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I never said Twitter cares about startups' customers panicking, but it cares about being able to make strategically useful acquisitions, like Smyte. And acting
by stupidcar 8y ago
I never said Twitter cares about startups' customers panicking, but it cares about being able to make strategically useful acquisitions, like Smyte. And acting like this makes it harder.
This isn't about people typing furiously on internet forums. This is about business risk, as weighed up by people whose job it is to care. Acquisitions take time and negotiation. Just because a startup is talking to Twitter, doesn't mean the acquisition will definitely happen. But if customers get wind of it, then they may start looking to move elsewhere, anyway, instead of waking up to find services they rely on have been shutdown without warning. If you're the customer of a startup Twitter is negotiating to acquire, then you're negligent not to reduce your reliance on them. And if you're the CEO of that startup, then you have to consider the risk of customer flight (and your own comfort with the thought of screwing them over) vs. the likelihood of the acquisition happening.
- PKop 8y agoBut the very behavior you're talking about... didn't make Smyte not sell. So even they didn't care. Why would anyone else?
- itronitron 8y agoif the Smyte shutdown limits the opportunity of current and future Twitter associated startups, whose business model is to help companies safely navigate the social media landscape, then that sounds like a win-win for Twitter