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Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

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Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#11

Post by eli »

davidw wrote: post #7
clistctrl wrote: post #6

Any idea what the competitor is? I ask because I went through an upgrade where we helped a client move from Epiphany to Sugar CRM/Lyris ListManager (assuming this is the Epiphany I think it is) if you want to know my experience... both are TERRIBLE products.

I worked a bit on Lyris's email thing (they were one of the few people hiring Tcl people the last time I was in the area). The GUI was a bit wonky, but it was pretty good at sending lots of email fast; and they were actually very good about not using it for evil.

The email piece may work pretty well, but the user interface is terrible and the API is worse.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#13

Post by thehigherlife »

ErrantX wrote: post #9
thehigherlife wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not trying to be rude at all, but there is a difference between 'steel' and 'steal', and i believe you're looking for 'steal'

it may have been a subtle joke - considering the post uses spelling tests as an example ;)

that's entirely possible, i thought maybe English wasn't his first language.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#15

Post by fnid »

clistctrl wrote: post #6

Any idea what the competitor is? I ask because I went through an upgrade where we helped a client move from Epiphany to Sugar CRM/Lyris ListManager (assuming this is the Epiphany I think it is) if you want to know my experience... both are TERRIBLE products.

This confirms my belief that companies heavy on marketing are light on product. Steve's blog is all about the marketing side of the coin and I've often wondered if the products his companies produce are any good.

It saddens me a bit to learn that they are terrible.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#16

Post by staunch »

alexandros wrote: post #14

The competitor may have done them great good, too. I find pissed-off-ness can be a great motivator at times.

I remember Reid Hoffman saying something about how he welcomed a "A horse to race against" for LinkedIn.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#17

Post by shpxnvz »

roundsquare wrote: post #12

Interesting, but scary. In this case it looks like an unethical and incompetent competitor. However, if they had actually followed up on the stolen strategy properly, it might have posed a bigger problem.

I think his point was that the stolen strategy, by itself, had no value no matter now it was followed up on. His company completely ditched the strategy over the intervening months, in fact, in favor of iteratively improved ones.

It seems that the only way the competitor could have properly followed up on the strategy was to use the same process to arrive at that initial strategy, and subsequently evolve it into something that actually worked… but that approach would have precluded them from having stolen the strategy in the first place.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#18

Post by gvb »

fnid wrote: post #15
clistctrl wrote: post #6

Any idea what the competitor is? I ask because I went through an upgrade where we helped a client move from Epiphany to Sugar CRM/Lyris ListManager (assuming this is the Epiphany I think it is) if you want to know my experience... both are TERRIBLE products.

This confirms my belief that companies heavy on marketing are light on product. Steve's blog is all about the marketing side of the coin and I've often wondered if the products his companies produce are any good. It saddens me a bit to learn that they are terrible.

Steve's startup resume includes Zilog, Convergent Technologies, MIPS Computers (now MIPS Technologies), Ardent Computer, SuperMac Technologies, Rocket Science Games, and E.piphany (I'm not counting 3M/Interactive and ESL as startups).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Gary_Blank

Zilog, Convergent Technologies, MIPS Computers, and SuperMac Technologies definitely had good products in their heydays.

Ardent Computer and Rocket Science Games apparently/arguably didn't produce much product.

I don't know much about E.piphany, but it still exists and has a product (albeit not well regarded by the OP).

I would say his companies had a good balance of marketing and real product.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#19

Post by earlyresort »

I wish I had read this a year and a half ago. Before my current startup launched but after it'd gotten angel funding, someone learned about our business from an indiscreet angel investor. That someone then started a very similar business.

Idea theft? Maybe. Did it make me angry? Definitely. Not only did I have the usual competitor irritation (these people are out to take food out of my hypothetical future children's mouths, etc.), the potential thievery made me livid, to the point where it was impacting my overall happiness.

Over a year later, the two respective companies have iterated in different directions, to the point where I can't really consider them a competitor - their business isn't our business, and vice versa. All that fussing ended up being a pointless waste of energy.

Re: Someone Stole My Startup Idea – Part 2: They Raised Money With My Slides?

#20

Post by Sukotto »

"We made sure our competitor knew [a bunch of stuff]. We made sure they heard how shocked and upset we were that they were going to beat us to an announcement in our market."

How do you do that? How do you ensure "they" know what you want them to know?

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