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MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

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Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#141

Post by wldcordeiro »

Throwaway618 wrote: post #130
wldcordeiro wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't. If I want to call the poster a fuckwad, I'll call him one. The only reason I linked the comic is because it may not be common knowledge to everyone where the 'theory' is from.

You disingenuous bastard: "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory in action" You seriously don't think you called him a fuckwad?

That's the name of the 'theory' while it does imply that they're a 'fuckwad' (whatever that may be) it's not my chosen word to call them, I'm just citing it. But go ahead and defend the unnecessary rudeness and hide behind your throwaway account. I'll make it clear: The OP of the comment is being an asshole/fuckwad/douchebag/ by being needlessly rude due to the anonymity provided by having an online pseudonym.

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#142

Post by pbiggar »

stephen wrote: post #81
grinich wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said this in the other thread and I know it sounds cliché, but we're not planning to "go away" or get acquired or something. We've always positioned this company as a long-term play, and made that very clear when hiring, raising money, etc. It's just not possible to go after something big if you plan to "flip" the company quickly.

> but we're not planning to "go away" or get acquired or something If you've taken VC money, haven't you already gave up that choice? Despite pretenses, the VCs are going to want: a) IPO or b) acquisition. Since you assert b) is not your plan, do you really think you can become a $100m/year company (IPO) by charging for something that Google/MS/everyone else provides for free? Perhaps I am too pessimistic (or realist…

I think you're actually wrong about VC goals. Yes VCs look for acquisitions, but acquisitions only really move the needle when they're really big (>$100m). Anyone acquiring for those amounts aren't going to shut the product down.

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#143

Post by [deleted] »

potatolicious wrote: post #117
logicallee wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who cares what they want? If they put in the money as a minority shareholder, their options are to follow the CEO or try to change his/her mind. Note: they're very good at the latter.

Or exercise their Board powers and fire the CEO when push comes to shove. Nobody spends millions of dollars on something to make themselves powerless in it.

[deleted]

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#145

Post by amirmc »

pbiggar wrote: post #142
stephen wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but we're not planning to "go away" or get acquired or something If you've taken VC money, haven't you already gave up that choice? Despite pretenses, the VCs are going to want: a) IPO or b) acquisition. Since you assert b) is not your plan, do you really think you can become a $100m/year company (IPO) by charging for something that Google/MS/everyone else provides for free? Perhaps I am too pessimistic (or realist…

I think you're actually wrong about VC goals. Yes VCs look for acquisitions, but acquisitions only really move the needle when they're really big (>$100m). Anyone acquiring for those amounts aren't going to shut the product down.

I don't think the point is only about the product going away. If Inbox is acquired then it's no longer 'the email company' but the whatever-the-acquirer-wants company (which may well be advertising).

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#146

Post by weeheewoohoo »

higherpurpose wrote: post #88

To me a next-gen e-mail platform is one that has end to end encryption enabled by default, like say what Dark Mail is trying to achieve. Seeing how Dropbox has never once considered to add E2E encryption for its storage service, and how they're hired the anti-champion of privacy, Condoleezza Rice, I'm not expecting that to happen here - ever.

This is the first thing I thought of too. I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would even consider using their service for anything other than sending cat pics or as a spam mailbox

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#147

Post by Throwaway618 »

wldcordeiro wrote: post #141
Throwaway618 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You disingenuous bastard: "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory in action" You seriously don't think you called him a fuckwad?

That's the name of the 'theory' while it does imply that they're a 'fuckwad' (whatever that may be) it's not my chosen word to call them, I'm just citing it. But go ahead and defend the unnecessary rudeness and hide behind your throwaway account. I'll make it clear: The OP of the comment is being an asshole/fuckwad/douchebag/ by being needlessly rude due to the anonymity provided by having an online pseudonym.

Well, you've managed some consistency, then.

You are just as rude as the activity you're calling out. That's all I'm trying to say.

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#148

Post by amirmc »

grinich wrote: post #107
GuiA wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ouch. We're just a few hackers trying to fix broken developer tools. And we (gwillen and anyone who agrees with his comment, myself included) are just a few hackers who are tired of having the rug pulled under their feet when $CORP inevitably comes with the big bucks and all claims made by the founders in the early days of the company mysteriously disappear from the homepage. Talk is cheap.

I like to think that shipping code is the best argument. https://github.com/inboxapp/inbox But yeah, I totally understand the lousy feeling of being burned when $STARTUP gets acquired or shut down. Wish I could say more to quell your concerns. We're just going to keep working on this every day to earn respect from developers. We don't take it lightly. /edit

Easiest way to earn the kind of respect you're after is to only make claims you can visibly and tangibly support. You cannot realistically claim you will 'never' get bought out, so don't say it.

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#149

Post by alain94040 »

nawitus wrote: post #80
grinich wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said this in the other thread and I know it sounds cliché, but we're not planning to "go away" or get acquired or something. We've always positioned this company as a long-term play, and made that very clear when hiring, raising money, etc. It's just not possible to go after something big if you plan to "flip" the company quickly.

I wonder if it's possible to make that promise a legally binding contract. Of course all startups say that they won't "go away", but most of them will even if they say they won't.

While I can't think of a legal way to guarantee "not going away", you can legally guarantee a very strict privacy policy, good for 10 years counting from when the account was created. Future changes in privacy policy would not be able to cancel the 10 years promise, so any acquirer would be prevented from pushing ads. The acquirer could still kill the produce though.

Re: MIT And Dropbox Alums Launch Inbox, a Next-Generation Email Platform

#150

Post by Someone1234 »

grey-area wrote: post #15
boomzilla wrote: post #3

In my opinion, the reason no one add "features" to an email client because it is just as fine as is. Please tell me one thing that a user (power or just every day user) really needs that is not supported by a reasonably recent email client? And no, every few people use emails as a todo list.

Please tell me one thing that a user (power or just every day user) really needs that is not supported by a reasonably recent email client? Sure, here are some ideas I'd like to see: - Effortless encryption - Verified identity - Pull model rather than push model (like twitter, requires verified identity, would eliminate spam and work for many email addresses which you don't want to be public) - Attachments which are…

> Pull model rather than push model

How would someone know to pull from you? Or is every email server (or whatever we're calling it) pulling from every other server all of the time?

If your theory is that everyone in the whole world pulls from your specific service, then that kind of contradicts your whole "open source replacement to email" model.

> Attachments which are uploaded once, not duplicated and sent over the network

So you're depending on the remote party to AV scan incoming attachments? Seems flawed.

> Better filtering

How? What tech' is in place to make filtering easier/better.

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