Optimizely to be acquired by Episerver

Post by Reema_ » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 11:19 PM UTC

andrewingram wrote: post #46

The problem I had with Optimizely when it was the go-to solution, was that it had a truly problematic impact on front-end performance due to the blocking way its script was loaded and page variants introduced. In some cases page loads were blocked by up around 5 seconds. For obvious reasons it was tricky to run an A/B test just for testing the impact of Optimizely's script itself. But the key issue is that all the si…

Post by richardfeynman » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 11:22 PM UTC

richardFINEman wrote: post #115

tptacek wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a sort of general question about this narrative, which seems to apply to lots of startups that begin as self-service, developer-focused projects and end in enterprise hell. Is it not the case that these startups begin developer-facing, get market traction, are lavishly funded, and then discover that the self-service offering they've built simply can't satisfy the projections they've made to justify their valua…

I worked at Optimizely for 4 years and can tell you that pivoting to Enterprise has been one of the best company decisions. One of the important distinctions between Optimizely and most developer-first platforms is that experimentation is a hard practice to pick up. Most companies have difficulties getting their programs off the ground and keeping them funded, let alone grow or scale them. Small digital businesses st…

Post by Reema_ » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 11:25 PM UTC

hitekker wrote: post #41

Completely unsurprised. Experimentation-done-right is too expensive and too ambiguous to sell as a product. Every product experiment requires a complex set up, a lengthy running period across a huge base of users, and then heavy analysis in order to achieve statistical confidence over a specific feature's impact on a business metric. That "confidence" is often represented by a subpercentage point that may or may not…

Post by redshirtrob » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 11:34 PM UTC

dsiroker wrote: post #123

worldsoup wrote: post #80

I interviewed for a marketing role at Optimizely back in 2013...I passed all the interviews with the team and then had a final, short interview with the CEO. He asked me a few basic questions and then asked 'if you only had 3 years to live, would you work at Optimizely?'. I responded honestly and said no. Said that I'd love to work here to help and grow the business, learn, and further my own career but if I had only…

Over the years I A/B tested each of my interview questions in order to better measure what I was looking for. It sounds like you might have been asked an early version of one of the questions I used to ask so sorry you didn't get the "optimized" version. (there was a big difference in responses between only 3 years and 10 years to live) Also, to clarify, I used to end my interviews with TWO questions: (1) if you had…

Post by redshirtrob » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 11:41 PM UTC

triceratops wrote: post #128

redshirtrob wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the record, I think op is probably speculating a bit. That said, I'm not sure how you can be so sure op's not losing money unless you have intimate knowledge of the cap table and the deal.

The acquisition share price is usually told to employees. They probably got the information from current employees. Since they are a shareholder, they'll eventually find out anyway.