Hashable is shutting down • Hacker News Board

Re: Hashable is shutting down

#21

Post by objclxt » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 11:34 AM UTC

earl wrote: post #18

sayemm wrote: post #17

- They raised a $4M round led by USV in 2010 ( http://avc.com/a_vc/2011/03/the-hashable-pivot.html ) - The founder ( http://linkedin.com/pub/michael-yavonditte/3a/919/3b6 ) was previously the CEO of an ad company that AOL acquired for $340M, and he's also an angel investor and partner at a VC fund -- so, he's obviously an experienced entrepreneur and has an amazing network to support him Best of luck to everyone on t…

I think this is yavo's second failed startup post quigo, the ad network. He did tracked first, then hashable. I'd bet he'll do well in mobile ads though given how well he understands the space. And never underestimate the power of the right rolodex.

Mobile ads is a shitty business, and by 'shitty' I mean 'hugely competitive'. The margins are so slim it can be very difficult to turn any kind of profit - not to say the right idea can't totally shake up the industry, just that it's very, very competitive.

Re: Hashable is shutting down

#22

Post by dneb7 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 12:49 PM UTC

My friend was in the right place at the right time, had a small company that made millions. He figured it was all him, so he spent all of his money on a second attempt. It failed, and he's back working a j.o.b. now.

I wonder: If we could track enough of these cases where a successful entrepeneur started a second company (and then track whether it succeeded/failed), could we come up with a measurement of how much luck has to do with overall success rates?

Re: Hashable is shutting down

#23

Post by rhizome » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 6:27 PM UTC

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #12

rhizome wrote: post #11

People who like business cards, use business cards. I think in the future "intentional identity communication" will be moot, where people will either know who you are already, or know how to find you (FB, LinkedIn, Ravelry, etc.). If all you really need is a name and a saved contact, I can see people getting used to not carrying and exchanging stuff. "Back in olden times, your 'wallet' had like a quarter-inch of thes…

You really think so? There's like billions of people out there. hmm

To be sure, the change that I'm talking about is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Re: Hashable is shutting down

#24

Post by rhizome » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 6:33 PM UTC

ivanb wrote: post #16

rhizome wrote: post #11

People who like business cards, use business cards. I think in the future "intentional identity communication" will be moot, where people will either know who you are already, or know how to find you (FB, LinkedIn, Ravelry, etc.). If all you really need is a name and a saved contact, I can see people getting used to not carrying and exchanging stuff. "Back in olden times, your 'wallet' had like a quarter-inch of thes…

I imagine a ubiquitous feature in every business smartphone that just broadcasts your vCard to nearby smartphones if you want to be contacted. Just something more comfortable than current Bluetooth vCard sharing. I say a "feature" because I think that there is no monetization opportunity in this idea. It would only look good as a standard feature.

VCard is still on the "intentional transmission" side of things. What I'm talking about is the question, "why have a discrete identity blob to hand out (physically or digitally) when your identity is out there and easy to find with the right proximity. "Proximity" being measured by social distance.

If I meet you someplace and we're talking like "I'm rhizome from HN," you can then click on my name when you get home (or from your phone) and get a means of communicating further with me. The goal of business cards isn't really just to collect pieces of paper, it's to have a reference by which to enable further interactions. Those references are becoming more and more ephemeral, and more and more ubiquitous.