5 ms·

Google acquires TalkBin (YC W11)

131 points by qasar 15y ago

JofArnold 15y ago
Team + execution + market + timing + deep knowledge of the vertical = epic win. Congrats guys! It's been a pleasure watching it happen.
- practicalUser 15y ago
  this comment doesn't really tell me much.. A + B + C + D etc...
mynameisraj 15y ago
Congrats guys! It's been a pleasure working with you.
sahillavingia 15y ago
I tried so hard to invest in you guys. At least it validates my thinking. Congratulations! :)
- allanscu 15y ago
  There will be a lot more opportunities. At least your gut told you they were a winner. Now ask your gut to go pick the next one (and tell me what it is.)
  - sahillavingia 15y ago
    Email me and I'll give away all my secrets. :)
jetaries 15y ago
Congrats guys!! First exit in the batch.
Timothee 15y ago
Does anybody know where the founders come from? if they were known from before? Asking because it sounds like Google was after the team more than anything… 5 months doesn't leave much time for them to prove what they're capable of, so I'm curious.
- gsharma 15y ago
  I believe one of the founders worked @ Google in the past.
- gunthere 15y ago
  This was not just a team play. I saw Talkbin signs in Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto - immediately understood the concept and potential. I sent a text to the owner and received a response within 10 minutes. Talkbin if I understood it correctly is enabling us all to "talk with" the store managers or workers via text and mobile app. It's actually a very powerful communication vehicle and right up Google's ally.
  - cyen 15y ago
    Mobile's going to be an increasingly interesting strategy with local businesses. When these owners and workers are running their business, they're not running into the back room to check computers or laptops or websites - but they do have their phones and can often step aside to respond to a quick SMS. I imagine Talkbin has caught on to this - lots of other startups don't seem to - and this really feels like a product where everyone benefits in the end.
  - prpon 15y ago
    It's a great idea. A complaining customer can probably get hold of a manager quicker this way than by causing ruckus and looking like an idiot. Lots of interesting possibilities like integrating testimonials to a tv screen or social media sites.
  - gvnonor 15y ago
    Small nitpick..I think you meant alley instead of ally.
jw84 15y ago
The name escapes me right now but there was a YC company from way back when that was doing something similar, a feedback mechanism for restaurants and SMBs. Except they were going at it before iPhone explosion and opted to design their own custom software running on Nokia hardware. Anyone remember what happened to them?
citizenkeys 15y ago
Congrats to these guys! These guys were stealth from funding to acquisition. Seems like this will be the Google equivalent of Yelp.
- vikramhaer 15y ago
  I see them less as an equivalent to yelp and more as a way of providing instant feedback to business owners. It seems more a feedback system than a review site. I haven't had the chance to try it out though so this is based purely on what I've read about them.
  - citizenkeys 15y ago
    Yeah... your comment clarified this for me. "Reviews" are intended for other (potential) customers. "Feedback" is intended for the business itself. Prior to TalkBin, customers left reviews on Yelp/Foursquare/etc and hoped the business itself looked at it once in awhile. TalkBin makes the feedback process more direct.
  - rhizome 15y ago
    There's a back-end to Yelp, Groupon and all of the "pre-sale aid" models out there. Foursquare and their cohorts move it forward in time a bit to reflect "I'm here," or sellING. For a pedestrian example, think of the times you've called your cellphone or power company and the recording on the phone tells you to have the helper send you to a satisfaction survey. Now transpose that to proximity services: you leave a restaurant and your phone pops up, "Thanks for visiting! Care to tell us how we did?" ...which is then popped-up to the manager. Googlers are smarter than me, so I'm sure they have more nuanced and lubricative plans, but you get the idea. Yelp deals with what you're planning or where you've been, bracketing your experience, and the coupon services act as nudges against your retail future. 'Long as you keep checking your phone, that is. The pot of gold I feel is to reflect where the user will actually go (determination). This is where recommendation engines become useful: to (try to) tell the user where they're going to go. "Rhizome, there's a Taco Bell on the next block. I KNOW YOU LOVE TACO BELL" The user's time and attention is getting pinched at all times for these services to pull information about where the user is in the retail thought process, and maybe Yelp will have their reactionary review model knocked from under them when recording the reaction takes much less effort on the user's part. Then again, maybe this is all cynical and evil on my part. I don't know. ;)
rmorrison 15y ago
Congrats guys!
nhangen 15y ago
Impressive day for YC. Very impressed with how deep their vision is in seeing companies with exit potential.
rkalvi 15y ago
Congrats Qasar and Guys! I think all things aside, talkbin worked because of two simple reasons that are not usually evident : People like to give feedback. Businesses want feedback. I remember how they started with the idea to give coupons to entice folks and how they realized people simply want to give feedback. Great Execution guys!
allanscu 15y ago
Congratulations!
greatreorx 15y ago
Anyone know how they were planning on getting revenue? I know that can sometimes be a snarky question, but this seems like a good idea and I'm genuinely curious... especially because it looks like they launched as a free service. Were they thinking this is something that a small business owner would eventually pay $5-20/month for?
- southpolesteve 15y ago
  I don't think its snarky to ask a business how they plan to generate revenue.
alain94040 15y ago
If you read between the lines, Google's announcement focuses on the team and says "the team", not the product will be a great addition to Google. Similarly, the TalkBin announcement uses words like "While we are proud of what we accomplished ... Google will help us make our bigger goals a reality". Both sides know the product is dead. I guess Google is acquring the talent and the concepts.
- pg 15y ago
  Actually from what I've heard that's not the case. As I often find myself saying on HN, if you're going to be nasty, you'd better be right. Though honestly, why be nasty at all? These guys are celebrating. Why post comments belittling their achievement?
  - davidw 15y ago
    While I'm sure everyone here is happy for them (and you, their backers), I think it's also natural to be inquisitive as to the nature of the acquisition. alain94040's post might have benefited from a more curious and less categorical tone, but I don't think it was fundamentally 'nasty' either, as it's common knowledge that many products do not really continue to exist once in Google. Of the YC companies that have gone to Google, what were their products, and those products' fates inside Google? (Not a rhetorical question, the subject got me interested; maybe I'm wrong in my 'common knowledge'). Edit: something else interesting to look at, utilizing your own data, might be the acquisition price vs the product's fate. In any event, it's good news, and the team deserve congratulations.
    - nchlswu 15y ago
      I'm curious if the organizational changes at Google will have any change for product acquisitions and how they fare inside Google going forward.
  - crocowhile 15y ago
    I'd rather be acquired for my personality than for my product, actually. That's what you do too, right? You always say that you'll fund the team, not the product.
gg_ 15y ago
Am I missing something, or is TalkBin pretty much a clone of Skweal (http://skweal.com http://skweal.com)?
- tiomka 15y ago
  Google bought 3 engineers, not a business that has relationships with vendors, that Skweal is acquiring. Not sure if you can solve social problems with more code.

