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What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

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Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#51

Post by burningChrome »

SyneRyder wrote: post #50
The_Blade wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, they are trying to gouge me on Evernote that no longer works, that i tried to unsubscribe from here is a solid article from this week's Economist (that mentions another real jewel of a company): https://www.economist.com/business/2026/07/01/can-bending-sp...

Similar story here. They took my ~$100/yr Harvest time-tracking Solo plan, increased the price by 2.5x for a more restricted plan than I had... or I could get back the plan I had for $20,000/year. So I downloaded my data, and had Claude vibecode a fully-featured clone in a single evening. Even if I was paying Anthropic API rates, it cost me less than a single year of my Solo plan.

Was also on Harvest when news broke they had bought them here on HN. A lot of the same comments. I thought, "Well, maybe this is hyperbole, let's wait it out." About a month after they were acquired, same thing. Price of my plan went up almost by double.

So if anybody is reading this? They absolutely will gouge you. All the stories you've read are all true. Take some advice and get out while you can.

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#52

Post by smrtinsert »

buckle8017 wrote: post #47
alephnerd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BendingSpoon isn't PE because they are not attempting a restructure to then exit out of the asset within a defined time period. When BendingSpoon or IAC acquired an asset, it's meant to be held by them in order to augment their existing portfolio. M&A isn't the hallmark of PE - restructuring an asset in order to exit out of it at a profit is. The classic PE monetization strategy is to acquire an underperforming asset…

The classic PE strategy is to buy declining buy well known brands, borrow vast sums of money in the brands name, pay the PE firm huge consulting fees, and then bankrupt the acquired business. Which isn't exactly what they seem to be doing but also isn't that far off.

Scotts point was that these brands have already declined, and that the only thing left is a very strongly loyal subscription base. That perked my ears up for sure.

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#54

Post by dbbk »

jodacola wrote: post #11
achandra03 wrote: post #4

Is it not just a private equity fund masquerading as a tech firm?

Bingo. My wife brought them to my attention recently because she heard about them from Scott Galloway, who was speaking highly of Bending Spoons on one of his podcasts. As she was explaining this to me, I said "It's just PE." They must be doing some good PR/marketing, because, for some reason, "PE" isn't the first thing entering a lot of minds about Bending Spoons right now.

Not really. They dramatically overhaul the products. Bloated staff are cut, old tech-debt-saddled systems are thrown out and rewritten. In some cases they basically just keep the brand and the database and rebuild the product around that, in a smaller and leaner manner.

I actually think the model is interesting.

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#55

Post by taurath »

cs702 wrote: post #32
dehrmann wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consolidating stagnant or dying SaaS offerings makes sense, but it'd be nice if there were a version of this that's a better steward of the companies.

Arguably, they're a better choice for customers than a shutdown. I mean, they're at least keeping the service alive for as long as possible.

There’s no choice here, and often the companies are profitable, but if there is any stickiness to the product the customer gets the privilege of having a company they built trust with turn around and betray them with massively increased fees.

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#56

Post by apparent »

cs702 wrote: post #12

Bending Spoons is a company that acquires SaaS companies/products that are not growing or losing users but have a well-known brand and customers who stick around. The execs at Bending Spoon buy these SaaS services on the cheap, cut costs, jack up prices, and milk remaining users for as much cash as possible for as long as possible. Rinse and repeat. The goal is to generate the highest possible rate of return on inves…

> cut costs, jack up prices, and milk remaining users for as much cash as possible for as long as possible.

Don't forget "slash the workforce, ensuring that the product will get worse over time".

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#58

Post by Bratmon »

ulfw wrote: post #20
cs702 wrote: post #12

Bending Spoons is a company that acquires SaaS companies/products that are not growing or losing users but have a well-known brand and customers who stick around. The execs at Bending Spoon buy these SaaS services on the cheap, cut costs, jack up prices, and milk remaining users for as much cash as possible for as long as possible. Rinse and repeat. The goal is to generate the highest possible rate of return on inves…

That's a short term business model if I have ever seen one. "customers who stick around." is anthesis to mid- to long-term customer loyalty when you do "jack up prices, and milk remaining users for as much cash as possible"

You're thinking too narrowly. Buying a cow is a short term investment because cows don't live very long.

And yet dairy farms can last for centuries.

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#59

Post by Bratmon »

bix6 wrote: post #53

I don’t really get this model. Seems like a waste of money / time / energy.

They keep popular but unprofitable products that would otherwise be turned down alive.

There are Victorian-horror-esque costs to that, but it's still better that those projects be alive but enshittified than completely dead (If you disagree, you can just cancel your subscription, after all)

Re: What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public

#60

Post by rpdillon »

cs702 wrote: post #12

Bending Spoons is a company that acquires SaaS companies/products that are not growing or losing users but have a well-known brand and customers who stick around. The execs at Bending Spoon buy these SaaS services on the cheap, cut costs, jack up prices, and milk remaining users for as much cash as possible for as long as possible. Rinse and repeat. The goal is to generate the highest possible rate of return on inves…

And the article tries to spin this positively:

> After the acquisition, Bending Spoons is anything but a passive owner, making changes to the products’ user experience and features, as well as to the underlying tech; monetization strategy, including pricing; and team organization, including headcount.

> While this focus on efficiency and revenue overlaps with private equity strategies, Bending Spoons claims a key difference: It “aims to hold forever, and has never sold an acquired business.” It is building a live portfolio, not presiding over a tech graveyard.

That last line has me wondering who wrote this.

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