The bubble is going to pop some day.
Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#32The formula is: 1. Create a new app that's a slight variation of something popular that already exists. 2. Hype it like crazy. 3. Find someone clueless to buy, either a large corporation or have an IPO. 4. Repeat with the next idea. It's basically the same model for hyping celebrities. Is Lady Gaga popular because she's a great singer, or because the media hypes her all the time? Similarly, is Secret popular because…
No, this is why Lady Gaga is popular: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/lady-gag...
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I guess that's why i'm not an entrepreneur." Yep. Attention is the most valuable commodity these days and Secret has certainly managed to obtain it. Ad-based monetization would be pretty easy...if they even want to try monetizing before getting much bigger.
Attention?, I think you mean 'eyeballs'.
Please. Eyeballs was so dotcom, attention is so web 2.0, that's not who we are anymore. Now it's all about mindshare, sharing secrets to one another.
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#34Here's the company's blog post on how the service works:
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#35It's a beautifully designed app with tons of attention of detail to tiny little things. How the hell you monetize it to turn $8.6m in to an even bigger pile of cash is beyond me though. I guess that's why i'm not an entrepreneur.
It used to be that investors said "I want a part of the next Compaq". Then it was "the next Google". What this shows is that investors now want to be a part of the next Instagram or WhatsApp. They are literally throwing away the notion of profitability or monetization. Now the model is to get as popular as possible as quickly as possible. If you win that lottery Facebook or Google will sink BILLIONS of dollars into y…
You realize that WhatsApp has hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue?
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#36Their Monetization strategy? Thats simple ... Blackmail I kid, I kid, but oh the things they could do lol
They only had to blackmail a couple of investors.
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#37Another win for #firstWorldProblem apps. Hell, you could argue that Secret doesn't even solve any problems, and probably creates more.
But damn, that stylish hipster UI and all these cool Silicon Valley cats talking about how they hate Dave Morin....who doesn't want to ride that gravy train?
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) is actually an incredible musician. She studied at the prestigious NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and was one of the few students given early admission at the age of 17. It's an ignorant jab to discredit anything popular as being without merit. Loads of people said Facebook was a just silly toy for college kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM
Credentials and Education != talent and ability I'm judging Lady Gaga based on brief fragments of recent songs I heard. Of course she may be pulling a "Jay Leno", using talent to produce the mediocre garbage that the mainstream media likes to promote. Also, I DON'T use Facebook and Twitter. I never saw the point. Also, you're an IDIOT to build a web presence on Facebook, because then Facebook controls your ability to…
"I'm judging Lady Gaga based on brief fragments of recent songs I heard."
Well, that seems fair.
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
It used to be that investors said "I want a part of the next Compaq". Then it was "the next Google". What this shows is that investors now want to be a part of the next Instagram or WhatsApp. They are literally throwing away the notion of profitability or monetization. Now the model is to get as popular as possible as quickly as possible. If you win that lottery Facebook or Google will sink BILLIONS of dollars into y…
You realize that WhatsApp has hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue?
Remember, on HN "I and my friends don't use it" implies "that company can't possibly have revenues". Just look at any thread about Yahoo.
Re: Secret raises $8.6 million Series A
#40Anyone who's used the app can back me up when I say this: It is one of the most beautifully designed apps I've ever seen. Every interaction adds to the functionality. The balance of beautiful and functional is amazing. Sure, many of the interactions may have been done before in other apps, but it's the whole package that blows me away. The whole "LOL THEY AINT GON MAKE THE $$$$" is a tired argument. The more interest…
Eh, the close button is hard to reach at the top and the gesture that is "back" in other apps is "like."