Facebook buys Gowalla • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#61

Post by fufulabs » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:14 AM UTC

oldstrangers wrote: post #58

pmf wrote: post #49

Facebook has now the best design team in the valley. Hands down. Gowalla plus Made by Sofa plus Push Pop Press

Facebook does have a solid design team, but I wonder where all that talent is being directed? Visually, their hires in the past year or so haven't made an impact with facebook.com. At least with Google's new design team, you can see what they're doing. So, one has to ask, what are these people working on? A facebook phone? Facebook X.0?

My bet is Facebook OS on top of Android ala Kindle Fire. the UX will be its only differentiator so much care is needed there.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#62

Post by rumblestrut » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:15 AM UTC

harryh wrote: post #42

whalesalad wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike your lack of humility and modesty in this discussion. You may be correct in your A point, but "just hiring a couple of engineers/designers/product folks" remark makes it sound like you guys are some elite squad, and FB is picking up some stragglers to join their team. I can see why you've taken this attitude though, since commenters here are attacking Foursquare and making you seem like you lost to Gowalla+…

Oh, I think that the team at gowalla is great, and I have mad respect for them. But in terms of facebook's overall hiring this is a relatively small deal. Don't really know how many folks FB hires a year but I'm guessing hundreds? Sorry if I was curt. Just trying to be clear and concise.

I like clear and concise. I'm like that a lot (unless I'm intentionally verbose) and tend to get looked at in the same light.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#63

Post by melissamiranda » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:22 AM UTC

pmf wrote: post #55

stevenp wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that foursquare was beating Gowalla 100:1 is proof that you don't have to have a better, more fun-to-use, better designed product in order to win in the market. My love affair with Gowalla was prematurely extinguished when they pivoted to local guides, but I hope that this acquisition means that they'll bring some of their original magic to Facebook.

That fact is 100% right. As a designer Im aware that design won't save the world. Foursquare had a huge moat since ever, and thats all that they need.

Foursquare always had a better design. Hear me out: Design is about 2 things: how it looks and how it works. Gowalla always had a prettier coat of paint, pretty interactions. But what mattered more was the design of the game - becoming mayor on Foursquare was easier to grasp and get addicted to than dropping the original Gowalla teddy bears.

Coat of paint and nice UI doesn't always win.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#64

Post by bitsoda » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:26 AM UTC

This is well-deserved. I could never understand why Gowalla didn't gain as much traction as Foursquare despite their eye for sumptuous design. I often found myself rooting for the company, and I'm glad Google took notice of their talent. I look forward to whatever comes from the team. Congrats, Team Gowalla.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#65

Post by keeptrying » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:40 AM UTC

melissamiranda wrote: post #63

pmf wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That fact is 100% right. As a designer Im aware that design won't save the world. Foursquare had a huge moat since ever, and thats all that they need.

Foursquare always had a better design. Hear me out: Design is about 2 things: how it looks and how it works. Gowalla always had a prettier coat of paint, pretty interactions. But what mattered more was the design of the game - becoming mayor on Foursquare was easier to grasp and get addicted to than dropping the original Gowalla teddy bears. Coat of paint and nice UI doesn't always win.

More than that you get free stuff if you checkin. I think this is the draw more than anything else. And this is the reason why foursquare solves a business need.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#66

Post by tzury » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 4:55 AM UTC

Off topic to the acquisition, however, not being a Gowalla user, I went to gowalla.com and looked what they have to offer.

Naturally, I look at my town, Tel Aviv[1], and was shocked. Tel Aviv has much more to offer than what it is listed in that guide, and in my opinion, it is far more attractive city than it appear at gowalla (for instance, some photos are rotated upside down, others by 90 degrees).

Perhaps it takes more than just "snap a photo, type short description, we will get the location" to make a tourist guide.

[1] http://gowalla.com/guides/tel-aviv

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#67

Post by SkyMarshal » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 5:47 AM UTC

harryh wrote: post #42

whalesalad wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike your lack of humility and modesty in this discussion. You may be correct in your A point, but "just hiring a couple of engineers/designers/product folks" remark makes it sound like you guys are some elite squad, and FB is picking up some stragglers to join their team. I can see why you've taken this attitude though, since commenters here are attacking Foursquare and making you seem like you lost to Gowalla+…

Oh, I think that the team at gowalla is great, and I have mad respect for them. But in terms of facebook's overall hiring this is a relatively small deal. Don't really know how many folks FB hires a year but I'm guessing hundreds? Sorry if I was curt. Just trying to be clear and concise.

Fwiw, you were perfectly clear. Anytime someone says "Facebook/Google/Awesome-Tech-Company-of-the-decade bought them as a talent acquisition", the obvious implication (and compliment) is that the talent is really talent. Don't know where this confusion is coming from.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#68

Post by a5seo » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 5:48 AM UTC

blackysky wrote: post #39

unreal37 wrote: post #36

I wonder what the purchase price was. And as a side note, Jason Calacanis is one of the angel investors right? Any comment by Jason as to whether he "did ok" or even got his original investment back?

it's not a major exit just a talent acquisition but I guess he had his original investment back...

Liquidation prefs really help with that. Founders get screwed, but then again at this point Gowalla is effectively a fancy body shop.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#69

Post by a5seo » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 5:52 AM UTC

moses1400 wrote: post #37

kainosnoema wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is definitely a big loss for Austin. There are still a few interesting startups in the area, but Gowalla was the one that made it a serious contender.

I moved my company to Austin from NYC a year ago. Not one event have I been to where Gowalla was mentioned.

I'll second that. Gowalla was in Austin in name only. Zero presence at any events, no penetration of the startup networks. They moved to Austin from Dallas, I hear, at the behest of investors.

Re: Facebook buys Gowalla

#70

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 03, 2011, 6:14 AM UTC

harryh wrote: post #29

brk wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you care to elaborate on that? I don't mean this as a dig, but if you think one of your competitors getting bought by the predominant, and deep-pocketed, social media site is "irrelevant" something seems strangely amiss. My guess is that you might have not seen them as a competitor, which would certainly be understandable. But this would still have ripple effect that is, IMO, somewhat worth more than casual dis…

A) They haven't really been a competitor for a long time. Once you're beating someone by a factor of over 100:1 you move on to other things. B) Facebook isn't buying the product (they don't care about the product). They're just hiring a couple of engineers/designers/product folks.

[deleted]