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Comment by p1nkpineapple | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, their CEO seems quite set on long-term growth instead of a quick sell, as evidenced by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39336308

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That may be the CEOs intent, but if they have share holders and someone shows up with money it isn’t entirely the CEOs call. They have a responsibility to produce returns and if an offer is better than what they can do without selling their obligation is pretty clear.

I’ve known some folks who I believe really wanted to grow a company but when faced with an offer to buy it they didn’t feel they could survive a legal challenge arguing that they should sell.

It’s 2024. By this point we all know how this ride goes. So if a founder states that they’re targeting sustainable long-term growth, and that intent isn’t reflected in how they’ve taken on investments, they’re flat-out lying. There’s simply no excuse to be that utterly naive. The Obsidian mob seem very switched on, and their public headcount isn’t remotely indicative of VC-funded hyper-growth. It looks like they’re doing everything right.

My point being that even if the CEO intends long term growth, it may not matter.

People’s perception regarding the CEO is telling the truth or not is largely irrelevant at that point.

If the offer is big enough their hands are often tied due to their obligation to the rest of the owners.

They are bootstrapped and committed not to take VC money[1].

[1] https://stephango.com/vcware

Obsidian does not have any shareholders. It's a team of 6 people, and the sole owners are the two original founders.

The Evernote CEO used to talk about how he was building a 100 year company.

As a matter of fact, Evernote still works and is improving fast.

For me Evernote peaked around 2014-2015. The native clients were fast and small and integrated well with the host platform. I haven't used it since around 2020, so I'm glad to hear they are actually working on it.

I subscribed on the Plus plan for 8 years at $35 / year. Now the personal plan is $130 / year. I used it maybe once a week so for me that would be $2 every time I launch it. It just isn't worth it.

Recent evolution? Do tell

Well, I suggest you check the Evernote product lead's X account.

https://x.com/fedesimio

You'll see that they are working on many improvements, some of them are already in the app.

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