3 ms·

YC's Xobni: Lessons learned in the last 14 months

32 points by Sam_Odio 19y ago

lkozma 19y ago
Nice story but all that matters is the product you make. So where is it?
- brezina 19y ago
  Desktop software is difficult. Be patient bro, we're even more excited than you are to release to the public.
  - mynameishere 19y ago
    "more excited than you" I'm willing to guess this is true.
crxnamja 19y ago
Vaporware is web 3.0:P Those guys are great, we are rooting for them.
abstractbill 19y ago
I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes out of xobni. I've heard nothing but good things about the team. btw, the blog header doesn't render correctly on FF/ubuntu: http://abstractnonsense.com/xobni-bad-rendering.png http://abstractnonsense.com/xobni-bad-rendering.png
- gaborcselle 19y ago
  abstractbill - thanks for pointing that out! I think it was a browser font size setting vs. div size problem. Should be fixed now. Let me know if you're still seeing this.
  - abstractbill 19y ago
    No problem. Yup, it's fixed now.
webwright 19y ago
Heck, I'd just love a description of what they are building. "take back the inbox"? What does THAT mean? :-) Are they replacing Outlook? Email is certainly a pain point... So I'm rooting for 'em.
nickb 19y ago
Too bad it's a desktop app (it's probably windows only as well which automatically makes it useless to me)... Personally, I haven't used a desktop email client since early 2001 (after losing my laptop and after failing to restore my backup). I prefer to have email online since it's accessible from everywhere and it's backed up (one would hope anyway). But I think what they're building is cool and I hope some of their ideas end up in online email clients.
- gduffy 19y ago
  While we might have reasons to limit our immediate scope, please don't constrain us that much :) Rest assured, we are also users of other platforms and the web.
staunch 19y ago
Thanks to them for being so transparent. I'm definitely interested in seeing what they create and I'm rooting for them. I feel like they're borderline on about 6 of "18 mistakes" though, so I'm a bit skeptical. Upgraded office, slow launch, hiring lots of people pre-launch, devs with a C#/Java background, QA people, product managers, desktop software? Perhaps they'll handle it all well, but those are some red flags to me.
- hello_moto 19y ago
  Why are these "red flags" Devs with C#/Java background a red flag? Why is that? Should they use Ruby or Python for the desktop app that supports Outlook as a plugin instead of C#? If they haven't launched and they got financial backing (huge), that means they have a solid business model that's important
  - webwright 19y ago
    Financial backing means that they have a solid business model? Urm, I don't think that's true. All it really means is that some VCs think it has huge growth potential.
    - hello_moto 19y ago
      So let me see. Xobni showed Khosla people that they have some "cool" desktop app (or plugin, whatever) and Khosla Ventures love it and thought that it has a huge growth potential so they gave them money (in the area of millions). I think that's 1/3 of the whole story. I'm guessing they also show their business model (or at least business plan). Think about it carefully, this isn't YAW2.0 (Yet Another Web 2.0). This is a desktop app (or plugin). It's not like you can throw in the wild and put Ads. And remember, these guys are playing in Microsoft backyard.
  - staunch 19y ago
    Perhaps they do need to use C#/Java for their desktop software but that doesn't mean they need a "Software Engineer with a C#/Java background". Taken in the context of them hiring Product Managers and QA people it seems like a red flag to me.
awt 19y ago
Man. I wish I could build hype like these guys can.
- neuro 19y ago
  Throw enough money at it, and you too can have it.
falsestprophet 19y ago
wtf? People from Boston eat at Boston Market?
Mistone 19y ago
this is a great story straight from the founders. My key takeaway was its going to take longer than you thought. And don't underestimate the legal/admin costs and time. Not sure why they need 3,200 sq ft. of class A office space, they obviously have a big vision that investors are jazzed about

32 points by Sam_Odio 19y ago

lkozma 19y ago

Nice story but all that matters is the product you make. So where is it?

brezina 19y ago
Desktop software is difficult. Be patient bro, we're even more excited than you are to release to the public.
- mynameishere 19y ago
  "more excited than you" I'm willing to guess this is true.

crxnamja 19y ago

Vaporware is web 3.0:P Those guys are great, we are rooting for them.

abstractbill 19y ago

I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes out of xobni. I've heard nothing but good things about the team. btw, the blog header doesn't render correctly on FF/ubuntu: http://abstractnonsense.com/xobni-bad-rendering.png http://abstractnonsense.com/xobni-bad-rendering.png

gaborcselle 19y ago
abstractbill - thanks for pointing that out! I think it was a browser font size setting vs. div size problem. Should be fixed now. Let me know if you're still seeing this.
- abstractbill 19y ago
  No problem. Yup, it's fixed now.

webwright 19y ago

Heck, I'd just love a description of what they are building. "take back the inbox"? What does THAT mean? :-) Are they replacing Outlook? Email is certainly a pain point... So I'm rooting for 'em.

nickb 19y ago

Too bad it's a desktop app (it's probably windows only as well which automatically makes it useless to me)... Personally, I haven't used a desktop email client since early 2001 (after losing my laptop and after failing to restore my backup). I prefer to have email online since it's accessible from everywhere and it's backed up (one would hope anyway). But I think what they're building is cool and I hope some of their ideas end up in online email clients.

gduffy 19y ago
While we might have reasons to limit our immediate scope, please don't constrain us that much :) Rest assured, we are also users of other platforms and the web.

staunch 19y ago

Thanks to them for being so transparent. I'm definitely interested in seeing what they create and I'm rooting for them. I feel like they're borderline on about 6 of "18 mistakes" though, so I'm a bit skeptical. Upgraded office, slow launch, hiring lots of people pre-launch, devs with a C#/Java background, QA people, product managers, desktop software? Perhaps they'll handle it all well, but those are some red flags to me.

hello_moto 19y ago
Why are these "red flags" Devs with C#/Java background a red flag? Why is that? Should they use Ruby or Python for the desktop app that supports Outlook as a plugin instead of C#? If they haven't launched and they got financial backing (huge), that means they have a solid business model that's important
- webwright 19y ago
  Financial backing means that they have a solid business model? Urm, I don't think that's true. All it really means is that some VCs think it has huge growth potential.
  - hello_moto 19y ago
    So let me see. Xobni showed Khosla people that they have some "cool" desktop app (or plugin, whatever) and Khosla Ventures love it and thought that it has a huge growth potential so they gave them money (in the area of millions). I think that's 1/3 of the whole story. I'm guessing they also show their business model (or at least business plan). Think about it carefully, this isn't YAW2.0 (Yet Another Web 2.0). This is a desktop app (or plugin). It's not like you can throw in the wild and put Ads. And remember, these guys are playing in Microsoft backyard.
- staunch 19y ago
  Perhaps they do need to use C#/Java for their desktop software but that doesn't mean they need a "Software Engineer with a C#/Java background". Taken in the context of them hiring Product Managers and QA people it seems like a red flag to me.

awt 19y ago

Man. I wish I could build hype like these guys can.

neuro 19y ago
Throw enough money at it, and you too can have it.

falsestprophet 19y ago

wtf? People from Boston eat at Boston Market?

Mistone 19y ago

this is a great story straight from the founders. My key takeaway was its going to take longer than you thought. And don't underestimate the legal/admin costs and time. Not sure why they need 3,200 sq ft. of class A office space, they obviously have a big vision that investors are jazzed about