Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
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Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
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Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#2He cropped his photo, which was a good move.
Can we concentrate on the merits of his argument this time?
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#31. It's obvious that Xobni has more stuff planned, whether or not they're "features." I'm sure the "leak" just happened to be timed before the acquisition rejection.
2. "especially since there is no clear revenue stream opportunities with the product - do you really want ads inside Outlook or would you really pay in order to get the "information" being thrown up about email traffic?"
I'm pretty sure there are more ways to potentially monetize Xobni than advertising or b2b/b2c SaaS.
Than again, if I remember correctly, this guy didn't really do his homework last time either, so why should I think he's done it this time?
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#4This all based on a ton of speculation. There are three big unknowns as I see it:
-Nobody really knows the details of the offer.
-Nobody really knows what Xobni has in store.
-Nobody really knows how much say the VC's had.
Most companies start with a feature that becomes a product which becomes a company. The Outlook plugin could be the tip of a much bigger spear. I have never used xobni b/c I don't use outlook but I can see a bunch of possible directions for them. Who knows though? Maybe it is a minor feature. But anyone in a startup knows enough to know how little they know about the inner workings of another company. And anyone who's tried to raise money knows how thoroughly you have to explain your long term plans and revenue models. If you can't say I'm going to be a $100 million dollar company in X years b/c of Y and Z reasons, you're not going to get a series A. You'd also know that $20 million is a small offer after a series A.
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#5I tend to agree with the analysis here, and think that Xobni missed a nice chance. I'd be surprised if Microsoft comes knocking again, and I don't see any reasonable way that they can build their tool into anything that is not parasitic on Outlook, much less effectively monetize it...
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#6From TFA: "What is Xobni OTHER THAN a feature of Outlook?"
The core problem with this commentary is that the writer doesn't understand that Xobni can be more than just an Outlook feature. I think he has a hard time seeing beyond the UI that's been presented.
I am reminded of VitalSigns that many people saw is just a toy for looking at how well your dial up connection was working. Others realized that the underlying technology was interesting, that it applied in the business environment and VitalSigns was bought out for a good price.
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#7I tend to agree with the analysis here, and think that Xobni missed a nice chance. I'd be surprised if Microsoft comes knocking again, and I don't see any reasonable way that they can build their tool into anything that is not parasitic on Outlook, much less effectively monetize it...
So what if it's parasitic on Outlook?
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#8good for them!!
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#91. It's obvious that Xobni has more stuff planned, whether or not they're "features." I'm sure the "leak" just happened to be timed before the acquisition rejection. 2. "especially since there is no clear revenue stream opportunities with the product - do you really want ads inside Outlook or would you really pay in order to get the "information" being thrown up about email traffic?" I'm pretty sure there are more wa…
Homework? In the last blog post to which you refer I gave a personal account of the usefulness of Xobni to me, and wasn't presenting a research paper.
I'd be delighted to hear the ways you think they can monetise the product/feature, partly to demonstrate the amount of thought you've given the matter.
In its current incarnation, Xobni is a tool aimed at the individual user. Obviously, the company/product can go in all sorts of directions but so can anyone given time/money/effort.
Let's consider the possibility that their current offering is a prelude to looking at the corporate market. There are already tools that seek to discover corporate relationships at a macro level from data mining email inboxes, albeit they are only starting to make inroads into businesses. They work unobtrusively behind the scenes to provide business "intelligence" which can include highlighting colleagues who appear to have active communications with a "target".
You should also consider that many CRM tools already enable emails to be automatically incorporated into the communication profile/history of a contact, supplemented by richer tools than Xobni presently offer [task mgt, workflow] e.g. salesforce, zoho crm, siebel.
Re: Xobni - wouldn't get out of bed for $20m
#10From TFA: "What is Xobni OTHER THAN a feature of Outlook?" The core problem with this commentary is that the writer doesn't understand that Xobni can be more than just an Outlook feature. I think he has a hard time seeing beyond the UI that's been presented. I am reminded of VitalSigns that many people saw is just a toy for looking at how well your dial up connection was working. Others realized that the underlying t…
Please elaborate on the many things you evidently think it could be, highlighting how easily and in what timeframe they could achieve this, thereby "educating" the rest of us?