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Grove.io shutting down

grove.io

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Re: Grove.io shutting down

#191

Post by martindale »

patcon wrote: post #189
martindale wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reached out to Leah with the same questions, but in lieu of a response I spent a few minutes setting up a replacement that is both an IRC server and a hosted web client: https://github.com/LocalSense/hosted-irc I'll hack on it a bit more tonight, but it shouldn't be too difficult to replicate what Grove.io does.

Might want to simply contribute to this, unless I'm misunderstanding :) https://github.com/thedjpetersen/subway

We're actually using a forked version of Subway for the UI. Our package also includes an IRC server as well, as it aims to be a complete Grove replacement.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#193

Post by vitriolix »

pbiggar wrote: post #80
jmathai wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But every sentence afterwards put it in context.

I don't agree. You can't start with a statement like that and then backpeddle - your lede has the most impact and is what people remember. He had a chance to edit his post to better reflect his position, but chose not to take it. I wish he had. (And to complete this, lets not forget that Rayne is also a person who just made a mistake. It is the action which is bad, not the person).

He didn't backpedal, he explained his reasoning for making the first statement. Hard and a bit unvarnished, yes, but understandable.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#194

Post by nnnnni »

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).

From Leah at grove.io:

Hi,

Thanks for your interest in Grove.

Unfortunately we won't be open sourcing the code due to the time and effort it would take to prepare and maintain it.

Thanks for understanding,

Leah

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#195

Post by malandrew »

Instead of shutting down the service with an export option to a data file, how about identifying two or three competitors you'd recommend and working with them to export the content directly into another service. This way you help out both your customers and another startup.

For example, if Grove.io content can be made to work with Flowdock, contact the Flowdock team and work with them to put a big "Migrate to Flowdock" button on the shutdown announcement page.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#196

Post by tijs »

pilif wrote: post #142
tijs wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Forever" being until Google changes their service which is probably about every few months.

Sparrow is essentially an IMAP client. I don't see Google turn off IMAP support any time soon. Way too many clients are actively using that.

Well yes, but doesn't it's usefulness come from the tight integration with gmail only features? disclaimer; i only used Sparrow for a bit a long time ago so perhaps they've made these features work in regular IMAP as well..

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#197

Post by frabcus »

pbiggar wrote: post #164
akkartik wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pil·lo·ry [pil-uh-ree] noun a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision. Is that really what grandparent did? I think it's an unfair characterization. It was a personal opinion stated weakly and with restraint, not some attempt to incite a mob. I have no opinion on this specific startup. Perhaps they've provided enough time t…

I agree there is a tension for customers. However, what I'm objecting to is the HN community's reaction. We're the people who are pro startups, who think failure is OK, who encourage pivoting from unsuccessful products to markets we discover along the way. The grandparent is the opposite of what this community is about. And attaching their name to it is worse. Saying "I'm starting to not trust this startup" would hav…

She hasn't said why it failed. As a paying customer (via ScraperWiki), I find that frustrating.

It gives me little new knowledge, and makes the move seem sudden and strange. From the outside, Grove looks quite successful.

A simple "we only had 20 paying customers and we think SaaS IRC doesn't work for reason X" would be fine. That she hasn't said that, to me implies there is something else going on.

Hope she's OK!

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#198

Post by frabcus »

crag wrote: post #34
robryan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes time. Some kind of competitive advantage over everything else in the marketplace will help to. People need a reason to bet on your company which overcomes the risk in instability. As time passes and your service stays solid more people will come on board. Something like github is a good example. I doubt many big companies would have considered relying on them early on, but their track record has changed that…

Yeah but, Github is a different sort of product. You don't lose much if it shuts down (assuming you have your code). You can push your code someplace else.

You're totally locked into the issue tracker.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#199

Post by webology »

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.

We started using grove on a large client back in February / March and as of this month we are still paying clients. We started trying out flowdoc recently but we are trying out a few options between now and October. Outages aside, our clients liked the product.

Moving our team off of Grove was a bigger pain then dealing with the sporadic mini-outages so we put up with it longer then smaller teams or most companies. We really liked the feature set but just needed the product to be more stable. The writing has been on the wall for a few months as doing a twitter search will show the lack of a response for a few months now.

Re: Grove.io shutting down

#200

Post by true_religion »

nnnnni wrote: post #194
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).

From Leah at grove.io: Hi, Thanks for your interest in Grove. Unfortunately we won't be open sourcing the code due to the time and effort it would take to prepare and maintain it. Thanks for understanding, Leah

If you'd simply dump it out into the open, I at least would be happy to pick it up.
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