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Grove.io shutting down

grove.io

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Re: Grove.io shutting down

#151

Post by niggler »

sbarre wrote: post #149
polemic wrote: post #95

Ugh, I don't understand how Grove.io can just drift apart like that. Surely Grove's costs were relatively low, and my impression was that there was a significant level of uptake. > "..our team has moved on to other projects.." So, unprofitable, or just not the next Facebook? Is there really no one that is happy to keep the service ticking along? I feel like there is a pretty significant problem with tech startups, wh…

I also wish they would address: 1) why not open source the project? 2) why not look for someone to take it over and run it? I also have a hard time seeing how something like this could be at the very least not break-even (unless they had less than 10 paying customers or something).

Just because something should have paying customers doesn't necessarily mean that it has paying customers. There are other factors involved.

Better put: are you a paying customer? If not, then most likely other potential customers are unaware.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#153

Post by protomyth »

justincormack wrote: post #122
rcsorensen wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you touched on the solution. If you're a small startup, putting forward a statement that all the code will be open sourced if you shut down should increase the level of comfort your customers have in the product. What are the downsides I'm not thinking of? Companies that reuse code across multiple products, perhaps. Product A dies, but uses component Foo in Product B that still exists, and represents some kind…

Escrow clauses are perfectly normal for commercial software and services, for enterprise contracts. It probably needs to be a contract, as the liquidators might ignore it if it is just a statement, depending what happens to the company.

Escrow clauses also get rid of the incentive not to use the product since it will be open sourced anyway. The code only goes to those who paid for it.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#154

Post by tswicegood »

niggler wrote: post #151
sbarre wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also wish they would address: 1) why not open source the project? 2) why not look for someone to take it over and run it? I also have a hard time seeing how something like this could be at the very least not break-even (unless they had less than 10 paying customers or something).

Just because something should have paying customers doesn't necessarily mean that it has paying customers. There are other factors involved. Better put: are you a paying customer? If not, then most likely other potential customers are unaware.

FWIW, I was a paying customer. I know others who were as well. Most everyone I know, including myself as of two weeks ago, has stopped paying for the service. It had gone downhill to the point of being unusable.

There is a demand for this type of service. Real-time chat is in extremely high demand still. Chat was the number one requested feature a "build-you-own" social network startup I worked at a handful of years ago even before Facebook added their chat.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#155

Post by lazerwalker »

rcsorensen wrote: post #30
heretohelp wrote: post #5

This is why I refuse to use external services hosted by small/tiny companies that haven't open-sourced their tech. Even in this moment, they still don't seem to be bothering to open source any of it. There's a lesson to be learnt here in terms of gaining buyer trust when you're small. I continue to use our own setup for IRC.

Maybe you touched on the solution. If you're a small startup, putting forward a statement that all the code will be open sourced if you shut down should increase the level of comfort your customers have in the product. What are the downsides I'm not thinking of? Companies that reuse code across multiple products, perhaps. Product A dies, but uses component Foo in Product B that still exists, and represents some kind…

It gets tricky if your exit path ends up being the sort of combination talent/product acquisition where your new employer wants to keep your tech proprietary (see: Apple acquiring Siri, Facebook buying Face.com and shutting down their public API).

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#156

Post by mutru »

sbarre wrote: post #149
polemic wrote: post #95

Ugh, I don't understand how Grove.io can just drift apart like that. Surely Grove's costs were relatively low, and my impression was that there was a significant level of uptake. > "..our team has moved on to other projects.." So, unprofitable, or just not the next Facebook? Is there really no one that is happy to keep the service ticking along? I feel like there is a pretty significant problem with tech startups, wh…

I also wish they would address: 1) why not open source the project? 2) why not look for someone to take it over and run it? I also have a hard time seeing how something like this could be at the very least not break-even (unless they had less than 10 paying customers or something).

Flowdock's similar IRC gateway is already open source: https://github.com/flowdock/oulu

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#157

Post by thedjpetersen »

mmahemoff wrote: post #138
thedjpetersen wrote: post #31

Grove inspired me to make an open source alternative: Subway https://github.com/thedjpetersen/subway . And while it is far from perfect it is a start towards opening up IRC to teams.

This looks good. Does it keep history? I think one of the benefits of web-based systems like HipChat and Campfire is you can log in and see the previous conversation even if you weren't there.

Yes it does keep history if you register a user.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#158

Post by northband »

btipling wrote: post #49
Rayne wrote: post #7

It's getting a little difficult to trust stuff by Leah Culver. Everything (that I know of) that she has done so far has either shut down or been acquired and shut down. That said, no hard feelings. It's hard out there. I've never tried to run a company, so I can't judge.

Leah is out there creating things, writing code and spending valuable time on new ventures, despite the risk and opportunity cost. I admire her courage and creativity and I can't imagine why you would say something like this. I'm sure she would have loved to have all of her projects succeed. Grove.io is a high quality service. We love using it at Leftronic and are very sad to read this news. I wish Leah and her team…

I agree. Best of luck and keep coding!

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#159

Post by [deleted] »

pbiggar wrote: post #46
Rayne wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it came off that way, I apologize. I was just expressing the thought that popped into my mind when seeing this. I'm not at all trying to judge her. I think she does excellent work and has just had a few bad apples. I hope her next project is successful.

I think you might still have time to edit the post to come off the way you intended.

[deleted]

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#160

Post by samengland »

heretohelp wrote: post #130
plusbryan wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When your favorite restaurant closes down, do you demand they post all their recipes?

Only if they demand I make them my sole source of food and stop cooking for myself while I'm their customer.

But you wouldn't do that though, would you...?
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