[sanderjd]

Yeah, it hasn't innovated, but it hasn't needed to; it has been a sufficient product since the start and never needed to change much.

It's really a shame that I can't immediately bring to mind any stories of companies like Meetup that have a simple product that makes a small amount of money, enough to provide a good living to the small cadre of staff it requires to run it. Maybe Craigslist? Wikipedia, except they're always having to beg for money. I think there may be lots more examples in B2B, but it just doesn't seem like the consumer game lends itself to such companies.

[ghaff]

I would say Craigslist is definitely a good example. What I think happened there is that the Craigslist business model, such as it was, so thoroughly nuked the profitability of the classifieds space (which was a big part of newspapers' bread and butter for years) that it didn't make sense for a next gen competitor to move in--especially given network effects.

Maybe Ebay? It got away from its roots and is arguably less good for just about everybody concerned than it used to be. But, again, network effects and no one seems much interested in trying to recreate Ebay 1.0 in all its flea market glory.

But, yeah, in general consumer sites that go "OK, it's good enough. We're just going to hang, take long lunch breaks, and keep things going at a just profitable enough level" are going to, sooner or later, be passed by the newer/better/shinier hip kid of the moment.

[zbentley]

MailChimp isn't a bad example.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/technology/mailchimp-and-...

[fn]

Classic example is BaseCamp, née 37signals.

[sanderjd]

I think their bread and butter is B2B though, right? I definitely think this is accomplishable in that world, but it seems like it is close to impossible in the consumer world.