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This is so far from outlawing. And we are soooooo far from having a shortage of tech startups.
> This is so far from outlawing It's not that far. A bureaucrat will decide if you can exit the way you want to. Still want to fund this venture? > And we are soooooo far from having a shortage of tech startups. Because there hasn't been a fear of them blocking exits.
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> The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. The vast majority of companies are little "lifestyle" businesses without any intention of ever getting acquired by anyone. Your local pizza shop doesn't expect to be a unicorn.
And *this* is The Key difference between an entrepreneur and a mom & pop. That said, even a mom & pop should be mindful of exit. What happens when the owner(s) wants to retire? Or has a serious health issue? Or has a family member with a health issue? Etc.? You don't have to be a unicorn to build something that someone else wants to acquire. Editorial: And this is why I dislike words like solopreneur, mompreneur, and…
Excellent news. I think there should be more products, more companies, and more competition. Adobe just buying up it's competition will only ever directly hurt consumers. See also, "Adobe says the FTC is looking into its subscription cancellation practices." https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003532/adobe-says-the-...
Adobes cancellation practices are literally illegal in the Netherlands by the way. The deceptive trick of "pay monthly for a full year" and then hitting you with the cancellation fee is against local law. (It's called de wet van Dam for the curious.) You have to threaten their customer support with legal complaints to make them comply with it, it's super frustrating to deal with. They do fold immediately when you do…
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> The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. The vast majority of companies are little "lifestyle" businesses without any intention of ever getting acquired by anyone. Your local pizza shop doesn't expect to be a unicorn.
And *this* is The Key difference between an entrepreneur and a mom & pop. That said, even a mom & pop should be mindful of exit. What happens when the owner(s) wants to retire? Or has a serious health issue? Or has a family member with a health issue? Etc.? You don't have to be a unicorn to build something that someone else wants to acquire. Editorial: And this is why I dislike words like solopreneur, mompreneur, and…
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But Figma isn’t a vampiric company dumping free services for the purpose of a fast exit. It’s been around for over a decade and charges _more_ for its principal product than Adobe charges for comparable products. So by your own definition, real companies are affected by this!
I didn't know Figma was going bankrupt, is it?
Excellent news. I think there should be more products, more companies, and more competition. Adobe just buying up it's competition will only ever directly hurt consumers. See also, "Adobe says the FTC is looking into its subscription cancellation practices." https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003532/adobe-says-the-...
Got bit by this. It felt absolutely horrible to not have any recourse. We had a yearly adobe sign contract, it was based on a particular usage estimate and quite high. Called in weeks before the renewal and they said we missed the window to cancel. There was no option out of it. No escalation. Had to stomach a massive bill for of a product we weren't going to use.
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I think the state of “build to be acquired” is actually pretty gross and I wouldn’t mind it being pruned back a bit. To call this “overzealous government” is a bit ridiculous. Figma being acquired by Adobe was not good for customers, in most cases the government just allows shit like this to happen, this is the exception, not the rule.
Statistically, 90% of startups go belly up, 6% end up as zombies barely scraping by, 3% are acquired and 1% go public.
I don't have any numbers and probably more than 50% do fail, but not 90%. Plenty of bakers, restaurants, accountants and small shops succeed in making money for the owners, employment for the staff and value for the customers.
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Public approval like this is a good signal to send to the regulators (and disapproval when they fail to do their job) -- it helps counterbalance the pressure from lobbyists and politicians aligned with industries.
What’s the best way to send signals to regulators?
I tried to cancel an Adobe CC subscription the other day and they wanted to clawback $60 for a $120 yearly subscription. And their customer support wasn’t helpful at all. Needless to say, we don’t need more of this kind of behavior, especially with Figma!
I just kept the chat window open for 3 hours one afternoon while working, replying every 5 minutes that no, it wasn't acceptable, and I wouldn't pay anything. Slowly they started reducing the amount until they got to 0.
At points they got extremely aggressive, but from reading other people's stories online, that's just part of their training.