131 points by qasar 15y ago

Team + execution + market + timing + deep knowledge of the vertical = epic win. Congrats guys! It's been a pleasure watching it happen.

practicalUser 15y ago
this comment doesn't really tell me much.. A + B + C + D etc...

mynameisraj 15y ago

Congrats guys! It's been a pleasure working with you.

sahillavingia 15y ago

I tried so hard to invest in you guys. At least it validates my thinking. Congratulations! :)

allanscu 15y ago
There will be a lot more opportunities. At least your gut told you they were a winner. Now ask your gut to go pick the next one (and tell me what it is.)
- sahillavingia 15y ago
  Email me and I'll give away all my secrets. :)

jetaries 15y ago

Congrats guys!! First exit in the batch.

Timothee 15y ago

Does anybody know where the founders come from? if they were known from before? Asking because it sounds like Google was after the team more than anything… 5 months doesn't leave much time for them to prove what they're capable of, so I'm curious.

gsharma 15y ago
I believe one of the founders worked @ Google in the past.
gunthere 15y ago
This was not just a team play. I saw Talkbin signs in Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto - immediately understood the concept and potential. I sent a text to the owner and received a response within 10 minutes. Talkbin if I understood it correctly is enabling us all to "talk with" the store managers or workers via text and mobile app. It's actually a very powerful communication vehicle and right up Google's ally.
- cyen 15y ago
  Mobile's going to be an increasingly interesting strategy with local businesses. When these owners and workers are running their business, they're not running into the back room to check computers or laptops or websites - but they do have their phones and can often step aside to respond to a quick SMS. I imagine Talkbin has caught on to this - lots of other startups don't seem to - and this really feels like a product where everyone benefits in the end.
- prpon 15y ago
  It's a great idea. A complaining customer can probably get hold of a manager quicker this way than by causing ruckus and looking like an idiot. Lots of interesting possibilities like integrating testimonials to a tv screen or social media sites.
- gvnonor 15y ago
  Small nitpick..I think you meant alley instead of ally.

jw84 15y ago

The name escapes me right now but there was a YC company from way back when that was doing something similar, a feedback mechanism for restaurants and SMBs. Except they were going at it before iPhone explosion and opted to design their own custom software running on Nokia hardware. Anyone remember what happened to them?

