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I am, self admittedly, completely out of touch with the start up culture. I work outside of it and have no experience in it. I simply can't understand how Pulse

I am, self admittedly, completely out of touch with the start up culture. I work outside of it and have no experience in it. I simply can't understand how Pulse has raised 4.7 million dollars to create automated slack status updates. Even more, I can't understand why Pulse has made three acquisitions earlier this year, with that 4.7 million dollars, in order to accomplish that goal.

arglebargle123 4y ago
Playing growth and acquisition games to massage metrics and make the company look better to VCs or private equity most likely.
freefaler 4y ago
Cheap capital and VC funds employees that are compensated on how many investments they've made. (or they're penalized for not allocating the fund under management) Sometimes it's best to check the incentives to understand why people behive in a non-logical way. Also can be a sneaky way to steal some money from the company, by acquiring something meaningless. I've heard about 2 such cases.
snotrockets 4y ago
They didn't. Or rather, they probably didn't raise those $4.7m to create automated Slack updates, but to solve a problem they think enough future customer are (or would be) having. You have to distinguish deliverable (software) from product (problem-solving offering).
cheeseblubber 4y ago
Most companies have humble beginnings and it is difficult to tell which companies will be giant. A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago. Or a company that live stream's the life of a single person 24/7 (Justin.tv/Twitch.tv) also seemed ridiculous to be a billion dollar company.
- SahAssar 4y ago
  > A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago No, couchsurfing (the site) had already proven the market for staying in other peoples homes and airbnb was similar but with payment. > live stream's the life of a single person 24/7 IIRC justin.tv did not take in funding until they were already building a platform for others to livestream on. Their funding was not for just justins stream.

arglebargle123 4y ago

Playing growth and acquisition games to massage metrics and make the company look better to VCs or private equity most likely.

freefaler 4y ago

Cheap capital and VC funds employees that are compensated on how many investments they've made. (or they're penalized for not allocating the fund under management) Sometimes it's best to check the incentives to understand why people behive in a non-logical way. Also can be a sneaky way to steal some money from the company, by acquiring something meaningless. I've heard about 2 such cases.

snotrockets 4y ago

They didn't. Or rather, they probably didn't raise those $4.7m to create automated Slack updates, but to solve a problem they think enough future customer are (or would be) having. You have to distinguish deliverable (software) from product (problem-solving offering).

cheeseblubber 4y ago

Most companies have humble beginnings and it is difficult to tell which companies will be giant. A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago. Or a company that live stream's the life of a single person 24/7 (Justin.tv/Twitch.tv) also seemed ridiculous to be a billion dollar company.

SahAssar 4y ago
> A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago No, couchsurfing (the site) had already proven the market for staying in other peoples homes and airbnb was similar but with payment. > live stream's the life of a single person 24/7 IIRC justin.tv did not take in funding until they were already building a platform for others to livestream on. Their funding was not for just justins stream.