Hashable is shutting down

Well I suppose users got 2 weeks notice of the closure - though for many who are on holiday as it is summer(apparently in some countries), then this will be moot.

Not sure what there doing next and advertising a advertisng company on the back of a demise of a project that has failed is not entirely inspiring, though in this day and age I doubt it will be held against them.

If they open source the old system then I'm sure even more will forgive them. Though I'm sure alot of investors will not be too happy, but thats how investing works.

I wish them well, if only for the aspect they explained how to get your old data, even if only a two week window of opertunity, could of been worse.

ishi• 14 years ago

Yet another startup with no viable business model shutting down after spending the investors' money. I simply don't understand how companies get funded when they have no real way of turning a profit.

rhizome3• 14 years ago

People who like business cards, use business cards. I think in the future "intentional identity communication" will be moot, where people will either know who you are already, or know how to find you (FB, LinkedIn, Ravelry, etc.). If all you really need is a name and a saved contact, I can see people getting used to not carrying and exchanging stuff. "Back in olden times, your 'wallet' had like a quarter-inch of these business cards, both other peoples' and yours to hand out. Yes, we had back problems."

dinkumthinkum• 14 years ago

You really think so? There's like billions of people out there. hmm

rhizome3• 14 years ago

To be sure, the change that I'm talking about is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

ivanb• 14 years ago

I imagine a ubiquitous feature in every business smartphone that just broadcasts your vCard to nearby smartphones if you want to be contacted. Just something more comfortable than current Bluetooth vCard sharing. I say a "feature" because I think that there is no monetization opportunity in this idea. It would only look good as a standard feature.

rhizome3• 14 years ago

VCard is still on the "intentional transmission" side of things. What I'm talking about is the question, "why have a discrete identity blob to hand out (physically or digitally) when your identity is out there and easy to find with the right proximity. "Proximity" being measured by social distance.

If I meet you someplace and we're talking like "I'm rhizome from HN," you can then click on my name when you get home (or from your phone) and get a means of communicating further with me. The goal of business cards isn't really just to collect pieces of paper, it's to have a reference by which to enable further interactions. Those references are becoming more and more ephemeral, and more and more ubiquitous.

Julianhearn• 14 years ago

$4 million in funding, all down the drain, wow.

sayemm• 14 years ago

- They raised a $4M round led by USV in 2010 (http://avc.com/a_vc/2011/03/the-hashable-pivot.html)

- The founder (http://linkedin.com/pub/michael-yavonditte/3a/919/3b6) was previously the CEO of an ad company that AOL acquired for $340M, and he's also an angel investor and partner at a VC fund -- so, he's obviously an experienced entrepreneur and has an amazing network to support him

Best of luck to everyone on the team and all in their future endeavors, but I think this just tells you how hard startups really are, esp during these crazy times.

It's a constant reminder that having all the money and connections in the world doesn't mean shit about whether you're actually going to build a strong business and end up dominating your market. Obviously, having a nice war chest and good connections will help you execute, but it's only a means to an end and still kind of superficial, and not what makes startups fundamentally succeed. Drop.io was another case in point, the founder was extremely well-connected in the tech scene and in VC circles, yet they failed and got owned by Dropbox - only thing that matters in the long-run is talent and hardcore execution.

Also highlights just how important timing/luck and product-market fit are: http://pmarca-archive.posterous.com/the-pmarca-guide-to-star...

"Markets that don't exist don't care how smart you are."

earl• 14 years ago

I think this is yavo's second failed startup post quigo, the ad network. He did tracked first, then hashable. I'd bet he'll do well in mobile ads though given how well he understands the space. And never underestimate the power of the right rolodex.

aditya• 14 years ago

Hashable was a pivot on tracked, so I suppose it is the same startup since they didn't raise more money.

objclxt• 14 years ago

Mobile ads is a shitty business, and by 'shitty' I mean 'hugely competitive'. The margins are so slim it can be very difficult to turn any kind of profit - not to say the right idea can't totally shake up the industry, just that it's very, very competitive.

dneb7• 14 years ago

My friend was in the right place at the right time, had a small company that made millions. He figured it was all him, so he spent all of his money on a second attempt. It failed, and he's back working a j.o.b. now.

I wonder: If we could track enough of these cases where a successful entrepeneur started a second company (and then track whether it succeeded/failed), could we come up with a measurement of how much luck has to do with overall success rates?

Hashable is shutting down

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