungi wrote: post #81
whofailed wrote: post #67

Contrarian here: Soundcloud is an incredibly valuable property. They have obviously had a few managerial cock-ups, but in reality they have massive user buyin, huge network effect, and anyone who can get some equity in them during this current time of massive negative sentiment is going to do VERY WELL. I wish I had a way to buy in at this point.

love it, live on it, its contributed significantly to my hearing loss. listening to https://soundcloud.com/silent-season/campfire-stories-24 as i type this spiel. would happily become a premium++ subscriber if money went to artists, something like humble bundle... but the paid plan is brain dead and offers no value ┐(￣ヘ￣;)┌ hope it survives or morphs into a decentralised platform that artists can thrive on.

Ooh: nice recommendation.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Soundcloud. On the one hand I've discovered a load of cool stuff through them, as well as uploaded a few tracks of my own.

On the other I received a takedown notice from them after a complaint from Sony about one of my remixes - my most popular track by miles and, at the time, the third most popular remix of Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up (long story) - which left something of a bitter taste in my mouth. To add insult to injury the notice arrived on my birthday last year. Haven't really touched Soundcloud much since.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#113

Post by cJ0th »

iagooar wrote: post #14

This shows us, that company valuations are ridiculous and actually mean nothing. Is SoundCloud worth a billion dollars? Well, it might be on paper or in the imaginations of the founders, but what does it really mean? To me, it's worth nothing. The real problem is: these companies start to operate from the perspective of "having" those millions of dollars. This is why they hire too many people for too much money. They…

> This shows us, that company valuations are ridiculous and actually mean nothing.

It's more like company valuations are the best approximation possible. Of course the value can turn out to be way off.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#114

Post by ThomPete »

After 4 1/2 years at Square colleague of mine and I, left Square to start our own portfolio of small productivity tools some we are building ourselves and other we will probably be acquiring.

Our first rule was that we will not get funding for anything than scaling a business once it hit some sort of product market fit.

Until then there is only bootstrapping. This is to avoid something like SoundCloud where you become numb to the die hard reality of needing to build a business before you build an organization, get fuzzball tables and promote your altruistic business principles.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#116

Post by siquick »

CamTin wrote: post #91
tuxxy wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 99% of the mixes on SoundCloud are crap. Spoken like a person who didn't understand all that was on the platform. You do realize that SoundCloud had basically spawned a different genre of hip hop and rap, right? It's not just dance mixes, there's a lot of stuff that's super unique on there and it's not just hip hop, rap, or edm.

I'm far from a SoundCloud user or a hip hop or rap aficionado, but I'd like to learn more about this. Can you elaborate? Or do you know of a source where I can read about this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/arts/music/soundcloud-rap...

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#117

Post by misingnoglic »

SoundCloud used to be /the/ place for indie musicians to post their work - now I think websites like Bandcamp have more or less taken over. This article explains why - they basically stopped focusing on the artists - but I'm surprised they didn't mention competitors.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#118

Post by rimliu »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #106
joshyeager wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That definition of "startup" is very valley-centric. Most of the rest of the world still means it the way the grandparent meant. A small, fairly young company that is building a new product/service.

There's a word for that: a business. If someone built a bar in your neighborhood, would you call it a startup? It meets all your criteria. But at that point the word becomes useless. You could argue that it's not a new service. Yet some of the most successful startups applied technology to old ideas, like Craigslist and eBay.

New bar would still offer the old service (beer). Startup will offer new product/service.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#119

Post by sillysaurus3 »

dkersten wrote: post #111
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I'm using http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html That's like calling a newly established barber shop a startup. It's not. The GP is working on a podcast hosting company. The market for people who want to host podcasts is miniscule. Large enough to sustain a company, sure. But that's not a startup.

While I personally buy into that definition too, it IS very much a valley centric definition that much of the rest of the world doesn't follow. At least, not to the letter. So be aware that you may be speaking to people outside of your bubble when throwing around black or white definitions like this, because they may have their own differing definitions. Besides, there have been multiple "podcast startups" (by the va…

If podcast hosting is used as a stepping stone into a more general market, that could work. But the GP indicated they were small and moved slowly, so they can't really leverage that.

It doesn't matter whether it originated in the valley. It's not like calling an elevator a lift. A startup is a technical term with a precise meaning. You can call your bar a startup if you want, but that doesn't make it true.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#120

Post by phaed »

cubano wrote: post #95

So what the hell is wrong with me? I use SC everyday almost...I don't get this "collapse"? Should I turn in my coolkid badge now?

Did you read the article? They ran out of funding and fired 40% of their staff. The business collapsed, not the service.
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