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Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

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Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#2
> By 2016, it was telling hiring prospects that it was profitable, but also that, “We will not be selling the company unless some insane whatsapp like thing happened. We’re building a forever biz, not a flip.” So either Vidpresso lowered its bar for an exit or Facebook made coming aboard worth its while.

Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#3

> By 2016, it was telling hiring prospects that it was profitable, but also that, “We will not be selling the company unless some insane whatsapp like thing happened. We’re building a forever biz, not a flip.” So either Vidpresso lowered its bar for an exit or Facebook made coming aboard worth its while.

Unfortunately there seems to be high incentive and little downside to claim 'we will not sell easy'. You get the upside adoption by any customer concerned with longevity, and when you decide to fold for pennies you write a blog post about your incredible journey.

I get it. You get tired of a product, it doesn't do as well as you hope, but you still want to get acquihired and make sure your hardworking engineers don't end up on the street. Nonetheless, its frustrating when evaluating a startup's product and use 'longevity' as a factor.

Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#4

> By 2016, it was telling hiring prospects that it was profitable, but also that, “We will not be selling the company unless some insane whatsapp like thing happened. We’re building a forever biz, not a flip.” So either Vidpresso lowered its bar for an exit or Facebook made coming aboard worth its while.

Vidpresso is an app that should have been built into Facebook in the first place. It was primarily used to help broadcasters broadcast to Facebook live, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing it got rolled up into FB.

Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#7
post #3

> By 2016, it was telling hiring prospects that it was profitable, but also that, “We will not be selling the company unless some insane whatsapp like thing happened. We’re building a forever biz, not a flip.” So either Vidpresso lowered its bar for an exit or Facebook made coming aboard worth its while.

Unfortunately there seems to be high incentive and little downside to claim 'we will not sell easy'. You get the upside adoption by any customer concerned with longevity, and when you decide to fold for pennies you write a blog post about your incredible journey. I get it. You get tired of a product, it doesn't do as well as you hope, but you still want to get acquihired and make sure your hardworking engineers don't…

The product isn't going anywhere for our customers. That's a big reason we did the deal.

Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#9

> By 2016, it was telling hiring prospects that it was profitable, but also that, “We will not be selling the company unless some insane whatsapp like thing happened. We’re building a forever biz, not a flip.” So either Vidpresso lowered its bar for an exit or Facebook made coming aboard worth its while.

They may well have had their reasons, but whenever I read or hear things like this, I can't help thinking a while about how we've lost the use of the term "sell out."

Re: Facebook buys Vidpresso's (YC W14) team and tech to make video interactive

#10
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately there seems to be high incentive and little downside to claim 'we will not sell easy'. You get the upside adoption by any customer concerned with longevity, and when you decide to fold for pennies you write a blog post about your incredible journey. I get it. You get tired of a product, it doesn't do as well as you hope, but you still want to get acquihired and make sure your hardworking engineers don't…

The product isn't going anywhere for our customers. That's a big reason we did the deal.

What does it mean by "bough the talent and the tech, but not the company"?
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