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AngelList acquires Product Hunt

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Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#11

Post by csallen »

huac wrote: post #9

“On the plus side we’ll no longer be homeless and we’l [sic] be able to focus on building what we’re building.” Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when SF tech workers, in this case a CEO of an acquired startup, talk about homelessness in this way? Trivializing a very real problem to nothing more than a 'headache' or 'distraction' from the greater goal of, I guess, funding more startups?

No, because I believe the use of analogy and hyperbole are obvious enough that one would have to intentionally misinterpret this statement as trivializing homelessness in order to take offense.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#12

Post by tdb7893 »

huac wrote: post #9

“On the plus side we’ll no longer be homeless and we’l [sic] be able to focus on building what we’re building.” Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when SF tech workers, in this case a CEO of an acquired startup, talk about homelessness in this way? Trivializing a very real problem to nothing more than a 'headache' or 'distraction' from the greater goal of, I guess, funding more startups?

He is talking about how his company literally didn't have an office and the tone wasn't derogatory in any way so it doesn't bother me.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#13

Post by visakanv »

minimaxir wrote: post #5

It's common knowledge that Product Hunt is rigged, and they will not heavily punish startups for soliciting upvotes (blatant example: https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/763156319058616321 ), or even paying for promoted Tweets for their PH submission ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/786286705263251456 ) Relatedly, there is no disclosure when an investor is closely affiliated with a submitted startup (and often…

I hate that I have a thought this cynical, but... I think almost all success invariably involves some amount of collusion and rigging and grey-area manipulation. It's all showbiz in the short-to-medium run. Most people don't care about the rigging as long as they're enjoying the show. Somewhere out there there's a 'growth hacker' who's proud of his Product Hunt rigging skillz, and surely there are countless employers who'd be happy to have somebody with that skillset.

In the long run, of course, you can't get people to use a product they aren't interested in using. So hopefully there's some eventual 'fairness'.

The delightful irony: the things that drive people away from some product or community are typically the very features that were introduced (or showed up) to extract value from them. See: https://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#14

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

minimaxir wrote: post #5

It's common knowledge that Product Hunt is rigged, and they will not heavily punish startups for soliciting upvotes (blatant example: https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/763156319058616321 ), or even paying for promoted Tweets for their PH submission ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/786286705263251456 ) Relatedly, there is no disclosure when an investor is closely affiliated with a submitted startup (and often…

Dude, it's good that you write these articles and I appreciate them. But for gods sake, let them have today.

There are a lot of difficulties in running a community and I'm sure they considered different options but couldn't move forward because they were under too much pressure.

They deserve congrats for today.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#15

Post by ricardonunez »

traviswingo wrote: post #4
jscheel wrote: post #3

This acquisition seems to make a lot of sense. Product Hunt is awesome, but it definitely doesn't feel like it's been able to monetize in any meaningful way. The question, of course, is how will Angellist get their $20 mil back?

Do we know the acquisition price?

"The acquisition price was around $20 million, according to numerous sources familiar with the terms." http://www.recode.net/2016/12/1/13802154/angellist-product-h...

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#16

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

As an early fan of ProductHunt I became saddened to watch their community get diluted and become more of a place for "growth hackers" to hang out than people who actually make things.

But I also realize this was because they raised tons of money and was under heavy pressure to get traction at any cost.

So I think this can be a good news, now that they can just let go and focus on the startup community instead of artificially trying to grow

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#17

Post by aartur »

minimaxir wrote: post #5

It's common knowledge that Product Hunt is rigged, and they will not heavily punish startups for soliciting upvotes (blatant example: https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/763156319058616321 ), or even paying for promoted Tweets for their PH submission ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/786286705263251456 ) Relatedly, there is no disclosure when an investor is closely affiliated with a submitted startup (and often…

I submitted my startup two days ago by myself, as someone who didn't have any PH "karma", but I somehow was granted permissions for submitting products (probably because I was subscribed to a newsletter for a long time). I asked by email if it's ok if I submit my startup by myself. I was told it's ok and wished good luck.

On the launch day my site received literally five visits (in the first hours, probably a few more later). It was dead from the start and didn't get a real chance to be seen by the community. Lesson for everyone: under no circumstances have your product submitted to PH by a non-mod account.

I'm actually not angry at PH. They have their rules which are obviously working. The "elitist" model is working (to some degree at least). My fault was that I didn't follow the guides which mention what I learned. And I think they should give a warning when submitting a product by an account like mine, because there's no practical chance such product will be visible.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#18

Post by visakanv »

huac wrote: post #9

“On the plus side we’ll no longer be homeless and we’l [sic] be able to focus on building what we’re building.” Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when SF tech workers, in this case a CEO of an acquired startup, talk about homelessness in this way? Trivializing a very real problem to nothing more than a 'headache' or 'distraction' from the greater goal of, I guess, funding more startups?

> Does anyone else feel uncomfortable when SF tech workers, in this case a CEO of an acquired startup, talk about homelessness in this way?

I recognize it as a tone-deaf thing to say, probably from someone who's never actually experienced real homelessness. But I also recognize that there's no malice in the statement. Language isn't a universal thing, and different words mean different things to different people. I wouldn't pick a fight over it.

People unintentionally trivialize others all the time without meaning to; I'm sure I've done it myself in the past week. The challenge (I think) is to be sensitive to it but also to not be too self-righteous about it.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#19

Post by intro-b »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #14
minimaxir wrote: post #5

It's common knowledge that Product Hunt is rigged, and they will not heavily punish startups for soliciting upvotes (blatant example: https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/763156319058616321 ), or even paying for promoted Tweets for their PH submission ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/786286705263251456 ) Relatedly, there is no disclosure when an investor is closely affiliated with a submitted startup (and often…

Dude, it's good that you write these articles and I appreciate them. But for gods sake, let them have today. There are a lot of difficulties in running a community and I'm sure they considered different options but couldn't move forward because they were under too much pressure. They deserve congrats for today.

that kind of attitude is responsible for a lot of awful behavior in the startup community—why should a business venture be exempt from criticism for unethical/misleading practices just because they managed to parlay those practices into eventual financial success? what does that say about startup culture and the rewards, the "deserved congrats," we give out?

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#20

Post by apadmarao »

ricardonunez wrote: post #15
traviswingo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we know the acquisition price?

"The acquisition price was around $20 million, according to numerous sources familiar with the terms." http://www.recode.net/2016/12/1/13802154/angellist-product-h...

Can someone explain why this is a reasonable ballpark price?

The site is successful, and provides real value to the apps being hunted and the users that discover the apps - but the acquisition price is in acquihire territory.

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