4 ms·

Ebay Acquires Milo For $75 Million

45 points by jlhamilton 16y ago

jaybol 16y ago
There is something in the ventilation system on University Ave that breeds success. Congrats to Milo!
- candre717 16y ago
  From the article, it looks like Milo wanted to sell quickly before Google ate their lunch. I don't think Milo's leadership intended to sell the company at this stage of its existence. From an article the CEO did almost a year ago, I think it wanted to be like Ebay or Google, not be prematurely bought by one of them: "About a year later, I saw 165 University Avenue for rent. I knew I had to have the space. It’s the same building that housed Google, PayPal, Danger, and Logitech. We moved in and have grown from 2 to 10 employees since then. Milo.com, which started out as an idea in an apartment, now has over 1 million unique visitors!" http://under30ceo.com/jack-abraham-has-taken-milo-com-from-idea-to-over-1-million-monthly-visitors/ http://under30ceo.com/jack-abraham-has-taken-milo-com-from-i...
defen 16y ago
This is going to do wonders for Ted Dziuba's ego.
- zach 16y ago
  His tweet of the announcement is, characteristically, more entertaining than the one in the article from the CEO: http://twitter.com/dozba/status/10401328010366976 http://twitter.com/dozba/status/10401328010366976
- frisco 16y ago
  I just discovered Ted Dziuba through your post. This is incredible. He's like a mini Zed Shaw. http://teddziuba.com/2008/04/im-going-to-scale-my-foot-up-y.html http://teddziuba.com/2008/04/im-going-to-scale-my-foot-up-y.... http://teddziuba.com/2009/09/twisted-vs-tornado-youre-both.html http://teddziuba.com/2009/09/twisted-vs-tornado-youre-both.h... http://teddziuba.com/2008/11/avoiding-nlp-at-all-costs.html http://teddziuba.com/2008/11/avoiding-nlp-at-all-costs.html
- tedjdziuba 16y ago
  This just goes to show that there's exactly zero consequence to running your mouth off on the internet. Posting this from like my sixth HN account because I keep getting banned for trolling.
  - aditya 16y ago
    Maybe you should stop?
  - bigiain 16y ago
    I dunno, there's a big difference between "running your mouth off on the internet", and "running your mouth off on the internet, often being right and at least having solid supporting arguments when controversial". I don't mind people being opinionated, or even wrong - if they also demonstrate they've thought about the subject at hand. Extra credit when people are controversial and entertaining at the same time. Congrats on the sale Ted, I hope it works out well and was what you wanted - and keep on entertaining (at least some of us) with your public persona/writing.
  - justin_vanw 16y ago
    Well, maybe the consequence is getting bought out by eBay there, minized.
RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
Multiple sources: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963247 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963247 - milo.com http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963126 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963126 - vator.tv http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963125 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963125 - techcrunch.com (this one) No doubt we'll see more as all the usual suspects pick up the story.
zach 16y ago
This is one of those companies I actually really wanted to see get bought out by a large player. Milo is a good site but has nearly reached the boundary of what they can offer at their current scale. They seem to have a decent interface to all the major retailers which offer reasonable inventory access to them. The next stage will require a lot more business development, data pushing and marketing. As a user, I can't wait to see the results. Congrats to the Milo team.
stevenp 16y ago
I hope that adorable real-life dog that they based their logo on is going to get some sort of diamond collar, or a dinosaur bone of some sort for this. It's rare that a cute pet makes a good logo. :)
- jaybol 16y ago
  A conveyor belt will deliver him filet mignon at a rate of one per minute
  - lgas 16y ago
    And that's just the beginning.
Kalob 16y ago
Ha, eBay has it's own local product search now. Google does too. Amazon doesn't, Facebook doesn't, Yahoo and Microsoft? Nope. I smell more acquisitions. Krillion (old), Retailigence(new), Goodzer (brand new). Who's next?
dstein 16y ago
bootstrapped with ONLY $5 million in venture capital investment! Sometimes I wonder if Techcrunch understands the buzzwords they write.
- mwerty 16y ago
  I think they mean in relation to the exit.

