Given that Napa is so close to the bay area, it might have made more sense to partner with a local company from YC etc. than one on the east coast.
I cannot speculate what caused them to chose Scavngr over any other service, what type of agreement, if any, that they had in place with them, nor how they were going to measure results if any were to be produced. I also cannot name the particular strain of toxoplasmosis that would cause someone to believe that a company whose business model depends on mass adoption would somehow see that restricting a subset of functionality to a particular industry segment would be financially beneficial to them. The person who wrote this so-called review is ignorant, uninformed and unqualified.
Scavngr isn't dedicating any resources to these types of products because there is no market for it. It's as simple as that and their board has told them to spend their money in another direction. Sorry, you lose.
To answer your statement:
A - We have led the industry for years as an innovator and we are recognized for seeing the future (and present) time and time again. At the time Scvngr seemed like the right bet. B - We had a server error. Do you need to really troll like this?
Napa Valley has the most tourism in CA next to Disneyland and generate a tremendous amount of income. This valley (and other wine destinations) represents an incredible opportunity for the right LBS company. I think it is less about the opportunity than it is about the focus of Scvngr changing from their app to thelevelup.com.
PS - you spelled Scvngr wrong.
And yet you fail to understand a basic point:
Scvngr isn't playing their little games any more because there's no money in it.
And you don't understand the technology industry. One look at Scvngr's about page would've clued you in.
On another note, it occurs to me that the complaint levied against Scvngr, albeit illegitimate, is quite common. Normals couldn't be expected to understand what exactly it is they're getting into when partnering with a social service, especially one who has to pivot every six months to stay in business. But to label them a flash-in-the-pan is a little too much coming from a think tank for wine producers.
Wait, what?
They built an optical table? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_table
More likely they typed up reams of drivel like the above that they sell to wineries
If you've ever seen wine served you'll see them often using a metal cylinder which often they wash out. It takes barman time and I'm guessing isn't great for the taste.
So it probably is a real problem they solved.
However I can't find the phrase you're referring to on their about us page, so not sure what the change is.
under Our Story
I don't think he is talking about any physical device, he is using optics in place of Paradigm Shift - it is the new meaningless buzz word. Try it out! anytime someone uses optics this way substitute "paradigm shift" and the sentence will still read the same and still convey no information.
The problem with SMDB's is that they actually believe that what they're doing has an impact not just on the segment they're repping that morning, but in the technology as a whole. But god forbid you should ask them for any deliverables or whoa, metrics. That's when they shut up and become resentful. Like my barber does when I scold him for sharing out loud that he's part of the fashion industry. He's not; he's a fucking barber just like Paul is a booze promoter on par with the girls who walk around half naked giving out free samples or schwag, usually from that shit brand you never want to drink. Except he uses optics or something.