[calinet6]

I'm tired of this "they worked hard for that" BS with acqui-hires and shutdowns.

Yeah, sure, they worked hard, but in the end they get a big fat F for the end result.

Services don't last forever, but I'm not gonna congratulate someone who runs around in circles for 3 years purporting to deliver a product of value, and then gives up when offered a better deal for themselves.

They didn't build a product, they built a nothing. It's like reverse vaporware, and I won't respect it.

[m3rc]

Yeah this is my main problem with the way "startup culture" seems to work. There's a lot of people in my university really pushing people to start their own businesses, but the general reasoning just seems to be "come up with something, advertise so that you get bought out, take the money". There's no emphasis on actually making anything, just on drumming up hype for an idea and selling that.

[ryandrake]

Well, if hype and vapor is what's getting bought, you might as well try to produce and sell it.

[m3rc]

And yeah, that'd be what I don't like about startup culture. I went into software development, not marketing.

[paulbaumgart]

They proved that they can build products. That makes them very valuable to companies with more money than time. It's a significant career success, if perhaps not quite a business success. And we can congratulate them for that.

[anon808]

sure, if the product they made wasn't depended on by people. these kind of acquisitions seem to always leave the product customers in a lurch. and for that we don't have to congratulate them.

[paulbaumgart]

Assuming this was a smart acquisition by Dropbox, they'll be able to create more value now than they were before the acquisition. Unless you're arguing that the acquisition is actually wealth-destroying, it seems pretty selfish to oppose it.

[anon808]

unless I was one of the customers who's out a service I depended on.

[sidcool]

I fully agree, may be the HackPad team wanted an exit and wanted to retire and spend all their earned money to live a hedonistic life. What's wrong with that?

[1ris]

It's like you worked hard, and then somebody pays you to stop trying.

[Einstalbert]

Agreed 100% It's like selling someone a rubber balloon. We're buying services and products, not party favors. We expect balloons to pop.

[sidcool]

Yes, may be this project/product was a step towards a bigger aim they had. May be they wanted to build a SpaceX and started small to gain experience, capital and contacts.

[karpodiem]

Yes!