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ReMail (YC W09) Acquired by Google
- chr15 17y agoWill Google's "acquisition" strategy give current Google employees a greater incentive to leave the company and start their own? For example, some top engineers might have an idea for a product and will be incentivized to leave, knowing that Google will buy them as a talent acquisition.
- yan 17y ago> I will be joining Google in Mountain View as a Product Manager on the Gmail team. > Gmail is where my obsession with email started as an engineering intern back in 2004... That must feel great.
- nandemo 17y agoI guess it would feel even better to sell your startup after having been rejected by Google...
- knightinblue 17y agoCongrats! How much?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- paulbaumgart 17y agoCongratulations are definitely in order, but seeing as they're discontinuing their product, I can't help but be reminded of: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1117668 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1117668 :-)
- andrewhyde 17y agoCongrats!
- nostrademons 17y agoAwesome. Congrats Gabor & company. Seems like Google is acquiring an awful lot of ex-employees lately, with Etherpad, Aardvark, and now ReMail. Makes sense given their hiring push and large cash supply, but it makes me wonder if the best way to fame and fortune is to do well at Google and then to leave Google...
- jackowayed 17y agoWell, he was just an intern. There's a big difference between interning, presumably returning to school, then starting a startup sometime later and getting acquired than quitting to start a startup and then getting acquired.
- nostrademons 17y agoIt's my understanding that he was full-time at Google before joining Xobni; the "as an engineering intern in 2004" refers to the start of his career there, and he came back as a fulltimer afterwards.
- zaidf 17y agodo well at Google and then to leave Google You forgot the whole middle part where you have to burn the midnight oil working on your startup, raising $, seeing uncertainty written all over your adventure. Yes, even if you are an ex-Googler.
- nostrademons 17y agoThe type of engineers who "do well at Google" tend to do that anyway. The risk is a bit less, but the workload is just as high, and (depending upon your project) the uncertainty can be too.
- jacquesm 17y agoDon't forget friendfeed. http://friendfeed.com/about/team http://friendfeed.com/about/team
- dschobel 17y agoCongrats to the team but... How can you say: "[Thanks to] Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh [who] endured my slide deck on our multi-step plan for global email domination, and pointed out that instead I should build something small, simple, and useful. It worked." It worked so well that you kill the product? Or does "it worked" refer to the pay day + google job?
- scott_s 17y agoI assume the plan is to integrate his product into mobile Gmail. His product will die, but all of those ideas will live on.
- dschobel 17y agoThere's no mention of any future for the ideas, even vague NDA-friendly ones. That's the issue.
- rjurney 17y agoWhy would Google make this acquisition if there was no value in the product, if they intended to do nothing similar, if they could make no use of the work done to date, of the outcome of the experiment, of the experience of the team? They wouldn't. Google just acquired the leading experts at monetizing search on the iPhone. Can't you see the value in that for Google from many angles? Everything Google does has to fit Google's scale - and that is at odds with architecting a product at a startup. So you rewrite it, you get the new DNA incorporated into existing product lines, and you move forward.
- pg 17y agoreMail does work. Jessica uses it all the time.
- axod 17y agoI'm not sure shutting down a product and hiring the founder(s) should be classed as an 'acquisition'. It's just a recruitment with a golden hello really. These seem to be getting more and more common lately.
- ccarpenterg 17y agoI'm curious. 'a recruitment with a golden hello really' means that they had an offer of acquisition but with a 'you have to work for us' clause?
- e1ven 17y agoI believe axod's point is that an acquisition on this scale may simply amount to a signing bonus, rather than what investors might consider a substantial exit. Since he is shutting down the original project, and terms are not disclosed, it's entirely possible that he simply became tired of running it, applied for Google, interviewed and was hired. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree, but you had asked for clarification.
- dschobel 17y agoDo you think Google would fake an acquisition though? It's hard to imagine for a company of that stature and those means.
- jacquesm 17y agoJust to let the guy save face? If his stature as a developer warranted it, then it might be to both parties advantage. Signing bonus is not press worthy, acquisition is.
- axod 17y agoSix Apart 'acquired' Pownce [1]. Shut it down, then a year later and the 2 founders have left [2]. I'm always slightly skeptical ;) but these things just seem like a way to avoid having your baby in the dead pool to me. [1] http://www.sixapart.com/blog/2008/12/welcome-pownce-team.html http://www.sixapart.com/blog/2008/12/welcome-pownce-team.htm... [2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021204437.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02...
- bry 17y agoPersonally, I wouldn't move to work for a big company like Google after running a successful startup like this unless I had to as part of the deal. Not because Google is evil, but because you lose your independence. I wonder if that was part of the deal.
- nostrademons 17y agoIsn't that part of getting acquired? You typically don't get acquired by other startups (they don't have money), and you typically get far less of a payout if you don't work for the acquirer afterwards (they want the talent that built the software in addition to the software itself).
- bry 17y ago* forehead-slap * Of course, ignore my dumb comment :)
- davidedicillo 17y agoIs Google trying hire back every engineer or intern who left it?
- rjurney 17y agoYes. People go off, try new things, then get acquired and brought back into the mothership to incorporate their experiment. Its a very valid model of R&D.
- gscott 17y agoWorked out for Steve Jobs as well
- grinich 17y agoAgreed, but he's an outlier.
- rjurney 17y agoIn terms of the Apple acquisition of NeXT, Steve Jobs is not an outlier. Founders leaving big companies, often in groups, to found starups that are later acquired by big companies - often one they previously worked for, is common. Its the most common pattern among successful startups. Its happened since day one of silicon valley, 110 years ago. This pattern is the basis of most of the wealth in the area.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- FlemishBeeCycle 17y agoEverytime I hear about a startup being acquired by Google I think of http://suicidefood.blogspot.com/ http://suicidefood.blogspot.com/. As the ultimate goal of the startup seems to be, being devoured.
- maxklein 17y agoThis is not an acquisition. It's the death of a product. And I called this one also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=907456 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=907456 My prediction accuracy on startup failure is pretty good, I think!
- jfarmer 17y agoI can predict startup failure with 99% accuracy, too! :)
- gruseom 17y agoMaxklein, your comments consistently give me the impression that you live to belittle the achievements of others. Is that really the impression you intend to convey? You seem like a smart guy, but this stuff is painfully unpleasant to read. (You're not the only one, by any means. And yes, I would raise this concern in person.) As for Remail/Google: what firsthand knowledge about this transaction do you have?
- zackattack 17y agoAlso, I don't understand why he emails companies asking for discounts on web apps when he's bringing in 20k/month in revenue.
- maxklein 17y agoTo both questions: I am the Ebenezer Scrooge of hacker news.
- coffee 17y ago"Google and reMail have decided to discontinue reMail's iPhone application, and we have removed it from the App Store. reMail is an application on your phone. If you already have reMail, it will continue to work. We'll even provide support for you until the end of March" Good for them, congrats, but oy-vey!
- howcool 17y agoGreat,thanks for killing a great iPhone app!
- zackattack 17y agoCongratulations, man.