Possible acquisition spree coming soon... Polymail, MailTime, Slidemail, Taskpipes, and maybe a few other YC companies look like they have email technology that could help replace Outlook. Any others?
Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
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Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#12Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#13To misquote The Princess Bride: > You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is "never go head to head with Microsoft Outlook"
So it's not just Outlook, because it's designed to be not just Outlook.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#14I'm an old person, and still use Outlook for Mac as my main email program, though I keep webmail (Google Apps) open at all times for searching mail.
I'm still a hardcore believer in standalone desktop apps for email, and I'm not particularly excited about Outlook, and I have a busy office full of people, so this is interesting.
Is it any good? Who is it ideal for?
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#15I just wish they had the front.com domain, everyone around the office always called the product "Front App" because their domain is frontapp.com
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#16To misquote The Princess Bride: > You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is "never go head to head with Microsoft Outlook"
I think the key there is not outlook but all its friends that get dragged along like cobwebs. First there's Exchange, then AD, then the whole CALs thing, then you need spam and malware filtering, then there's archiving and backups, and don't even talk about client compatibility and upgrading all the desktops and _THEIR_ licenses. Or you skip all that and pay the other hand with 365 seats. So it's not just Outlook, be…
Company's on 365 would actually probably be an easier target.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#17Front's product looks heavenly. My guess is that if one of these sorts of startups starts making any serious inroads against Microsoft, they'll release an "Outlook Lite" to stifle the threat. Of course, this simplified version will support plugins, and the world will wind up making enough "mods" to make Outlook "Lite" just as heavy as the original. (Just like what's happening with VS Code.) But it will be enough to hamper serious competition.
And, if they do, then we'll have months of posts on here about how Microsoft is "new," and "adaptive," and "enlightened," etc., et. al., ad nauseam.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#18We used Front at Wheelys (YC S15), and I consider it absolutely essential for good email teamwork. Definitely 10x’d our email and support productivity. Congrats on raising such a huge round, Mathilde! I just wish they had the front.com domain, everyone around the office always called the product "Front App" because their domain is frontapp.com
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#19Possible acquisition spree coming soon... Polymail, MailTime, Slidemail, Taskpipes, and maybe a few other YC companies look like they have email technology that could help replace Outlook. Any others?
Im surprised at the push to overturn Outlook. For business it's useful and has a lot of features that dont cause issue. If anything I could see more opportunity to replace Gmail.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#20Even though this is David vs Goliath kind of situation, it's more than fair to give it a shot