EBay acquires Hunch for $80m

Post by achompas » Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

smokinn wrote: post #31

hassy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is ebay thinking? Impressive back-end tech (the recommendation engine) that can now process millions and millions of items on eBay to help increase sales (something like a quarter of Amazon's sales come from recommendations).

80 million dollars is a lot to pay for a recommendation engine. Netflix had their own and paid a million dollars as prize payout for an absolutely state of the art system. If it really was just a tech acquisition they massively overpaid.

Post by flinty » Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

sunahsuh wrote: post #18

AznHisoka wrote: post #9

Wow, this is like a knight in a white horse for Hunch.. I seriously doubt they were making any profit... This sounds like a talent acquisition. I mean this is ridiculous... but it goes to show you.. you gotta show up for the game (the startup game, I mean) to win it... $80 m for a site that doesn't even get 1 million uniques (per Compete) a month is a STEAL. I mean.. seriously, everyone who has a CS background should…

I dunno, their recommendation engine was scary good -- the technology Ebay's acquiring isn't anything to sniff at. They reportedly have a defensive portfolio of pending patents: http://www.formspring.me/hunch/q/169651283274266480 Ebay's been on a spending spree this past year and I'd say this is one of the better deals they've made, depending on how long they've locked in Hunch's team.

Post by wyclif » Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 5:00 PM UTC

dgurney wrote: post #27

Something about Hunch's trajectory is utterly predictable and ever-so-slightly depressing. I suppose building to sell is a perfectly valid business model -- if you succeed -- but it makes me feel a little dirty. And if nobody buys you, you're well and truly f#%@$ed. Although who am I to argue with $80 million.

Post by flinty » Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 5:23 PM UTC

hassy wrote: post #35

smokinn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80 million dollars is a lot to pay for a recommendation engine. Netflix had their own and paid a million dollars as prize payout for an absolutely state of the art system. If it really was just a tech acquisition they massively overpaid.

Don't forget that Hunch's system is real-time (this is very hard), and is more than just scalable collaborative filtering for items of the same kind. They can ingest a Twitter or Facebook profile, infer your "taste profile", and start recommending things instantly; "things" meaning books, films, music, events, places etc etc.

Post by hello_moto » Mon, Nov 21, 2011, 5:27 PM UTC

achompas wrote: post #37

arturadib wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everyone who has a CS background should just start something on the side if a deal like this is possible Chris Dixon is a veteran investor and entrepreneur, with enormous visibility in the tech world. Contacts with potential acquirers are a non-issue for him. A poor CS fellow could have created a version of Hunch that was 100x better and they still would have 1,000x less of an exit opportunity as compared to any st…

Agreed, this is completely absurd. Say what you will about Chris Dixon (zomg he doesn't code, wtf!!!!!111), but the engineering team at Hunch is second-to-none. Grandparent makes it sound like Dixon pulled this off in his spare time. He assembled a team of A-level engineers, then secured millions in funding so they could develop an awesome recommendation engine with almost no clear revenue stream. I challenge anyone…