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The idea isn't particularly unique and it wasn't particularly well executed when the first version was built but with the investment he was able to hire some ta

The idea isn't particularly unique and it wasn't particularly well executed when the first version was built but with the investment he was able to hire some talented people and from what I've seen the application (as is available now) is excellent, however it seems that he is now primarily their advertising vehicle. He's being used to market the app and it's certainly working, it's getting them huge amounts of press compared to the other companies in the same space. Stephen Fry is in the advertisement video for Summly, he tweeted it to his ~5 million followers: https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/264066858225905664 https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/264066858225905664 The Summly team: http://summly.com/about.html http://summly.com/about.html edit: oh apparently Stephen Fry is an investor, that explains the "free" video. edit edit: I wonder how he feels about his age being such a huge part of the stories now, back in August 2011 he said this: So he kept it under wraps. "It was a conscious decision to not disclose my age to Apple and the media," he says, because he wanted "Trimit to be judged on its own merit, and not the story of its creator being 15." From: http://www.fastcompany.com/1772823/15-year-old-creator-trimit-app-makes-regular-old-entrepreneurs-seem-slackers http://www.fastcompany.com/1772823/15-year-old-creator-trimi...

brackin 14y ago
Exactly, to all of the people worrying about the fact that he's 16. I don't think it's really him doing much of it. I've seen these deals happen before, where an investor gives someone some money, brings in their executive team and outsources development. If you look at the list on the about section about five agencies and freelancer teams are working on the app. I've met a few people that are over the last few days. They are basing it on his age (Nothing wrong with that) because they seem to have a huge agency or press team working to get two BBC headline's and coverage in all of the big publications. The worry with this is if all fails and the app doesn't take off (As it didn't the first time and with most companies) will they all stick around and will the investors put more in? This is why I don't particularly like this model. All the best to him and the team though. I'll be interested to see how it goes.
petercooper 14y ago
On the latter point, that's just playing coy. If you have an advantage that people might criticize, you play it down while still revealing it. It's the old "I'm not going to talk about [fact]" (but you just said it!) rhetorical device.
- Centigonal 14y ago
  It'd probably be obnoxious for me to mention here that the word you're looking for is "paralipsis," so I won't.
  - petercooper 14y ago
    I have a horrible memory for these terms so I both appreciate your humor and helpfulness ;-)

brackin 14y ago

Exactly, to all of the people worrying about the fact that he's 16. I don't think it's really him doing much of it. I've seen these deals happen before, where an investor gives someone some money, brings in their executive team and outsources development. If you look at the list on the about section about five agencies and freelancer teams are working on the app. I've met a few people that are over the last few days. They are basing it on his age (Nothing wrong with that) because they seem to have a huge agency or press team working to get two BBC headline's and coverage in all of the big publications. The worry with this is if all fails and the app doesn't take off (As it didn't the first time and with most companies) will they all stick around and will the investors put more in? This is why I don't particularly like this model. All the best to him and the team though. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

petercooper 14y ago

On the latter point, that's just playing coy. If you have an advantage that people might criticize, you play it down while still revealing it. It's the old "I'm not going to talk about [fact]" (but you just said it!) rhetorical device.

Centigonal 14y ago
It'd probably be obnoxious for me to mention here that the word you're looking for is "paralipsis," so I won't.
- petercooper 14y ago
  I have a horrible memory for these terms so I both appreciate your humor and helpfulness ;-)