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Investors in Bending Spoons include musician The Weekend, tennis player Andre Agassi, movie star Bradley Cooper, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and director/ac

by cs702 3y ago

Investors in Bending Spoons include musician The Weekend, tennis player Andre Agassi, movie star Bradley Cooper, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and director/actor Taika Waititi, among many other famous people: https://bendingspoons.com/people https://bendingspoons.com/people (scroll to the bottom to see all names). I wonder if any of these illustrious backers are aware of the true business model of Bending Spoons, which can only be described as scammy: 1. Buy apps that have loyal users. 2. Fire all or most of the employees. 3. Update the apps with the most possibly intrusive adware, to milk user data for cash, earning a nice return. Most users will thoughtlessly tap "OK" when asked to agree to the barrage of new permissions requested by the updated apps. The company does other things too, but this is its main business.

mariusmg 3y ago
Wow, even that /people page screams "douchebags".....
- atlasunshrugged 3y ago
  Yes, also I'm not sure I see hiring decisions made by committee as a plus!
  - swozey 3y ago
    That's the Google way. I was referred by 2 people on the team I'd be on but nobody on that team had anything to do with my committee interview. So, instead of the people who know my work (from FOSS projects) it was a random gaggle of Stanford, etc people. I don't have a degree at all so to say I was intimidated and miserable and feeling very judged is an understatement. Even my recruiter there had gone to Stanford and mentioned that her sister went to some other school and looks down at her lowly Stanford. wild place.
    - mistrial9 3y ago
      in older days my artsy friends would call those Stanford etc people "yuppies" or "frat guys/gals" among other things. The culture gap is real since those ordinary graduates did in fact compete and acheive in a certain way to get where they are.. so it is easy and human nature to judge others on the criteria they were judged on.. meanwhile, real skills, talent and sweat are common among the fringy outsiders, along with bad skin, odd clothing choices, low personal skills or other warts... hang in there!
      - swozey 3y ago
        That was actually my first time in SV/SFBay area (just stuck around San Mateo and San Jose) and I hated San Mateo. I'm used to gritty fun towns like Austin and Denver and San Mateo was culture shock. Netflix has the same problem being in Los Gatos, it might be worse there. I remember one of my Uber drivers was getting their PHD in Machine Learning/AI. They must have a huge funnel from Stanford. I'm not sure what other good schools are over there.
  - helsinkiandrew 3y ago
    It always better for possible new hires to be interviewed by as many people in the team/company as possible - if they give feedback, have a veto, is that a committee?
- badosu 3y ago
  "Creator of product topping Hacker News" I can't help but find this funny
- darkwater 3y ago
  Well, the compensation is not that bad for a company headquartered in Milan (Italy) and remote-friendly > Competitive salary and stock options. Our compensation packages are designed to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. Individuals just starting their career joining on a full-time contract are offered a salary of €63,965 along with a €1,200 welfare bonus. If you already have a few years of relevant work experience, you can expect to earn between €105,737 and €143,330, depending on your expertise
- upheaval7276 3y ago
  Complete with cringe-worthy nickname for employees: “spooners”.
CyberDildonics 3y ago
Update the apps with the most possibly intrusive adware, to milk user data for cash, earning a nice return. I think this is every app's business model now.
dylanz 3y ago
Private equity playbook
imaurer 3y ago
How'd they get both Chainsmokers?
ametrau 3y ago
If Apple enables it (by being sloppy with the App Store quality controls for years now) why not?
dehrmann 3y ago
Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.
- BizarroLand 3y ago
  I also like how we are attaching these people to this company as though the Weekend and Taika Watiti sat down and sculpted a plan to get rich by being dickheads. I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while that may be true for other reasons, hides the likely fact that the real POS's here are the stockbrokers.
  - prepend 3y ago
    People need to be aware of their investments. If I buy shares in Phillip Morris, then I better be ok with people smoking cigarettes and everything that entails. Especially if I’m publicly attaching my name with “prepend supports Phillip Morris.” There’s gradations of being a dick, but approving your portfolio managers plan to buy shady companies is still a dick move. So is not being aware of what your portfolio manager buys.
    - BizarroLand 3y ago
      No, you're right, but I think maybe I didn't communicate my thought well. I'm not absolving them of their participation in bendingspoons and other such companies, I'm saying to not forget that it's the soulless portfolio managers that are the minds that move the body of evil. I do blame them for their participation, but not as much as the people offering them the opportunity to profit from the exploitation of others. It's like the Bernie Madoff "victims". A bunch of them were in on it to some degree so they could make a quick buck. I have no more sympathy for them than they do for me. But the majority of the people who both profited and lost from Madoff were people who were letting their 401k retirement plans be managed by a company which were ultimately being used to fund the scheme. Not a one of them likely knew that this was how their money was being used and they are all actually victims. The real jerks are the stockbroker portfolio managers. If they didn't offer to enable rich-jerk douchery for fun and profit, it wouldn't be a thing they were all doing.
simonebrunozzi 3y ago
The most notable acquisition in recent times has been Evernote. They're doing exactly as you are describing.
- smsm42 3y ago
  I've been Evernote user for years, didn't see any ads. Am I not looking in the right place?
  - cs702 3y ago
    The question I would be asking is: How is the new owner of Evernote using my data?
    - smsm42 3y ago
      A sensible concern, but not the one quoted in parent comment, which talked about adware.
      - cs702 3y ago
        Depends on how you define "adware." According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware, Microsoft at one point defined it as "any software that installs itself on your system without your knowledge and displays advertisements when the user browses the Internet." I'm not sure what other term I could/should have used ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by cs702 3y ago

mariusmg 3y ago

Wow, even that /people page screams "douchebags".....

