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Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

usesold.com

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Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#41

Post by hga »

zimbatm wrote: post #30

This is how this letter reads to me: Woohoo, we got acquired. Thanks a lot for bringing our valuation up buy trusting us. We started $service to solve a problem that matters to you. Because of that we're joining $totally_unrelated_product. Thanks for all the fish.

Let me add:

"Because of that we're joining $totally_unrelated_product. And damaging the ecosystem that allowed us to get to this point."

It bears repeating that every time one of the acquire shutdowns occurs it makes users that much less willing to take a chance on a small startup. Even a shutdown like this that isn't screwing over existing users reminds everyone of the pattern.

Hmmm, maybe I should start ending this, or every message, with "Sarbox delenda est".

(Sarbox must be destroyed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthago_delenda_est) ; more specifically, this last nail and quite a few others need to be removed for the casket that the normal IPO was interred into.)

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#42

Post by Jsarokin »

minor_nitwit wrote: post #32
RafiqM wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also unfamiliar with it till now, just watched the video and wow... it looked like an awesome service. I wouldn't have been able to use it, as I'm in Ireland, but if selling was that simple it could really disrupt the likes of Craigslist. I guess as its an acquihire maybe the vision couldn't become a reality though :(

it's an opportunity for someone to start their own, a big hole just opened up.

shameless plug, but check out our startup http://sellsimple.com - we're tackling the same problem.

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#43

Post by nl »

chrisacky wrote: post #19

The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incre…

I think you are wrong here.

As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff.

Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service.

So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore.

I think it is unfair to criticize people for choosing not to offer a service to new customers anymore.

More generally I think it is even more unfair to criticize people for closing a business that wasn't very successful (because success = profit, and if it was so profitable it wouldn't be sold to be shutdown).

Finally, aquihires are much, MUCH better than most of the alternatives for a failing business. We've all heard stories of users panicking when a service shuts down after someone fails to pay the hosting bills. Aquihires avoid that scenario.

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#44

Post by miguelrochefort »

minor_nitwit wrote: post #32
RafiqM wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also unfamiliar with it till now, just watched the video and wow... it looked like an awesome service. I wouldn't have been able to use it, as I'm in Ireland, but if selling was that simple it could really disrupt the likes of Craigslist. I guess as its an acquihire maybe the vision couldn't become a reality though :(

it's an opportunity for someone to start their own, a big hole just opened up.

http://thingsy.co

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#45

Post by RafiqM »

Jsarokin wrote: post #42
minor_nitwit wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's an opportunity for someone to start their own, a big hole just opened up.

shameless plug, but check out our startup http://sellsimple.com - we're tackling the same problem.

I looked through the site and watched the video - I think you don't handle the logistics of it?

One of the things that most appealed about Sold is that they send you a box, you put the thing in it, and that's it. For me, that's the biggest pain point.

Is that something you're looking to do?

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#46

Post by AsymetricCom »

lukenyc wrote: post #24

Hey Sold team... do you have any lessons learned to share with the community?

I don't work for Sold, but I think the #1 thing you should consider is how you brand your company to make it attractive for acquisition. A good name can go a long way.

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#47

Post by joemaller1 »

gtallen1187 wrote: post #27

i'm really interested to see what dropbox plans on doing by acquiring a service like this. Any ideas?

I'm starting to wish we'd see anything Dropbox was doing with all the acquisitions.

Dropbox has hired some really smart people (and shuttered some great services) over the past year or two, but I haven't yet seen that intellectual capitol reflected in their services.

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#48

Post by lstamour »

ryan-allen wrote: post #39
chrisacky wrote: post #19

The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incre…

I have the same sentiments. As a user who relies on a service, it always feels very much a "we just got a huge wad of cash, we care more about this than if you used our serviced and paid for it, we're rich and fuck you if you used our service!". This pattern of acquire and shut down makes me careful of which services I invest in using. If there is no paid plan I get very nervous. If it is VC backed and free I get ner…

For that last point, if it was Writely, my understanding, from a distance, was that it was a build-or-buy and they bought, then later rewrote. And rewrote again.

Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company

#50

Post by jahewson »

chrisacky wrote: post #19

The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incre…

Nitpick: apart -> a part
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