citizenkeys 15y ago

Congrats to these guys! These guys were stealth from funding to acquisition. Seems like this will be the Google equivalent of Yelp.

vikramhaer 15y ago
I see them less as an equivalent to yelp and more as a way of providing instant feedback to business owners. It seems more a feedback system than a review site. I haven't had the chance to try it out though so this is based purely on what I've read about them.
- citizenkeys 15y ago
  Yeah... your comment clarified this for me. "Reviews" are intended for other (potential) customers. "Feedback" is intended for the business itself. Prior to TalkBin, customers left reviews on Yelp/Foursquare/etc and hoped the business itself looked at it once in awhile. TalkBin makes the feedback process more direct.
- rhizome 15y ago
  There's a back-end to Yelp, Groupon and all of the "pre-sale aid" models out there. Foursquare and their cohorts move it forward in time a bit to reflect "I'm here," or sellING. For a pedestrian example, think of the times you've called your cellphone or power company and the recording on the phone tells you to have the helper send you to a satisfaction survey. Now transpose that to proximity services: you leave a restaurant and your phone pops up, "Thanks for visiting! Care to tell us how we did?" ...which is then popped-up to the manager. Googlers are smarter than me, so I'm sure they have more nuanced and lubricative plans, but you get the idea. Yelp deals with what you're planning or where you've been, bracketing your experience, and the coupon services act as nudges against your retail future. 'Long as you keep checking your phone, that is. The pot of gold I feel is to reflect where the user will actually go (determination). This is where recommendation engines become useful: to (try to) tell the user where they're going to go. "Rhizome, there's a Taco Bell on the next block. I KNOW YOU LOVE TACO BELL" The user's time and attention is getting pinched at all times for these services to pull information about where the user is in the retail thought process, and maybe Yelp will have their reactionary review model knocked from under them when recording the reaction takes much less effort on the user's part. Then again, maybe this is all cynical and evil on my part. I don't know. ;)

rmorrison 15y ago

Congrats guys!

nhangen 15y ago

Impressive day for YC. Very impressed with how deep their vision is in seeing companies with exit potential.

rkalvi 15y ago

Congrats Qasar and Guys! I think all things aside, talkbin worked because of two simple reasons that are not usually evident : People like to give feedback. Businesses want feedback. I remember how they started with the idea to give coupons to entice folks and how they realized people simply want to give feedback. Great Execution guys!

allanscu 15y ago

Congratulations!

greatreorx 15y ago

Anyone know how they were planning on getting revenue? I know that can sometimes be a snarky question, but this seems like a good idea and I'm genuinely curious... especially because it looks like they launched as a free service. Were they thinking this is something that a small business owner would eventually pay $5-20/month for?

southpolesteve 15y ago
I don't think its snarky to ask a business how they plan to generate revenue.

alain94040 15y ago

If you read between the lines, Google's announcement focuses on the team and says "the team", not the product will be a great addition to Google. Similarly, the TalkBin announcement uses words like "While we are proud of what we accomplished ... Google will help us make our bigger goals a reality". Both sides know the product is dead. I guess Google is acquring the talent and the concepts.

pg 15y ago
Actually from what I've heard that's not the case. As I often find myself saying on HN, if you're going to be nasty, you'd better be right. Though honestly, why be nasty at all? These guys are celebrating. Why post comments belittling their achievement?
- davidw 15y ago
  While I'm sure everyone here is happy for them (and you, their backers), I think it's also natural to be inquisitive as to the nature of the acquisition. alain94040's post might have benefited from a more curious and less categorical tone, but I don't think it was fundamentally 'nasty' either, as it's common knowledge that many products do not really continue to exist once in Google. Of the YC companies that have gone to Google, what were their products, and those products' fates inside Google? (Not a rhetorical question, the subject got me interested; maybe I'm wrong in my 'common knowledge'). Edit: something else interesting to look at, utilizing your own data, might be the acquisition price vs the product's fate. In any event, it's good news, and the team deserve congratulations.
  - nchlswu 15y ago
    I'm curious if the organizational changes at Google will have any change for product acquisitions and how they fare inside Google going forward.
- crocowhile 15y ago
  I'd rather be acquired for my personality than for my product, actually. That's what you do too, right? You always say that you'll fund the team, not the product.

gg_ 15y ago

Am I missing something, or is TalkBin pretty much a clone of Skweal (http://skweal.com http://skweal.com)?

tiomka 15y ago
Google bought 3 engineers, not a business that has relationships with vendors, that Skweal is acquiring. Not sure if you can solve social problems with more code.