atlasunshrugged 3y ago
Yes, also I'm not sure I see hiring decisions made by committee as a plus!
- swozey 3y ago
  That's the Google way. I was referred by 2 people on the team I'd be on but nobody on that team had anything to do with my committee interview. So, instead of the people who know my work (from FOSS projects) it was a random gaggle of Stanford, etc people. I don't have a degree at all so to say I was intimidated and miserable and feeling very judged is an understatement. Even my recruiter there had gone to Stanford and mentioned that her sister went to some other school and looks down at her lowly Stanford. wild place.
  - mistrial9 3y ago
    in older days my artsy friends would call those Stanford etc people "yuppies" or "frat guys/gals" among other things. The culture gap is real since those ordinary graduates did in fact compete and acheive in a certain way to get where they are.. so it is easy and human nature to judge others on the criteria they were judged on.. meanwhile, real skills, talent and sweat are common among the fringy outsiders, along with bad skin, odd clothing choices, low personal skills or other warts... hang in there!
    - swozey 3y ago
      That was actually my first time in SV/SFBay area (just stuck around San Mateo and San Jose) and I hated San Mateo. I'm used to gritty fun towns like Austin and Denver and San Mateo was culture shock. Netflix has the same problem being in Los Gatos, it might be worse there. I remember one of my Uber drivers was getting their PHD in Machine Learning/AI. They must have a huge funnel from Stanford. I'm not sure what other good schools are over there.
- helsinkiandrew 3y ago
  It always better for possible new hires to be interviewed by as many people in the team/company as possible - if they give feedback, have a veto, is that a committee?
badosu 3y ago
"Creator of product topping Hacker News" I can't help but find this funny
darkwater 3y ago
Well, the compensation is not that bad for a company headquartered in Milan (Italy) and remote-friendly > Competitive salary and stock options. Our compensation packages are designed to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. Individuals just starting their career joining on a full-time contract are offered a salary of €63,965 along with a €1,200 welfare bonus. If you already have a few years of relevant work experience, you can expect to earn between €105,737 and €143,330, depending on your expertise
upheaval7276 3y ago
Complete with cringe-worthy nickname for employees: “spooners”.

CyberDildonics 3y ago

Update the apps with the most possibly intrusive adware, to milk user data for cash, earning a nice return. I think this is every app's business model now.

dylanz 3y ago

Private equity playbook

imaurer 3y ago

How'd they get both Chainsmokers?

ametrau 3y ago

If Apple enables it (by being sloppy with the App Store quality controls for years now) why not?

dehrmann 3y ago

Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.

BizarroLand 3y ago
I also like how we are attaching these people to this company as though the Weekend and Taika Watiti sat down and sculpted a plan to get rich by being dickheads. I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while that may be true for other reasons, hides the likely fact that the real POS's here are the stockbrokers.
- prepend 3y ago
  People need to be aware of their investments. If I buy shares in Phillip Morris, then I better be ok with people smoking cigarettes and everything that entails. Especially if I’m publicly attaching my name with “prepend supports Phillip Morris.” There’s gradations of being a dick, but approving your portfolio managers plan to buy shady companies is still a dick move. So is not being aware of what your portfolio manager buys.
  - BizarroLand 3y ago
    No, you're right, but I think maybe I didn't communicate my thought well. I'm not absolving them of their participation in bendingspoons and other such companies, I'm saying to not forget that it's the soulless portfolio managers that are the minds that move the body of evil. I do blame them for their participation, but not as much as the people offering them the opportunity to profit from the exploitation of others. It's like the Bernie Madoff "victims". A bunch of them were in on it to some degree so they could make a quick buck. I have no more sympathy for them than they do for me. But the majority of the people who both profited and lost from Madoff were people who were letting their 401k retirement plans be managed by a company which were ultimately being used to fund the scheme. Not a one of them likely knew that this was how their money was being used and they are all actually victims. The real jerks are the stockbroker portfolio managers. If they didn't offer to enable rich-jerk douchery for fun and profit, it wouldn't be a thing they were all doing.

simonebrunozzi 3y ago

The most notable acquisition in recent times has been Evernote. They're doing exactly as you are describing.

smsm42 3y ago
I've been Evernote user for years, didn't see any ads. Am I not looking in the right place?
- cs702 3y ago
  The question I would be asking is: How is the new owner of Evernote using my data?
  - smsm42 3y ago
    A sensible concern, but not the one quoted in parent comment, which talked about adware.
    - cs702 3y ago
      Depends on how you define "adware." According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware, Microsoft at one point defined it as "any software that installs itself on your system without your knowledge and displays advertisements when the user browses the Internet." I'm not sure what other term I could/should have used ¯\_(ツ)_/¯