https://springpad.com/blog/2014/05/springpad-says-goodbye/
"As part of closing our business, a portion of our team is joining Google."
So those are the facts. My probably inaccurate opinion is an acqui-hire gone somewhat off the rails.
"As part of closing our business, a portion of our team is joining Google."
So those are the facts. My probably inaccurate opinion is an acqui-hire gone somewhat off the rails.
This begs the question: figure it out later once you have a lot of users or figure it out with a small number of users and then try to get a lot of users?
Obviously not that simple, but curious.
"Springpad co-founder Jeff Chow, who previously worked with Janer at Third Screen Media (acquired by AOL), is joining Google in Kendall Square, along with Springpad’s top four engineers:"
Sounds exactly like an acqhire that somehow instead became a poach. And a pretty rip-the-heart-out poach too. I can't think of any start-ups that could survive that kind of talent loss. I envision some upper-management person suggesting buying SpringPad, Google-execs veto it, but said upper-management person secured the funds to poach out the core.
That being said, a core team poach would definitely have killed the team, as well.
Consumer plays are hard in general, but particularly difficult in Beantown.