45 points by jlhamilton 16y ago

jaybol 16y ago

There is something in the ventilation system on University Ave that breeds success. Congrats to Milo!

candre717 16y ago
From the article, it looks like Milo wanted to sell quickly before Google ate their lunch. I don't think Milo's leadership intended to sell the company at this stage of its existence. From an article the CEO did almost a year ago, I think it wanted to be like Ebay or Google, not be prematurely bought by one of them: "About a year later, I saw 165 University Avenue for rent. I knew I had to have the space. It’s the same building that housed Google, PayPal, Danger, and Logitech. We moved in and have grown from 2 to 10 employees since then. Milo.com, which started out as an idea in an apartment, now has over 1 million unique visitors!" http://under30ceo.com/jack-abraham-has-taken-milo-com-from-idea-to-over-1-million-monthly-visitors/ http://under30ceo.com/jack-abraham-has-taken-milo-com-from-i...

defen 16y ago

This is going to do wonders for Ted Dziuba's ego.

zach 16y ago
His tweet of the announcement is, characteristically, more entertaining than the one in the article from the CEO: http://twitter.com/dozba/status/10401328010366976 http://twitter.com/dozba/status/10401328010366976
frisco 16y ago
I just discovered Ted Dziuba through your post. This is incredible. He's like a mini Zed Shaw. http://teddziuba.com/2008/04/im-going-to-scale-my-foot-up-y.html http://teddziuba.com/2008/04/im-going-to-scale-my-foot-up-y.... http://teddziuba.com/2009/09/twisted-vs-tornado-youre-both.html http://teddziuba.com/2009/09/twisted-vs-tornado-youre-both.h... http://teddziuba.com/2008/11/avoiding-nlp-at-all-costs.html http://teddziuba.com/2008/11/avoiding-nlp-at-all-costs.html
tedjdziuba 16y ago
This just goes to show that there's exactly zero consequence to running your mouth off on the internet. Posting this from like my sixth HN account because I keep getting banned for trolling.
- aditya 16y ago
  Maybe you should stop?
- bigiain 16y ago
  I dunno, there's a big difference between "running your mouth off on the internet", and "running your mouth off on the internet, often being right and at least having solid supporting arguments when controversial". I don't mind people being opinionated, or even wrong - if they also demonstrate they've thought about the subject at hand. Extra credit when people are controversial and entertaining at the same time. Congrats on the sale Ted, I hope it works out well and was what you wanted - and keep on entertaining (at least some of us) with your public persona/writing.
- justin_vanw 16y ago
  Well, maybe the consequence is getting bought out by eBay there, minized.

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago

Multiple sources: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963247 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963247 - milo.com http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963126 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963126 - vator.tv http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963125 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1963125 - techcrunch.com (this one) No doubt we'll see more as all the usual suspects pick up the story.

zach 16y ago

This is one of those companies I actually really wanted to see get bought out by a large player. Milo is a good site but has nearly reached the boundary of what they can offer at their current scale. They seem to have a decent interface to all the major retailers which offer reasonable inventory access to them. The next stage will require a lot more business development, data pushing and marketing. As a user, I can't wait to see the results. Congrats to the Milo team.

stevenp 16y ago

I hope that adorable real-life dog that they based their logo on is going to get some sort of diamond collar, or a dinosaur bone of some sort for this. It's rare that a cute pet makes a good logo. :)

jaybol 16y ago
A conveyor belt will deliver him filet mignon at a rate of one per minute
- lgas 16y ago
  And that's just the beginning.

Kalob 16y ago

Ha, eBay has it's own local product search now. Google does too. Amazon doesn't, Facebook doesn't, Yahoo and Microsoft? Nope. I smell more acquisitions. Krillion (old), Retailigence(new), Goodzer (brand new). Who's next?

dstein 16y ago

bootstrapped with ONLY $5 million in venture capital investment! Sometimes I wonder if Techcrunch understands the buzzwords they write.

mwerty 16y ago
I think they mean in relation to the exit.