4 ms·

Team Apart (YC S08) wants to eat Webex's lunch

55 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

whather 17y ago
Hey guys, I have 50 invites for hacker news. First come, first serve: http://teamapart.com/signup/hackernews http://teamapart.com/signup/hackernews
- datsro 17y ago
  wow these are going fast.
  - ajtaylor 17y ago
    They're gone now. :-(
pclark 17y ago
> The Team Apart founders were members of Y Combinator’s class of Summer ‘08, though the company has moved on to an entirely new project than the one they were initially working on while at YC is this the new project?
- webwright 17y ago
  I always kinda wonder about the mechanics of the new idea after YC (with the same team). Given that PG says, "the idea will oftentimes change", are these new ideas under the banner of the same company? In other words, are they still YC companies and does YC still have equity? I suppose removing YC from the equation is as simple as getting a new biz license, but what are the "rules" here?
  - pclark 17y ago
    if I'd been thru YC and changed my idea massively I'd fight hard to maintain YC with my company.
    - rokhayakebe 17y ago
      I don't think they massively changed their idea. They demoed a few months back with a nearly identical product.
  - carterschonwald 17y ago
    I think it works roughly as: if its a different business entity, then unless ownership in the previous entity is converted over in some fashion, YC has no equity stake in the new business
    - webwright 17y ago
      Heh, I know how it legally works. A $25 biz license and you're free of YC, theoretically. I guess I was wondering more about what the appropriate thing to do here is and what YC expects to happen. I personally would try hard to keep YC's skin in the game (though I might try to re-apply to YC just to get access to the demo day).
  - dannyr 17y ago
    Based on whather's previous submission, it looks like their previous startup is Meetcast which seems similar to TeamApart. "Meetcast.com makes real-time online collaboration easy. There are no downloads, everything is completely in the browser and conferences can be created and joined with a single click."
    - rokhayakebe 17y ago
      The product is the same.
  - ivankirigin 17y ago
    You can't just take the assets of the company and give them to another. I think that would require some kind of asset transfer or purchase, which could involve the preferred stock holders. That's just a guess.
- pg 17y ago
  No, TechCrunch somehow misunderstood what was going on. It's the same company, and the same project.
- ghempton 17y ago
  This is the same project and we are still YC '08. The TC article is erroneous due to some confusion with the re-branding.
chollida1 17y ago
> Entering a meeting involves simply clicking a link — there’s no plugin needed (it’s based on Flash) and the service is free. Isn't Flash a plugin? My iPhone browser seems to think so.
- yequalsx 17y ago
  Flash is sufficiently ubiquitous that only requiring users to have Flash shouldn't be considered needing a plugin. Most browsers are ready to go. (I have nothing to do with this company.)
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- jasonkester 17y ago
  That was our thought with Twiddla (which will work on your iPhone, by the way). Flash just adds too much pain for the amount of benefit it gives an app like this. You gain ease of development for some of the graphical stuff, but you lose the ability to overlay it over something else (like a document), the ability to pull in external plugins, and worst of all, you lose the right-click. I wish these guys luck (they don't compete with us directly), but I sort of wonder why go with Flash when it's been proven that you don't need it for something like this?
dmix 17y ago
Are they really competing with webex? If their competing with webex they'd need a sales team to reach mainstream businesses. And (experienced) salesman don't sell free web apps. Either way its a great technology, it worked well back when it was called Meetcast.
- whather 17y ago
  Thanks! We're not direct competitors with webex as we're more geared towards many-to-many meetings where everyone collaborates with each other rather than one-to-many sales presentations.

55 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

Hey guys, I have 50 invites for hacker news. First come, first serve: http://teamapart.com/signup/hackernews http://teamapart.com/signup/hackernews

datsro 17y ago
wow these are going fast.
- ajtaylor 17y ago
  They're gone now. :-(

pclark 17y ago

> The Team Apart founders were members of Y Combinator’s class of Summer ‘08, though the company has moved on to an entirely new project than the one they were initially working on while at YC is this the new project?

webwright 17y ago
I always kinda wonder about the mechanics of the new idea after YC (with the same team). Given that PG says, "the idea will oftentimes change", are these new ideas under the banner of the same company? In other words, are they still YC companies and does YC still have equity? I suppose removing YC from the equation is as simple as getting a new biz license, but what are the "rules" here?
- pclark 17y ago
  if I'd been thru YC and changed my idea massively I'd fight hard to maintain YC with my company.
  - rokhayakebe 17y ago
    I don't think they massively changed their idea. They demoed a few months back with a nearly identical product.
- carterschonwald 17y ago
  I think it works roughly as: if its a different business entity, then unless ownership in the previous entity is converted over in some fashion, YC has no equity stake in the new business
  - webwright 17y ago
    Heh, I know how it legally works. A $25 biz license and you're free of YC, theoretically. I guess I was wondering more about what the appropriate thing to do here is and what YC expects to happen. I personally would try hard to keep YC's skin in the game (though I might try to re-apply to YC just to get access to the demo day).
- dannyr 17y ago
  Based on whather's previous submission, it looks like their previous startup is Meetcast which seems similar to TeamApart. "Meetcast.com makes real-time online collaboration easy. There are no downloads, everything is completely in the browser and conferences can be created and joined with a single click."
  - rokhayakebe 17y ago
    The product is the same.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  You can't just take the assets of the company and give them to another. I think that would require some kind of asset transfer or purchase, which could involve the preferred stock holders. That's just a guess.
pg 17y ago
No, TechCrunch somehow misunderstood what was going on. It's the same company, and the same project.
ghempton 17y ago
This is the same project and we are still YC '08. The TC article is erroneous due to some confusion with the re-branding.

chollida1 17y ago

> Entering a meeting involves simply clicking a link — there’s no plugin needed (it’s based on Flash) and the service is free. Isn't Flash a plugin? My iPhone browser seems to think so.

yequalsx 17y ago
Flash is sufficiently ubiquitous that only requiring users to have Flash shouldn't be considered needing a plugin. Most browsers are ready to go. (I have nothing to do with this company.)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
jasonkester 17y ago
That was our thought with Twiddla (which will work on your iPhone, by the way). Flash just adds too much pain for the amount of benefit it gives an app like this. You gain ease of development for some of the graphical stuff, but you lose the ability to overlay it over something else (like a document), the ability to pull in external plugins, and worst of all, you lose the right-click. I wish these guys luck (they don't compete with us directly), but I sort of wonder why go with Flash when it's been proven that you don't need it for something like this?

dmix 17y ago

Are they really competing with webex? If their competing with webex they'd need a sales team to reach mainstream businesses. And (experienced) salesman don't sell free web apps. Either way its a great technology, it worked well back when it was called Meetcast.

whather 17y ago
Thanks! We're not direct competitors with webex as we're more geared towards many-to-many meetings where everyone collaborates with each other rather than one-to-many sales presentations.