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by aaronmarks 5544 days ago
This seems like a really valid and important point. Yet companies who do build their entire business on other companies' info / APIS (Think Greplin, Trendrr, Tweetdeck, etc.) still get tons of interest from investors. While it is easy to realize the importance of developing an independent business when commenting on HN, I think the startup community as a whole needs to start displaying this in its actions.

Once more large internet companies realize that their users (both of their services and API) are not necessarily their customers (Think Twitter's denial of new 3rd party clients), the API free-for-all which we're experiencing right now will dry up, and we'll see at least one of the companies-who-are-built-on-other-companies fail. This might be the kick in the pants that the startup community needs to realize the importance of building unique, independent businesses.
2 comments
dansingerman 5544 days ago
While not the perfect situation, I think companies like Greplin, that use multiple APIs across multiple third parties, are at least able to offer a service should one (or a few) of those APIs become inaccessible for any reason.

Much better than your business relying on a single third Party (as in the featured article), where should you cease to have access you are completely screwed.

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neutronicus 5544 days ago
Greplin et al always have the exit scenario where their product is so much better than whatever (say) Facebook has in-house that Facebook buys them as a social-search talent-acquisition play.

This sort of scenario might be easier to identify and invest in than "the next Facebook".

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joe_the_user 5544 days ago
Wouldn't it be a bit worrisome for a company to bargain to be purchased by Facebook when that company is in the position that Facebook could put them out of business at any point by cloning their stuff?

Creating an app as a "talent-acquisition play" seems reasonable but wouldn't you want to position yourself for multiple offers? If Facebook buying for talent, it doesn't have to restrict itself to the creators of Facebook apps.

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