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Comment by hassy | Hacker News Reader

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

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    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.

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