4 ms·

For investors, Yik Yak was a travesty. The fact that is raised nearly 9 figures along the way is yet another terrible indictment of the herd behavior found in p

For investors, Yik Yak was a travesty. The fact that is raised nearly 9 figures along the way is yet another terrible indictment of the herd behavior found in private equity. One thing I find interesting about this turn of events is that the person shutting the app down is Jack Dorsey. If I was an ecommerce player like Shopify or Square, disrupting social would be at the top of my list of strategic things to do. But Jack Dorsey can't really do that, can he?

balls187 10y ago
> The fact that is raised nearly 9 figures along the way is yet another terrible indictment of the herd behavior found in private equity. How so? An app that targets college students, shows high user acquisition, DAU, has serious potential.
- kbos87 10y ago
  Serious potential to do what? Even darling companies like snap can't figure out how to come anywhere near meeting expectations with the supposedly high value audiences they have.
  - creaghpatr 10y ago
    They had a critical mass of users and the geofenced posting concept had a lot of potential- had they reached maturity they had a lot of monetization potential, likely in the billions over the life of the company. In hindsight of course they should have anticipated the challenges of anonymity which are almost cliche at this point. But Facebook and twitter have yet to introduce a geofencing option for user posts as far as I know. Maybe they will eventually.
    - nxc18 10y ago
      Teens and college students hate advertising. Sometimes targeted advertising can work. How anonymous do you feel when apps pop up ads for that thing you were searching for two nights ago on Amazon? How many advertisers want to have their content featured next to the absolute worst thoughts people have? I regularly saw racist, sexist, homophobic, and inconsiderate content. Not to mention the sex, drugs, and underage drinking. A true advertiser's delight.
      - nebabyte 10y ago
        Honestly, if there were a way for their ads to be displayed there without that being seen as a faux pas (e.g. some fundamental shift in the ad network model that just makes it seem like a consequence of the browsing user's interactions with companies - it wouldn't be 'shockingly viral' news to see that racists/sexists/etc use products too) they probably would not care. Perception is advertisers' only enemy. Once that's taken care of, they really don't care what kind of person you are as long as your money's green.
      - balls187 10y ago
        Doesn't seem to stop Twitter from selling ads.
    - kbos87 10y ago
      Therein lies the problem - even if they figure out how to monetize the audience they have now, "audiences" today are a million times more fickle and temporary. The amount of time a company like this has to recoup losses before it becomes pasé is compressing.
  - balls187 10y ago
    Sell ads.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
> One thing I find interesting about this turn of events is that the person shutting the app down is Jack Dorsey Where did you get this idea? From what I read it's just saying they're shutting down and giving their developers a soft landing onto Square, it's not even one of those "acq-hires".

balls187 10y ago

> The fact that is raised nearly 9 figures along the way is yet another terrible indictment of the herd behavior found in private equity. How so? An app that targets college students, shows high user acquisition, DAU, has serious potential.

kbos87 10y ago
Serious potential to do what? Even darling companies like snap can't figure out how to come anywhere near meeting expectations with the supposedly high value audiences they have.
- creaghpatr 10y ago
  They had a critical mass of users and the geofenced posting concept had a lot of potential- had they reached maturity they had a lot of monetization potential, likely in the billions over the life of the company. In hindsight of course they should have anticipated the challenges of anonymity which are almost cliche at this point. But Facebook and twitter have yet to introduce a geofencing option for user posts as far as I know. Maybe they will eventually.
  - nxc18 10y ago
    Teens and college students hate advertising. Sometimes targeted advertising can work. How anonymous do you feel when apps pop up ads for that thing you were searching for two nights ago on Amazon? How many advertisers want to have their content featured next to the absolute worst thoughts people have? I regularly saw racist, sexist, homophobic, and inconsiderate content. Not to mention the sex, drugs, and underage drinking. A true advertiser's delight.
    - nebabyte 10y ago
      Honestly, if there were a way for their ads to be displayed there without that being seen as a faux pas (e.g. some fundamental shift in the ad network model that just makes it seem like a consequence of the browsing user's interactions with companies - it wouldn't be 'shockingly viral' news to see that racists/sexists/etc use products too) they probably would not care. Perception is advertisers' only enemy. Once that's taken care of, they really don't care what kind of person you are as long as your money's green.
    - balls187 10y ago
      Doesn't seem to stop Twitter from selling ads.
  - kbos87 10y ago
    Therein lies the problem - even if they figure out how to monetize the audience they have now, "audiences" today are a million times more fickle and temporary. The amount of time a company like this has to recoup losses before it becomes pasé is compressing.
- balls187 10y ago
  Sell ads.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

cocktailpeanuts 10y ago

> One thing I find interesting about this turn of events is that the person shutting the app down is Jack Dorsey Where did you get this idea? From what I read it's just saying they're shutting down and giving their developers a soft landing onto Square, it's not even one of those "acq-hires".