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Comment by jnorthrop | Hacker News Reader

"It’s been a long journey for Hunch."

They were founded in 2008 and sold for $80m 3 years later. That is considered a "long journey" these days? Statements like this give me that "we're in a bubble" feeling.

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I am somewhat disappointed since Chris Dixon has said Hunch would be in it for the long-term. (I've followed Hunch since it's early days* and always wanted to see it go big.) $80m is a nice pay-out though, the systems they've built have the potential to bring an immense amount of value to eBay's offerings, and a lot of that money will trickle down to other startups via angel investments.

* http://hassy.posterous.com/my-favorite-startups-hunch

    Hunch is not for sale. The founders have already sold companies before and have no desire to sell Hunch. We want to build it into a large company.
    
    hunch responded one year ago

http://www.formspring.me/hunch/q/1392572735

I've learned that in one year, one's goals can change dramatically.

It's also one thing to say something. But the situation changes when a ton of money is actually thrown right in front of you.

If the number is right, $80m is not a ton of money for people who have already had big exits and took $20m in VC to start this company.

It could also be that the company is doing far worse than the business plan they originally showed out to the VCs : If there's lower growth rates, it's far better for everyone to notch up a quick 3x, rather than see the business dwindle into obscurity (the alternative case, in the minds of the VCs, if they're not going to 'go big').

FlickR only sold for $35 million. They took some funding prior to that too, so it wouldn't have been a huge payout for Fake.

I'm suspicious when any startup makes this claim, not because I don't think they legitimately mean it (at the time), but because it rarely ends up being the case as markets, situations, products and lives change.

> Hunch is not for sale.

All companies are for sale.

As in that anecdote, all people are for sale, just that you have to find the right price.

Agreed. The "standard journey" for a big, meaningful startup is more like 7 years. A "long journey" in my book would be 10-15 years.

With some very notable exceptions (YouTube, Zynga, Groupon), built-to-flip and talent acquisitions dominate the 1-2 year exit companies.

I think Hunch was actually founded in 2009

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