ReMail (YC W09) Acquired by Google

[axod]

I'm not sure shutting down a product and hiring the founder(s) should be classed as an 'acquisition'.

It's just a recruitment with a golden hello really.

These seem to be getting more and more common lately.

[pg]

Google rewrites a lot of the stuff they buy, so if shutting down the current version of something makes it not an acquisition, you'd practically have to stop using the word "acquisition" to describe Google acquisitions.

[nkohari]

When there's intellectual property involved, it's still acquisition. I would imagine some sort of consideration was offered in exchange for the IP associated with reMail, which makes it an acquisition instead of recruitment.

[ccarpenterg]

I'm curious. 'a recruitment with a golden hello really' means that they had an offer of acquisition but with a 'you have to work for us' clause?

[paulbaumgart]

Congratulations are definitely in order, but seeing as they're discontinuing their product, I can't help but be reminded of: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1117668 :-)

[dschobel]

Congrats to the team but...

How can you say: "[Thanks to] Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh [who] endured my slide deck on our multi-step plan for global email domination, and pointed out that instead I should build something small, simple, and useful. It worked."

It worked so well that you kill the product? Or does "it worked" refer to the pay day + google job?

[scott_s]

I assume the plan is to integrate his product into mobile Gmail. His product will die, but all of those ideas will live on.

[pg]

reMail does work. Jessica uses it all the time.

[nostrademons]

Awesome. Congrats Gabor & company.

Seems like Google is acquiring an awful lot of ex-employees lately, with Etherpad, Aardvark, and now ReMail. Makes sense given their hiring push and large cash supply, but it makes me wonder if the best way to fame and fortune is to do well at Google and then to leave Google...

[zaidf]

do well at Google and then to leave Google

You forgot the whole middle part where you have to burn the midnight oil working on your startup, raising $, seeing uncertainty written all over your adventure. Yes, even if you are an ex-Googler.

[jackowayed]

Well, he was just an intern. There's a big difference between interning, presumably returning to school, then starting a startup sometime later and getting acquired than quitting to start a startup and then getting acquired.

[jacquesm]

Don't forget friendfeed.

http://friendfeed.com/about/team

[davidedicillo]

Is Google trying hire back every engineer or intern who left it?

[rjurney]

Yes. People go off, try new things, then get acquired and brought back into the mothership to incorporate their experiment. Its a very valid model of R&D.

[coffee]

"Google and reMail have decided to discontinue reMail's iPhone application, and we have removed it from the App Store. reMail is an application on your phone. If you already have reMail, it will continue to work. We'll even provide support for you until the end of March"

Good for them, congrats, but oy-vey!

[bry]

Personally, I wouldn't move to work for a big company like Google after running a successful startup like this unless I had to as part of the deal. Not because Google is evil, but because you lose your independence. I wonder if that was part of the deal.

[nostrademons]

Isn't that part of getting acquired? You typically don't get acquired by other startups (they don't have money), and you typically get far less of a payout if you don't work for the acquirer afterwards (they want the talent that built the software in addition to the software itself).

[FlemishBeeCycle]

Everytime I hear about a startup being acquired by Google I think of http://suicidefood.blogspot.com/. As the ultimate goal of the startup seems to be, being devoured.

[knightinblue]

Congrats!

How much?

[chr15]

Will Google's "acquisition" strategy give current Google employees a greater incentive to leave the company and start their own? For example, some top engineers might have an idea for a product and will be incentivized to leave, knowing that Google will buy them as a talent acquisition.

[yan]

> I will be joining Google in Mountain View as a Product Manager on the Gmail team.

> Gmail is where my obsession with email started as an engineering intern back in 2004...

That must feel great.

[nandemo]

I guess it would feel even better to sell your startup after having been rejected by Google...

[andrewhyde]

Congrats!

[maxklein]

This is not an acquisition. It's the death of a product. And I called this one also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=907456

My prediction accuracy on startup failure is pretty good, I think!

[gruseom]

Maxklein, your comments consistently give me the impression that you live to belittle the achievements of others. Is that really the impression you intend to convey? You seem like a smart guy, but this stuff is painfully unpleasant to read. (You're not the only one, by any means. And yes, I would raise this concern in person.)

As for Remail/Google: what firsthand knowledge about this transaction do you have?

[jfarmer]

I can predict startup failure with 99% accuracy, too! :)

[howcool]

Great,thanks for killing a great iPhone app!

[zackattack]

Congratulations, man.