5 ms·

What do you mean?

dawhizkid 10y ago
Startups thrived then because mobile technology was just getting big and bigger tech companies were largely late to the party (including FB, GOOG) giving startups a chance to hit it big (IG, SC, Messaging apps, etc.). Now these giants are innovating as fast if not faster than most small startups and the small guy barely stands a chance. I can't think of a startup that started in the last 3 years that has really "made it." Snapchat is 5 years old, Lyft 4, Uber 6, Airbnb 7+, Reddit 10+.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- teej 10y ago
  Or maybe it takes 3-5 years to "make it".
- paul 10y ago
  You can't think of a startup started in the last 3 years that has really "made it" because it takes years for a startup to "really make it"! If you disagree, please find the 5 year old hn thread where people say that snapchat is the next big thing.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- kayoone 10y ago
  Slack comes to mind, i think it was released in 2013.
- jedberg 10y ago
  As Paul said it takes longer than that to make it, but Twitch TV sold for almost 1B less than 5 years after launch, and just turned 5 in June.
  - timr 10y ago
    Twitch is Justin.tv. It launched in 2007 (iirc), and pivoted to games in 2012. The company changed its name a few years after that.
- jedberg 10y ago
  Cruise Automation -- Founded 2013 (three years ago), sold for 1B this year.
  - jomamaxx 10y ago
    That was a crazy anomaly. It's hardly even a startup. Some guys with some tech - and a 'maybe gullible maybe paranoid' M&A guy at a massive car company dolled out money. It's almost an IP play more than anything. It's an M&A transaction, not really a startup.
    - garry 10y ago
      This post is factually wrong. GM acquired a ready to go R&D lab and leapfrogged everyone else in the process. The rest of the automotive industry is now playing catchup.
      - jomamaxx 10y ago
        I beg to differ. I've worked closely with M&A teams for Fortune 50 and watched these kinds of acquisitions time and time again, and more often than not - they go sour. To your own point - yes, GM was probably panicking that they were 'behind' in self-driving cars, and needed to pay to 'catch up', however, we'll have to wait to see how well they are able to integrate this tiny technology team which had very few actual customers into the GM empire on an operational basis. Given the scope and scale of GM and the auto-industry, and that 'self driving cars' are 100% going to happen ... if GM is able to make the IP work in any reasonable way, it will likely be a worthwhile investment. As to 'leap-frogging' - given that BMW, Mercedes and so many others already have self-driving cars in the field, I'm not so sure that is a fair characterization. That said, the track record of large companies buying their way into markets by picking up small, unestablished technology companies is not good.
- EazyC 10y ago
  Giphy clearly comes to mind as something recently created that is in the consumer tech/data market which is going to become a behemoth at its rate of growth.
- elmar 10y ago
  a lot of Startups year 3 is the inflection point.
- nostrademons 10y ago
  That's how it felt at the beginning of 2011. AirBnB had yet to get big, Uber and Instagram had launched 2 months before and barely anyone had heard of them, SnapChat was 9 months in the future, Parse's founders had yet to meet and pivot into the idea, Whatsapp was growing but almost nobody in the US knew about them, Instacart and Slack were still in the future. The only hot startups was DropBox and Heroku, both founded in 2007. Reddit was 6 years old and already old news; Twitter was 5 and beginning its downward slide. Facebook was the new kid on the block, and Google was kicking butt. It's amazing what a couple acquisitions and hot product offerings can do.

What do you mean?

Startups thrived then because mobile technology was just getting big and bigger tech companies were largely late to the party (including FB, GOOG) giving startups a chance to hit it big (IG, SC, Messaging apps, etc.). Now these giants are innovating as fast if not faster than most small startups and the small guy barely stands a chance. I can't think of a startup that started in the last 3 years that has really "made it." Snapchat is 5 years old, Lyft 4, Uber 6, Airbnb 7+, Reddit 10+.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
teej 10y ago
Or maybe it takes 3-5 years to "make it".
paul 10y ago
You can't think of a startup started in the last 3 years that has really "made it" because it takes years for a startup to "really make it"! If you disagree, please find the 5 year old hn thread where people say that snapchat is the next big thing.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kayoone 10y ago
Slack comes to mind, i think it was released in 2013.
jedberg 10y ago
As Paul said it takes longer than that to make it, but Twitch TV sold for almost 1B less than 5 years after launch, and just turned 5 in June.
- timr 10y ago
  Twitch is Justin.tv. It launched in 2007 (iirc), and pivoted to games in 2012. The company changed its name a few years after that.
jedberg 10y ago
Cruise Automation -- Founded 2013 (three years ago), sold for 1B this year.
- jomamaxx 10y ago
  That was a crazy anomaly. It's hardly even a startup. Some guys with some tech - and a 'maybe gullible maybe paranoid' M&A guy at a massive car company dolled out money. It's almost an IP play more than anything. It's an M&A transaction, not really a startup.
  - garry 10y ago
    This post is factually wrong. GM acquired a ready to go R&D lab and leapfrogged everyone else in the process. The rest of the automotive industry is now playing catchup.
    - jomamaxx 10y ago
      I beg to differ. I've worked closely with M&A teams for Fortune 50 and watched these kinds of acquisitions time and time again, and more often than not - they go sour. To your own point - yes, GM was probably panicking that they were 'behind' in self-driving cars, and needed to pay to 'catch up', however, we'll have to wait to see how well they are able to integrate this tiny technology team which had very few actual customers into the GM empire on an operational basis. Given the scope and scale of GM and the auto-industry, and that 'self driving cars' are 100% going to happen ... if GM is able to make the IP work in any reasonable way, it will likely be a worthwhile investment. As to 'leap-frogging' - given that BMW, Mercedes and so many others already have self-driving cars in the field, I'm not so sure that is a fair characterization. That said, the track record of large companies buying their way into markets by picking up small, unestablished technology companies is not good.
EazyC 10y ago
Giphy clearly comes to mind as something recently created that is in the consumer tech/data market which is going to become a behemoth at its rate of growth.
elmar 10y ago
a lot of Startups year 3 is the inflection point.
nostrademons 10y ago
That's how it felt at the beginning of 2011. AirBnB had yet to get big, Uber and Instagram had launched 2 months before and barely anyone had heard of them, SnapChat was 9 months in the future, Parse's founders had yet to meet and pivot into the idea, Whatsapp was growing but almost nobody in the US knew about them, Instacart and Slack were still in the future. The only hot startups was DropBox and Heroku, both founded in 2007. Reddit was 6 years old and already old news; Twitter was 5 and beginning its downward slide. Facebook was the new kid on the block, and Google was kicking butt. It's amazing what a couple acquisitions and hot product offerings can do.