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Atlassian Acquires Loom

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Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#371

Post by ec109685 »

wharfjumper wrote: post #358
andygcook wrote: post #2

For anyone else curious, Loom raised $205M with the last round at a $1.5B valuation. This deal is for $975M in cash. Sources: - https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/loom - https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenli1/2022/03/14/nearly-bro... - https://twitter.com/andrew__reed/status/1712458243883110599?... (Edit: formatting)

So someone spent $205m in 2021 and got $133m back in 2023? My guess is that Atlassian does a similar write down in a few years time. I hope the winners in this deal try to make the world a better place.

No, they likely had a liquidation preference so at least got their money back in 2023.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#372

Post by dannyw »

malfist wrote: post #347
HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe in a big company, but actually I completely disagree with this in the context of a small startup. In that context, having a tight team of people who are highly passionate about the product is _essential_.

I think you can be highly passionate about solving complex problems without being highly passionate about the product

I think it's completely reasonable for a CEO to have a different view, and when you're a tiny startup, it's very fair.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#373

Post by da39a3ee »

Spivak wrote: post #204
baq wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Click button, record video, paste link into slack/github vs click button, record video, figure out what to do with the useless huge file; also annotations and whatever ai they managed to put in there to summarize the transcript

Huh? Click button, record video, "file" appears in the bottom corner of the screen, drag that into Slack or the Github editor, done. I would be worried about the links expiring, is Loom really hosting arbitrary unlimited sized video content forever for $12/mo? Damn, it's a good thing they got bought.

it sounds like they're hosting it for 1 month for $12. You never know when the company will decide to delete old videos from non-subscribers.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#374

Post by [deleted] »

zoogeny wrote: post #147

I applied to Loom several years ago while they were still tiny. The CEO sent me a Loom thanking me for applying and asking me to send him back a Loom describing why I was excited to work for his company. Something about that rubbed me the wrong way at the time. I didn't reply and dipped out of the interview process.

[deleted]

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#375

Post by jameshush »

malfist wrote: post #273
latchkey wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what a great filter the CEO came up with. If someone doesn't want to use the product, they probably won't make a good fit to work there.

You don't have to drink the koolaide to be a productive member of the team. Drinking the koolaide doesn't mean you'll be a productive member of the team. Pretty pointless of a filter

I mean... you don't HAVE to, you're right. However, hiring for most engineering roles is a filtering problem rather than a sourcing problem. I'd rather hire a Javascript engineer who'll at least _pretend_ to be excited about the job than hire a Javascript engineer who is lukewarm to cold right out of the gate. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#376

Post by lawn »

malfist wrote: post #273
latchkey wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what a great filter the CEO came up with. If someone doesn't want to use the product, they probably won't make a good fit to work there.

You don't have to drink the koolaide to be a productive member of the team. Drinking the koolaide doesn't mean you'll be a productive member of the team. Pretty pointless of a filter

Is using a product once as an interview task really that unreasonable?

It's not like he was asking you to adopt Loom into your life or to drink the koolaide.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#377

Post by jahnu »

itslennysfault wrote: post #306
jahnu wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it easy to do on macOS if system sound is needed to demonstrate the bug?

Not sure with the OS tool, but QuickTime is on all Macs and it's screen recorder can record system audio and/or microphone audio easily.

You can't record system audio without extra software and configuration that is not trivial to set up. It's not an option for the average user.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#378

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

theogravity wrote: post #303
mattpratt wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They wouldn't have exercised at that valuation. The options would be priced based on the 409a, which would be much much less than 1.5B.

Depends on when the 409a was performed and when the exercise happened. When the startup I work at got our Series A, a new 409a was done and increased the share price by roughly the same multiple of the new valuation, and now I have a wide spread for AMT should I exercise my options because of the new 409a. So it's possible for employees to have joined after the new 409a when it was valued at 1.5bln and early exercise…

I have a hard time actually visualizing this math. Let’s say you join a 1.5B valued company and get offered $100k in stock options, but at $20k. So an 80% discount.Assuming the company meets the revenue goals maybe 10 years in the future but otherwise no other growth beyond the valuation, is it worthwhile for the employee to exercise the options, not early? Presumably they would have to turn around and pay another $20k in taxes the year that they exercised

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#379

Post by pm90 »

zoogeny wrote: post #267
paxys wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well were you excited to work there? For a startup that usually matters as much or more than technical skills and experience. If the founders are giving you a significant chunk of equity in their company then they want to make sure you are in it for the right reasons, and won't bounce as soon as you reach your vesting cliff. If you think answering this simple question is a hit on your pride then yeah, you were probab…

It is hard to remember how I felt about the company before (as opposed to the product idea). To be even more clear, the request was explicit. Like "we are super passionate about this product here and want people who are just as passionate, send us a video showing how excited you are". I'm sure some others can't understand and I view it as a mistake. 2 minutes of performative "I can' wait to be a full stack engineer!"…

FWIW I don’t think of it as pride as much as setting boundaries. You understood yours and it made you uncomfortable to cross it. I personally think that’s a good thing.

Re: Atlassian Acquires Loom

#380

Post by pm90 »

namtab00 wrote: post #320
nugget wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience as a founder, excitement to work in a particular area is way more important than experience/skills. Ideally you have both. But lack of enthusiasm for a product, especially a niche product, kills a culture.

I'm excited for continuing to have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and maybe something extra for retirement... I find that the expectation of "excitement" from your developers is truly absurd.

Yeah… this is the biggest red flag for me.

Yes startups are all about building great products that users will love. But that love should be organic and authentic, not blind belief.

I suspect that this expectation is likely because most startups are actually bullshit products. Look at all the dumbass crypto startups and now the AI startups. Its become an institution that churns out crap so you need to be able to delude yourself into believing the nonsense to keep doing it repeatedly.

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