5 ms·
In other words, it's a great time to build the next Squarespace.
by Dowwie 2y ago
In other words, it's a great time to build the next Squarespace.
- pier25 2y agoThere's Wix, Webflow, and others already. Seems pretty crowded.
- msoad 2y agoMost young folks don't understand URLs anymore? "Find us on App Store" or "Find us on Social Media" is the new internet. QR codes that takes you directly into a walled garden is the new web.
- judge2020 2y agoId argue that QR codes are doing pretty well at keeping bespoke URLs alive (although it pains me to see people use qrco.de or other qr code generators that automatically shorten the URL and thus could, at any point, maliciously redirect people to ads or malware instead. I don't see bitly doing this but it's unnecessary risk).
- keane 2y agoI agree, it's sad to see the QR URL redirects which may go offline and are presumably tracking when a pure option is built into the OS: https://education.apple.com/resource/250011714 https://education.apple.com/resource/250011714
- kevinmchugh 2y agoI see people using "linktree" to crosslink all their different social media accounts together and it really bums me out in a way I can't describe.
- rchaud 2y agoLinktree became the go to because social media networks only give you a single link to display on your bio.
- kevinmchugh 2y agoSure, but depending on another single point of failure - as opposed to linking to a url you actually own - is what distresses me
- NewJazz 2y agoAnd they also don't like it when that single link points to onlyfans.
- mschuster91 2y agoWho'd guess why, Onlyfans (and related) spammers are the scourge of the Internet these days.
- barkbyte 2y agoGoogle is the scourge.
- mschuster91 2y agoI don't see OF spammers blasting Google with spam, but I see tons of OF (and other porn) spam on Twitter and Reddit.
- oldandboring 2y agoSeeing the proliferation of Linktree makes me feel bad for the folks like about.me who had this idea years and years ago and never caught fire.
- Andrex 2y agoLinktree seems like the natural evolution of About.me.
- SoftTalker 2y agoRember AOL keywords? Most people never understood URLs.
- PedroBatista 2y agoWhich is a pretty good sign the market is viable. You only need to "be better". And here "better", means eveything on can think of, including NOT spending money.
- airstrike 2y agoSadly that often amounts to being more heavily marketed
- PedroBatista 2y agoThat has been the game, money was "free" and VCs wanted that unicorn status. But that is also a huge liability. When the asteroid came, only the small mammals survived. Of course I'm talking about one way that could possibly lead to a sucessful business. There are many ways, nothing is garanteed but that also applies to failure.
- echelon 2y agoThat means the TAM is fully owned and you have to work that much harder to grab a slice. "Competition is for losers." I suppose if you're really passionate about the space, go ahead, but it's incredibly crowded with dozens of players. Some are even owned by the fintech giants.
- morkalork 2y agoThere's a whole ecosystem of adjacent services-for-SMBs providers in hosting, domains, online advertising etc. and all the companies are running the "commoditize their products complements" playbook. Anyone trying to enter the market is competing against prices that don't even make sense in isolation.
- nraynaud 2y agoI'm curious, have MBAs made anything better for the masses, ever?
- 2y ago
- Kye 2y agoThere's always a crowd of incumbents. They always think they have their little piece locked down. That's what makes it a good time to move.
- makeitdouble 2y agoWould it have gone private if it was such a great business at this moment ? Squarespece looked like a fairly competent company, even as they were perhaps overspending on advertisement. Their competitors don't seem to be doing that much better except for Automattic perhaps.
- sroussey 2y agoYes. Private equity likes cash making business machines.
- rchaud 2y agoLike Sears and Hertz?
- dehrmann 2y agoThere are different strategies. You can buy up dying companies and try to turn them around with management changes (and debt), you can sell off companies for scrap, you can buy up money printing machines and run them hotter.
- lotsofpulp 2y agoJust to show that these bets are not without risk, the Sears bet failed bigtime. Lampert lost a ton of money.
- dehrmann 2y agoPeople love to vilify PE for destroying companies, but a lot of these companies were dying anyway, and PE was trying a last-ditch, high-risk reorg to save them.
- mywittyname 2y agoIt's still possible to make money in this situation. Buy a company, then have it buy itself back using debt. The PE firm gets most of its initial capital investment back then secures a revenue stream in the form of management fees. The company can still go bankrupt, but as long as it sticks around long enough to pay back enough to the parent company that it turned a profit, things worked out. The bond holders can fight over the scraps post-bankruptcy.
- matwood 2y agoWhen PE steps in, it usually means the growth is gone. They are often operators with teams who know how to run a lean business. If Squarespace had some huge growth estimates, PE would not have been able to afford to take them public. So there may be an opportunity, but finding customers and funding will be hard.
- hernansartorio 2y agoI'm on it.