[wilschroter]

I get so annoyed when I see people pick apart an acquisition. I saw this same behavior for Gowalla, and then Mint before it. "They didn't make any money. They sold too early." They remind me of people that would be sitting at the finish line of a marathon telling the last people to cross "Boy, your time really sucked."

If you are one of the few entrepreneurs that has come far along enough to get to a sale - for any amount - I just flat out applaud you.

[sama]

Thank you. It's a bummer to be so excited for something I've worked hard for and then read haters hating all over the internet. This brightened up my day; hope we meet in person some day so I can properly say thanks.

[comatose_kid]

Congrats Sam, it sounds like a good outcome, and I've always been impressed that you had the boldness to pursue a vision that involved working with carriers.

Ignore that haters - unfortunately Hacker News comments seem to have reverted to the mean (pun intended) as the site has grown.

[aswanson]

Hey man, haters gonna hate. You compressed more success in 7 years than 99.9 % of programmers will in 4+ decades in a cubicle. Kudos.

[unohoo]

Let the haters hate. Just like you might have shrugged off other, bigger downs during the 7 years of running Loopt, just shrug off the haters and savor the success, no matter how small or big it is. Very few people can lay claim to running a company for 7 years and coming out successful on the other end. Congrats and good luck for whats next.

[budu3]

Congrats Sam! You have accomplished a lot.

[AznHisoka]

While some of the comments may be negative...I just want to say that many many people here NOT like that. There are a lot of hard-working people who have hacked on projects, taken risks, and worked just as hard as Sam. But without the recognition, the acknowledgement, or the publicity. They hack on their side projects while holding a day job, while raising a kid, sacrificing sleep, health, etc. I feel some people just feel slighted when they see others receive a monetary reward because of this "publicity". But please.. many people here are also in the arena, just like Sam.

[ahoyhere]

The people "hating" (I haven't seen anyone hate, merely question) are frustrated because everybody around them tells them it's not luck, it's awesome, and that if you build a great product, get popular, etc., your day will come. That it's a meritocracy, as one commenter put it.

But it's not.

This sale demonstrates that.

It's a good time to adjust expectations and decide what, exactly, it is in your best interest to believe in.

[temphn]

But wait a second, weren't you stating a few days ago that lifestyle companies make people more rich than moonshots:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3647026

Please note: I say this as someone who has great respect for the look, feel, and polish of Freckle and your other work. My disagreement in that thread was purely about the empirical question of whether lifestyle business are better than moonshots in terms of the "get rich some day" probability.

Have you changed your mind or am I reading incorrectly?

[ahoyhere]

Actually, I was saying lifestyle companies make more people rich, not people more rich. Depends on your definition of rich, of course. :)

Not sure why you thought I might have changed my mind based on the above. Misreading perhaps? I wasn't PERSONALLY expressing any of the sentiments in my comment above. I was echoing what I see & hear from people who do care about acquisitions.

My position is, and has been for years, that the VC game is way more of a game of chance than a game of skill. (Unless you think it's a skill to have friends who can bail out your failing startup with an acquisition. It might be. But it's sure not the skill everybody promotes.) A game that, in a lot of ways, reduces your potential for self-determination. That's why I'm such a tireless promoter of bacon busines (http://baconbiz.com).