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Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

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Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#291

Post by mrkramer »

dkyc wrote: post #247
thor-rodrigues wrote: post #211

I’m not sure whether I find it more worrisome or fascinating that we live in a world where a company that, as far as I know, has never generated a single dollar in revenue has managed to exist for over five years, employ more than 100 people, and still get acquired for this amount. This isn’t criticism or sarcasm — I’m genuinely impressed, but also very curious about the rationale behind it.

I would think of it that way: - no company generates revenue in its first second . Even if you start a lemonade stand tomorrow, you'll have to buy some lemons first. The time-to-revenue might be very short, but it's never zero. Therefore, making no revenue for 1 day or for 10 years is not a step change, but simply a point on a curve. - Capitalism is basically a long history of creating vehicles with increasing sophis…

>- no company generates revenue in its first second. Even if you start a lemonade stand tomorrow, you'll have to buy some lemons first. The time-to-revenue might be very short, but it's never zero. Therefore, making no revenue for 1 day or for 10 years is not a step change, but simply a point on a curve.

Yea, it's called investment. If you want to get rich overnight play lottery or start gambling.

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#292

Post by catlover76 »

colelyman wrote: post #223
thor-rodrigues wrote: post #211

I’m not sure whether I find it more worrisome or fascinating that we live in a world where a company that, as far as I know, has never generated a single dollar in revenue has managed to exist for over five years, employ more than 100 people, and still get acquired for this amount. This isn’t criticism or sarcasm — I’m genuinely impressed, but also very curious about the rationale behind it.

Agreed, to make it even more interesting Browser Company discontinued Arc earlier this year. So not only did they do all of the things OP listed, but also didn't have a current product when acquired.

[dead]

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#293

Post by jimmyshoes »

hashbig wrote: post #267
emoII wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, I really appreciate the decision to do this in a new product. Arc is the best browser I've ever used, and I'd hate to see AI features forced upon me. Thanks Browser Company!

I agree. I think Arc was the biggest innovation in browser UI since Chrome. I think you will eventually have to switch because it will lack behind given that it's not their priority anymore. Zen browser seems like viable alternative but I haven't used it enough yet to know how well polished it is. https://zen-browser.app

Yeah, this is the unfortunate part about products kept alive in maintenance mode in a rapidly evolving space.

I guess you could argue (as TBC did) it’s actually not rapidly evolving, and that gives it staying power. But eventually someone will reach parity and eventually eclipse the original product.

Hopefully Zen does that. I’m just tired of moving the same data to the effectively the same product run by a different team for no good reason.

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#294

Post by swores »

sphars wrote: post #228
emoII wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where can I read about this? It still gets regular updates and is front and center on the browser company website

This was their blog post back in May https://browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-arc-members-...

Ironic that I wasn't familiar with this company or their products before today, and having read about both Arc and Dia, including reading this blog post you've linked, the product that makes me want to try it is the one they've stopped developing...

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#295

Post by rank0 »

Arc always interested me for the UX and design choices (especially since I'm one of those who constantly has 100s of tabs open). But the account requirement is a hard blocker for me adopting as my daily driver. Anyone know of similar projects? I recall there being a arc-inspired linux-supported project, but they refused to sign their macOS release for god knows what reason.

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#296

Post by smallerize »

darth_avocado wrote: post #286
echelon wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell you how many designers I interviewed who told me they used the Arc browser. It was at least a dozen. I'd never heard of the damned thing before. I don't know why, but it appears to be popular with some creative demographics. The browser is an essential pane of glass to platformization and taxing the web. Anyone who wins a browser with significant market share has a huge opportunity to capitalize on. Not…

I use Arc for two reasons: Tabs on the side nav and the ability to have 3 different AWS accounts open at the same time

Firefox does both of those things out of the box with no extensions.

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#297

Post by [deleted] »

hahn-kev wrote: post #203
crowcroft wrote: post #173

The strategic insight behind Arc was perfect – your browser IS the Operating System, and so we should build a browser that can function as that platform. Arc had pretty good market validation with early adopters, they say that growth was flattened out but IMO that's normal for most products, and it's up to the company to find out WHY growth flattened and then solve that problem. Not kill the product and chase some en…

I think that we should be fine with growth flattening out.

[deleted]

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#298

Post by emoII »

hashbig wrote: post #267
emoII wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, I really appreciate the decision to do this in a new product. Arc is the best browser I've ever used, and I'd hate to see AI features forced upon me. Thanks Browser Company!

I agree. I think Arc was the biggest innovation in browser UI since Chrome. I think you will eventually have to switch because it will lack behind given that it's not their priority anymore. Zen browser seems like viable alternative but I haven't used it enough yet to know how well polished it is. https://zen-browser.app

Yeah my plan is definitely to move to zen in the long run, it's mostly migrating workspaces and so on that hold me back

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#299

Post by jhaile »

I still use Arc as my primary browser. I prefer tabs on the side - I like how you can just drag tabs up and they will be saved (like Bookmarks, but I actually use it) I like pinned tabs which I use for calendar and my other top used "web apps"

It also has good support for profiles and spaces. For example, I have a "Work" space, a "Demo" space (with tabs open for sales demos), a "Personal" space, and even a "Travel" space for travel planning stuff.

And another killer feature is the ability to "route" specific urls to specific spaces, so for example I can have all github links open in my "Work" space.

It's a great browser, and I hope Atlassian doesn't ditch ongoing support for it.

Re: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

#300

Post by NoGravitas »

turnsout wrote: post #234
darth_avocado wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some businesses that are simply not viable without losing money first. SpaceX cannot generate revenue until it first employs hundreds of people for a few years (maybe a decade) where they focus on building what will eventually bring revenue. Software has those problems too.

I mean this with no snark: I would love to see the investor deck that explains how an AI-powered browser is going to make any multiple of $610M.

0.01 is a multiple!
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