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End of the Road for Xmarks

(blog.xmarks.com)
201 points willwagner | 4 comments | 27 Sep 10 23:27 UTC | HN request time: 0.89s | source
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aresant ◴[28 Sep 10 01:36 UTC] No.1734266[source]▶
"For four years we have offered the synchronization service for no charge, predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service."

Not a bad hypothesis, one I see regularly but 90 days to close sure illustrates the downside and value of searching for that monetization model earlier rather than later.

replies(1): >>1735516 #
1. Tyrannosaurs ◴[28 Sep 10 12:57 UTC] No.1735516[source]▶
I think it's a fairly shocking hypothesis.

My feeling was that the lesson from this is don't go into a business if you don't have at least a vague idea how you're going to make money out of it.

I love XMarks and I'll absolutely miss it (and would have considered paying for it) but this would seem to be niaivity in the extreme.

replies(1): >>1736195 #
2. dillydally ◴[28 Sep 10 16:28 UTC] No.1736195[source]▶
It was founded by Mitch Kapor. I think he knows a thing or two about starting companies...
replies(1): >>1737290 #
3. Tyrannosaurs ◴[28 Sep 10 20:57 UTC] No.1737290[source]▶
I don't care who founded them, they've just announced that they're closing citing a lack of a viable business model.

That would seem to suggest that they might have thought about revenue a little earlier in the process and I have a feeling that with hindsight Mitch Kapor might agree.

replies(1): >>1744367 #
4. dillydally ◴[30 Sep 10 18:50 UTC] No.1744367{3}[source]▶
Funny. Do you have any actual information about how early they tried to find a business model? I suspect you don't.

So, the situation is this: we have a product lots of people want. The naive business model (freemium) won't work -- a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that.

What do you do? Go forward building a very popular product and look for a business model, or quit because you can't think of how to make money from day 1?