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Google Acquires North

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Re: Google Acquires North

#131

Post by kartayyar »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #15

Sigh, all I can think is yet another promising startup vanishes into the depths of Google, never to be seen again. Google, please stop buying companies, please learn to support your products and build a loyal customer base. You are not a startup anymore, you need to make the transformation that companies like Microsoft did, and quit moving fast and breaking things. People don't want an agile foundation, they want a h…

"Promising" could not be a more incorrect choice of words. It almost sounds like Google did them a favor.

This looks like a distressed fire sale rather than a good exit, considering the product failed.

Re: Google Acquires North

#132

Post by vmception »

reaperducer wrote: post #122
vmception wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because they were in the business of selling shares, and now they sold them all. This story is as old as America itself. The bank that is now JP Morgan Chase, the sixth largest bank in the world, was started by Aaron Burr's fundraise for a ripoff water supply system in Manhattan. He collected $2mm, used $100,00 on the stated purpose and the rest to start a bank. These are our role models, where the point is to…

This story is as old as America itself I think you means "This story is as old as Canada , itself." North was Canadian. Also, the story is older than America. It goes way back to medieval Europe, at least. Possibly farther back than that in the Middle East, but that's not an area of history I know much about.

I hope to inspire!

Re: Google Acquires North

#133

Post by andybak »

frandroid wrote: post #97
bserge wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I remember when they acquired that impressive autocorrect startup (they had something about context awareness and closest letter misspells)... Android's gboard autocorrect still sucks :/

Swype. I really miss my swype keyboard. I kept it installed for the longest time after it got acquihired, until they shut down one of the remote servers or something, and then it would crash. Why could they not move that code over to Gboard? It was so good.

I'm still using swipe keyboards out of pure muscle memory but they suck compared to how Swype used to be. I swear I'd be better off learning to type conventionally now but it's been too long.

Re: Google Acquires North

#135

Post by [deleted] »

bserge wrote: post #57
DiabloD3 wrote: post #15

Sigh, all I can think is yet another promising startup vanishes into the depths of Google, never to be seen again. Google, please stop buying companies, please learn to support your products and build a loyal customer base. You are not a startup anymore, you need to make the transformation that companies like Microsoft did, and quit moving fast and breaking things. People don't want an agile foundation, they want a h…

Yeah, I remember when they acquired that impressive autocorrect startup (they had something about context awareness and closest letter misspells)... Android's gboard autocorrect still sucks :/

[deleted]

Re: Google Acquires North

#136

Post by misiti3780 »

macNchz wrote: post #101
peeters wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure "promising startup" describes North (previously Thalmic Labs) that well. Everything I've heard around the Waterloo tech scene is that it was mostly smoke and mirrors from the founders who were able to maintain their own lifestyles using grants from the Canadian government. Tales from past employees are not flattering. Being bought by Google is likely the best thing that could happen to both the founders…

I lived across the street from their Brooklyn store from when it opened in 2018 to when it closed last winter (in anticipation of "relaunching" for the new glasses they were planning this year). They rented an expensive glassy corner storefront ($50k/month I heard at the time) and built it out to a very high standard, but there was never anyone inside shopping. The store employees just stood around looking at their p…

where was it in BK?

Re: Google Acquires North

#138

Post by burkaman »

snowwrestler wrote: post #124
burkaman wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When tech is funded by government incubators, it tends to become a fake imitation of the VC funded industry that we know from Silicon Valley. Seems a little strong? https://www.iqt.org/portfolio/ (Cockroach Labs, GitLab, DataRobot, databricks, Cloudera, mongoDB (I know), probably more you've heard of) https://www.energy.gov/lpo/portfolio/portfolio-projects (Tesla) https://www.sbir.gov/news/success-stories (Qualcomm…

Sure there have been hits, but there have been a lot of failures too. The problem with "government VC" is not the low hit rate--private VC has a low hit rate too. The problem is also not that government funds get gamed--private VC gets gamed too. See WeWork for an absolutely enormous example. The problem is really with the different cultural expectations for government vs private capital. If a private VC firm loses 9…

I agree there is an issue with credit and public anger over "wasted" money, but clearly innovation is still happening, that was my point. The occasional Solyndra media frenzy hasn't stopped the government from investing in startups.

And one point in favor of government VC: it often isn't primarily profit-driven. Look for example at the energy.gov portfolio. While they obviously want their money back, they aren't trying to pick unicorns; they're trying to improving Americans' lives by improving the environment and the economy.

> LPO can provide first-of-a-kind projects and other high-impact energy-related ventures with access to debt capital that private lenders cannot or will not provide.

This is true of a lot of government investment. It's a good thing, on balance, that the people choosing government investments are not paid based on how much profit they generate or how many users they amass.

Re: Google Acquires North

#139

Post by verdverm »

Kiro wrote: post #91
verdverm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are not as good as the Hololens 2, not interested. That device is off the hook good, really impressed with MS as a long time Linux user

I don't want AR glasses. I want glasses that look like regular glasses but can display stuff, similar to a smart watch.

You don't want to interact with those things using your hands or frisbee a photo to a friend, bouncing it off of a wall? (Physics applied to a UI system aware of surroundings is so much fun!)

Re: Google Acquires North

#140

Post by amscanne »

Kiro wrote: post #92
modeless wrote: post #9

What's the rumored price? They reportedly raised $200M. Employees get nothing, I'm guessing. Well, a secure job at Google is a decent consolation prize, at least.

Coming from industries where RSU and stock options are unheard of (read: most industries outside tech) "employees get nothing" seems really foreign. It's nothing I would ever expect regardless of price.

Many of these employees were likely working for below market salaries after being sold on the high potential value of their options.

I'm not arguing anything about whether this is right or wrong (particularly in this case), but I believe this is also uncommon outside of tech.

There are probably more analogous situations in e.g. law or sales, where you still have a clear employee relationship with the company but compensation is may not be a vanilla salary.

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