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Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

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11–20 of 35 posts

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#11

That article has four links to other articles but not a link to the company it is profiling. I hate when they do that. https://www.feex.com/

It is annoying. But on the flip side, if the link was included, someone would have invariably commented that the "article reads like an ad". The authors can't win.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#12
post #2

A little more than [the customary] six months, but not much.

Are golden handcuffs not typical at that deal size?

It depends. I think acqui-hires have kind of impacted that impression. For larger startups that are acquired many times it's assume that the founder/entrepreneur will not go over with the acquisition. All parties understand they just won't be interested/do well inside a bigger corp. So the COO/CFO/Head of Sales often is the new "number 1" that stays and ensures a smoother transition.

It's hard for me to undertsand if that's what happened here: "After selling map-software provider Waze to Google for $1.1 billion last June, the 49-year-old Israeli decided not to join the ranks of his famous acquirer." that would seem to read like he never went over at all.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#13
post #7

Has Google done anything with Waze other than buy it, or with Google Maps, incorporating some Waze treats? Haven't seen any noteworthy changes to either Waze or Google Maps that one might have (optimistically) expected as becoming both feasible and worthwhile from the deal.

I'd be really surprised if they do a whole lot with it. My impressions was that the main reason they bought Waze was to keep Facebook from acquiring it.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#16
post #11

That article has four links to other articles but not a link to the company it is profiling. I hate when they do that. https://www.feex.com/

It is annoying. But on the flip side, if the link was included, someone would have invariably commented that the "article reads like an ad". The authors can't win.

I disagree. I think it's MUCH worse when, for example, you read an article about a Kickstarter project on Mashable or TechCrunch only to find that clicking on the hyperlink leads to other articles on those sites about Kickstarter and not the actual project link. I think those sites have gotten better at linking directly when commenters complain.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#17
post #2

A little more than [the customary] six months, but not much.

> [Uri Levine] decided not to join the ranks of his famous acquirer

I think that means he was not acqui-hired. He didn't work for Google after the sale. He just took his money and moved on. Lots of employees of acquired companies don't join their acquirer for one reason or another. I suppose that can work for founders too. I've read of a few founders that were disappointed once they were acqui-hired because they lost control of something they had built... but still have to work on it.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#18
post #7

Has Google done anything with Waze other than buy it, or with Google Maps, incorporating some Waze treats? Haven't seen any noteworthy changes to either Waze or Google Maps that one might have (optimistically) expected as becoming both feasible and worthwhile from the deal.

If you hover over accidents in Google Maps, sometimes it says "reported by Waze". I assume there is lots of data mixing happening on the backend that we can't see.

Re: Waze Co-Founder Skips Google to Try Startup World Again

#20

> the 49-year-old Given the prevalence 'youth worship' articles on here lately it is good to point his age out to people. Get out there and make an impact regardless of your age or situation.

Like you I immediately thought of the recent ageism articles on HN and specifically PG's comment about the "cut off" age for consideration for tech-investors being 32.
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