Judging by their current projects I'd make the argument that Brad and Eric are working day and night to make things they find cool, even if it loses money.
Have you heard Eric talk about beeper? He genuinely believes that beeper is the future of message apps. He keeps saying that beeper is the only company that is completely focused on building a messaging app, and thats why they will win. He is simply deluded.
I am a very happy customer of Beeper. It's a hard task and they're basically doing it for free. And all of my chats are more or less in one app. I even have my iMessage access back today.
So I'll say that I get where you're coming from, but also, I believe him and Brad!
That’s great for you, but none of that contradicts the fact that he is deluded. And also, they are not doing it for free, they have taken in and burnt millions of dollars of investor money.
Everything else came out of their pockets or from the super early customers who paid before launch, before they started offering their service for free.
In case you're unaware, these folks made Pebble. Their finances are probably fine.
They have raised $16m, and I am very aware of who they are. I have talked extensively with both Eric and Brad. They are nice guys, but Beeper is definitely based on a delusion, Beeper Mini even more so.
Some people said it was 4D chess, a brilliant marketing ploy, but after 3-4 iterations I think we can all agree that was not the case. They genuinely believed that Beeper Mini would fly.
There is nothing sinister about being deluded, as a startup founder you might say it's a prerequisite. But nonetheless, they are.