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It would be good to see a post-mortem autopsy of why it failed since it was so hyped and well funded. Or perhaps it might have succeeded in the long run if it

It would be good to see a post-mortem autopsy of why it failed since it was so hyped and well funded. Or perhaps it might have succeeded in the long run if it was not so hyped and well funded?

ignoramous 5y ago
I guess, the hype was around their potential (of annotating all of world's knowledge): https://archive.is/lYGTg https://archive.is/lYGTg Alas, they couldn't achieve it, for one reason or another. Startups (ambitious goals) are hard.
bluedino 5y ago
How is a song lyrics site worth any money? It was one of the most dot-com ideas ever.
- runawaybottle 5y ago
  Their bigger goal was to annotate everything, speeches, congressional bills, etc. I believe one of their founders spazzed out on Vyvanse once (or that’s what he blamed it on): https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/rap-genius-insane/amp/ https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/rap-genius-insane/amp/ ”We take Vyvanse sometimes to turn up, at least I do. One of the reasons is I’m allergic to coffee. But also, you take one of those and it makes you feel so powerful.” “We would do naked Adderall. This is before Y Combinator. It was just a germ. We’d stay there the whole day and work. We’d come up with fun theories. We came up with a theory that if you got a woman pregnant while on Adderall, the baby would be smarter. But only if the woman is also on Adderall.” Lol. I almost interviewed for them, but they insinuated they’d like you to perform a rap song in front of their team. Pretty standard riding the startup-high unrealistic company - all doped up on speed (from their own words, and boy do I believe them).
  - reducesuffering 5y ago
    Absolutely hilarious. If I was doing a startup and looking for funding, I'd be making sure I don't remind Andreesen Horowitz at all of these guys...
- rchaud 5y ago
  Because the money comes entirely from the VCs, who care more about growth than revenue. The goal should be to ride that VC gravy train as long as possible and spare the rest of society their V2.0 "monetized" product.
stefan_ 5y ago
What if annotating things is just not that worthwhile a business?
afavour 5y ago
> since it was so hyped and well funded The funding comes from the hype. So all it takes is for the hype to be overblown for the whole thing to fall apart.

It would be good to see a post-mortem autopsy of why it failed since it was so hyped and well funded. Or perhaps it might have succeeded in the long run if it was not so hyped and well funded?

ignoramous 5y ago

I guess, the hype was around their potential (of annotating all of world's knowledge): https://archive.is/lYGTg https://archive.is/lYGTg Alas, they couldn't achieve it, for one reason or another. Startups (ambitious goals) are hard.

bluedino 5y ago

How is a song lyrics site worth any money? It was one of the most dot-com ideas ever.

runawaybottle 5y ago
Their bigger goal was to annotate everything, speeches, congressional bills, etc. I believe one of their founders spazzed out on Vyvanse once (or that’s what he blamed it on): https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/rap-genius-insane/amp/ https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/rap-genius-insane/amp/ ”We take Vyvanse sometimes to turn up, at least I do. One of the reasons is I’m allergic to coffee. But also, you take one of those and it makes you feel so powerful.” “We would do naked Adderall. This is before Y Combinator. It was just a germ. We’d stay there the whole day and work. We’d come up with fun theories. We came up with a theory that if you got a woman pregnant while on Adderall, the baby would be smarter. But only if the woman is also on Adderall.” Lol. I almost interviewed for them, but they insinuated they’d like you to perform a rap song in front of their team. Pretty standard riding the startup-high unrealistic company - all doped up on speed (from their own words, and boy do I believe them).
- reducesuffering 5y ago
  Absolutely hilarious. If I was doing a startup and looking for funding, I'd be making sure I don't remind Andreesen Horowitz at all of these guys...
rchaud 5y ago
Because the money comes entirely from the VCs, who care more about growth than revenue. The goal should be to ride that VC gravy train as long as possible and spare the rest of society their V2.0 "monetized" product.

stefan_ 5y ago

What if annotating things is just not that worthwhile a business?

afavour 5y ago

> since it was so hyped and well funded The funding comes from the hype. So all it takes is for the hype to be overblown for the whole thing to fall apart.