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Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

investors.vimeo.com

11–20 of 43 posts

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#11
post #9

Everybody loves to hate BendingSpoon, but there is a lesson here. They consistently rewrite the code of their acquisitions with a tiny team, fire everybody and are able to maintain and improve the product. They basically skip everything but engineers, and they are kept at a minimum. Feedback from users is the products they take over 1) become more expensive, 2) they ship features waaaay faster. It looks like next gen…

> It looks like next generation private equity, and my guess is more houses will start copying them.

Isn't this the same that Broadcom does on a larger scale?

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#12
post #9

Everybody loves to hate BendingSpoon, but there is a lesson here. They consistently rewrite the code of their acquisitions with a tiny team, fire everybody and are able to maintain and improve the product. They basically skip everything but engineers, and they are kept at a minimum. Feedback from users is the products they take over 1) become more expensive, 2) they ship features waaaay faster. It looks like next gen…

I think that’s always the thing with any of these things. The companies private equity or Bending Spoons acquire are frequently inefficient, bloated and not the best-run businesses.

But its basically an admission that the business is in its extraction phase and will no longer innovate.

Relevant quote:

Private Equity is engaged in buying artisanal semi-businesses, turning them into businesses, propping up the numbers while destroying them —then, hopefully, destroying itself.

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#13

Bending Spoons has recently been buying aging SaaS companies that have established PMF and customers and decent brands (Evernote, Komoot, WeTransfer, Meetup). I guess it's mostly a private equity play—usually after being acquired by BS, prices go up, paywalls go everywhere, companies get "more efficient" (aka layoffs) and the product stops evolving. I wish there was a better outcome for beloved brands with good produ…

I will transfer my remaining domains from Gandi this month. In case anyone else needed a reminder.

Wait why. I'm out of the loop.

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#14
post #10
post #3

Oh no, this is undoubtedly going to be terrible for the companies that built their OTT platforms on Vimeo. E.g. Dropout.tv.

Could you help me understand what Vimeo helps with that's specifically helpful with OTT?

They do whitelabel OTT. https://vimeo.com/ott

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#15
post #9

Everybody loves to hate BendingSpoon, but there is a lesson here. They consistently rewrite the code of their acquisitions with a tiny team, fire everybody and are able to maintain and improve the product. They basically skip everything but engineers, and they are kept at a minimum. Feedback from users is the products they take over 1) become more expensive, 2) they ship features waaaay faster. It looks like next gen…

As a Vimeo OTT customer, this is producing mixed emotions.

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#17
post #9

Everybody loves to hate BendingSpoon, but there is a lesson here. They consistently rewrite the code of their acquisitions with a tiny team, fire everybody and are able to maintain and improve the product. They basically skip everything but engineers, and they are kept at a minimum. Feedback from users is the products they take over 1) become more expensive, 2) they ship features waaaay faster. It looks like next gen…

Can you provide proof that products ship features faster after they lay off their teams?

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will transfer my remaining domains from Gandi this month. In case anyone else needed a reminder.

Wait why. I'm out of the loop.

The founders decided "it had been a wild ride but all journeys come to an end" so the prices and upselling now keep increasing so that the private equity that bought them can see fast short-term gains (the only thing they care about).

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35080777

https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/montefiore-investment...

https://news.gandi.net/en/2019/02/futureofgandi-the-adventur...

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait why. I'm out of the loop.

The founders decided "it had been a wild ride but all journeys come to an end" so the prices and upselling now keep increasing so that the private equity that bought them can see fast short-term gains (the only thing they care about). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35080777 https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/montefiore-investment... https://news.gandi.net/en/2019/02/futureofgandi-the-adventur...

Thanks, transferring out now.

Re: Bending Spoons acquires Vimeo for $1.38B

#20
post #9

Everybody loves to hate BendingSpoon, but there is a lesson here. They consistently rewrite the code of their acquisitions with a tiny team, fire everybody and are able to maintain and improve the product. They basically skip everything but engineers, and they are kept at a minimum. Feedback from users is the products they take over 1) become more expensive, 2) they ship features waaaay faster. It looks like next gen…

Also, their core development team is in Italy and they are considered by many the best company in the IT space in Italy.

What it means is that they have the top Italian talent, they pay them a very good italian salary that is still way lower than an american one.

So basically they have very capable people working on their engineering, at a fraction of the cost of the original staff.

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