Threewords.me sold

http://sale.threewords.me/?sold

by jacquesm • 16 years ago

85 47 16 years ago

sale.threewords.me

CoachRufus87• 16 years ago

Congrats Mark!

brianbreslin• 16 years ago

soooo.... how much?

phreeza• 16 years ago

and who?

acangiano2• 16 years ago

Kevin Ham.

Tycho2• 16 years ago

Who knows if we'll ever find out

Or if someone can give a reliable estimate

But here's my completely unreliable estimate, just for fun

$10000

dolinsky3• 16 years ago

There's something about how the progression from the original post by Mark on here a few weeks ago (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2051288) to the post that the site was for private auction (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2113064) to the post yesterday that threewords had been sold (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2122604) that gives it a 'used car salesman' feeling.

Maybe it's the fact that in the end it was sold to Kevin Ham; (taking absolutely nothing away from what Kevin has done). Maybe it's that the site had such a quick flame out.

Having been on this site for quite some time now and having the shared passion of others on here to scratch an itch, I'm both inspired by and wanting to turn the other cheek at the same time w/r/t the adventures of threewords.me.

Congrats on the sale, but I hope it's not a sign of a trend to come on here.

jacquesm6• 16 years ago

I'd be most impressed if this was a 'trend to come on here'.

Think about it, from idea to successful flip in a time this short, we can only hope that that becomes the norm. Of course there is plenty of room for every kind of start-up, so why not have a bunch of these, I can't see anything but good to come from that.

Sadly, I think that normality will re-assert itself and that this will be a very rare occurrence.

But for all those that might get discouraged by these words, please keep trying, some of you are bound to make it.

meterplech• 16 years ago

I think the point was successful short term flips don't add as much value as growing a business over a long time. Doesn't create jobs or likely new technologies. Not to take anything away from this- it's a neat idea, and always impressive to have such viral use. But, I guess OP just means this shouldn't be the final goal for HN users.

markbao6• 16 years ago

I'm sorry that it came across with that notion.

Bottom line is: I really want to focus on my projects that have high revenue viability. I'm not experienced with monetizing free products, but someone else is. Until then, having threewords.me on my back is extra baggage that I'd rather let someone take care of, so I can focus back on what's important for me: creating profitable startups.

I had the opportunity to take six-figure funding amounts from big firms and individuals, but I said no to that. I'm passionate about building better support systems for startups. I'm passionate about building an OpenTable competitor. I don't feel the same passion with threewords.me, and since I never take capital on something I don't really think my soul has a connection with (to go all zen on you), the other option was to sell it.

I really appreciate the kindness of the Hacker News folks for taking an interest in the threewords.me 'saga' (thank you!) but I'm admittedly a little embarrassed because the image that all this coverage is putting out for me isn't something that I actively pursue. I secretly hoped that the threewords.me sale wouldn't hit HN, and was satisfied (until now :P). It's just a side project that went big.

dolinsky3• 16 years ago

I completely understand why you flipped the site, and you should be proud of the fact that you were able to take a side project that started as an itch and have it become viral so quickly, no matter how short-lived that was. My used car salesman comment was a reflection on 'the process' and in no way a reflection on you or the way you conduct yourself.

edit I also didn't explicitly say what @jeromec did, but I definitely share his sentiment. You owe nobody an apology for the success that you had and will hopefully have in the future.

jeromec• 16 years ago

You don't have to apologize, explain, or be accountable to anybody but yourself. Entrepreneurs take on all the risks and sacrifice for being "in the game" and the win to loss ratio has always been (and will likely always be) painfully small on the win side; that IMO should afford the risk taker the freedom to do things as they see fit. Just as you don't have to ask approval to fail, you don't have to ask approval to succeed.

lionhearted• 16 years ago

> It's just a side project that went big.

I thought you handled it extraordinarily well, and this should be a case study on what to do when you've got a successful project on your hands that you aren't inspired by... a number of people fall into this circumstance, and usually they just let the project languish and die a slow death. I think you handled this really well and I'm inspired by it.

Congratulations and I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come when people have side projects go big.

sahillavingia• 16 years ago

> It's just a side project that went big.

Oh, sounds like you built an app and not a business! http://sahillavingia.com/blog/build-apps-not-businesses/

rmc• 16 years ago

I too am jealous. Fair play.

rokhayakebe• 16 years ago

I hope it's not a sign of a trend to come on here.

Why not? This is exactly what startup incubators do. Instead of building companies that aim to go public after 7 years, they help to create startups that can exit after 2 years. Now you can build your product and exit in 30 days. What is the problem with that?

knowsnothing613• 16 years ago

yeah, what was the price range?

Based on your metrics, I'm curious to know what the market sentiment is for them.

wavewash• 16 years ago

I've met Mark (BarCam 4 and 5) and found him to be very intelligent and personable. I think he did the right thing (and smart thing) to flip this. If you look at his other work, it's more long standing and of bigger scope comparatively.

I've worked on short projects as well and then have my longer projects. For example http://www.Blabberize.com has been running for over 3 years now. We could have had a quick and early pay off by flipping the site but instead we took the long haul route to build it out. It feels completely different from a quick turn over project. As such, comparing a site like this to a much larger business with deep technology and IP does not make much sense.

markbao6• 16 years ago

Hey man! Thanks for your kind words :) definitely — I want to get back to work on the big scope projects.

How's the site going, btw? And are you going to BarCamp Boston 6?

frsandstone• 16 years ago

Awesome job! Has the amount been disclosed?

dadro• 16 years ago

Congrats to Mark. That looks to be a well executed business deal all around.

grandalf• 16 years ago

In case there are any buyers still interested in .me concepts, check out http://winklevoss.me

narrator• 16 years ago

Yet another sign that we are in the midst of a new tech bubble. Zippity doo dah! Bubbles are a lot of fun, except when apartment hunting in San Francisco. I can't wait for some social media startup in S.F to start throwing raves at their offices every week. You'll know there's only about a year left on the bubble when that starts happening.

neworbit• 16 years ago

Good work! What are you doing next? :)

elvirs• 16 years ago

Congrats on the sale Mark, if you disclose the price, please make sure you do that on HN :)

Threewords.me sold

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