[dschobel]

Glad that the TC article touches on it, but with the track record of YC company acquisitions and killing products (yes yes, I realize dropbox is an exception), it really feels like a leap of faith to trust a YC associated backup service.

I can deal with having to export my files in case of acquisition, but it will keep me from suggesting this service (which sounds awesome, by the way) to non-technical friends and family.

[michaeldwan]

We hear ya. Building trust takes time. If it means anything though, we built Snapjoy to scratch our own itch, not to flip.

[jasonmccay]

So, in the inverse, if it were not a YC-associated company, you would trust that company more or less? Regardless of your opinion of Flickr, I did not fear the future of my photos when Yahoo! acquired them. Last I checked, they were still there.

That aside, I do see your point, but to say that you will not recommend a really nice service to your friends and family on the sole basis that they are a YC company seems odd.

[mrkurt]

Have there been companies that were acquired and just shut down/deleted everything? The ones I've seen just said "we're ceasing operations in 90 days, please back your data up".

[dschobel]

My concern isn't their vanishing overnight.

My concern is recommending the service to my 70 year old father and getting a confused phone call from him about why his bookmarks are broken and instead lead to an acquisition notice and then having to walk him through the export process.

In other words, the value to me in recommending these services to my friends and family is 1) that they'll use them and see some benefit and 2) that I won't have to support it.

And, at the risk of getting all patio11, you know who spends a lot of time organizing photos? Older folks and housewives; NOT Silicon Valley wunderkinds who are trying out the latest and greatest YC company which got a mention on TechCrunch. The problem this team will face is that you have technically literate people like me standing between them and the non-technical friends and family who will shell out $20/mo until the end of time to organize and share photos of their grandkids.

If this is just a tech demo before a FB acquisition, disregard the whole thing though. :)

[hopeless]

That's one of the things I've loved about Smugmug over the past 5-6yrs: they're profitable, they're independent and they don't have any intention of selling out. They're a brand I trust and believe in, which is why I give them my money.

[megablast]

That is a solution for these companies, but still leads to distrust. You use a backup service so you can leave your files on the site and not worry about it. This is the problem yc companies now face.

[abstractbill]

This is the problem yc companies now face.

It sounds like you're describing a problem all startups face.