The Fall of Trada (2019) | Hacker News Reader

The Fall of Trada (2019)

doxsey.net

15 pointscdoxsey4 comments

I went for an interview there in 2010 and it was the most absurd experience. I walked into a dimly lit open gymnasium with a running track and desks sprawled all over with people working, while voices echoed off the walls. The CEO had a desk with a giant life-sized horse standing over it. The developer who interviewed me was sad. I asked him how it was working there and his response was "they just throw things at me and then leave me alone, we're also digging ourselves out of a hole one developer put us in". Also, no one could really explain what the company did. I declined their offer.

> I mean, just look across the street at Gnip - another Boulder startup...

So I had experience consuming their pipeline and Gnip had a real product. Also, the people running Gnip are still in downtown boulder running the Cognizant office. They are very competent.

> So I had experience consuming their pipeline and Gnip had a real product. Also, the people running Gnip are still in downtown boulder running the Cognizant office. They are very competent.

I didn't mean to paint Gnip in a bad light. I worked there not too long after I worked at Trada. They definitely had a solid product and many competent engineers. Certainly a lot more capable than I was. I learned a lot while I was there.

But they ran into issues early on and had to undergo significant restructuring: https://techcrunch.com/2009/09/28/gnip-clips-60-percent-of-s....

Gnip definitely had it's share of problems; even with a real product and super-sharp people. The takeaway I have from this, and from decades of startup experience, is that building and growing a startup is beyond difficult and even with the right ingredients it's still going to drag you through hell.

Well-told story.

I keep waiting for the decline and fall of online advertising, and all it does is keep going up.

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