"For now, Cover will remain available in the Play Store while we focus our attention on our work at Twitter. If that changes down the road, we’ll provide another update here."
tl;dr: Cover will die a slow, unmaintained death while the former Cover employees work on completely unrelated Twitter projects. Oh well.
This is yet another example of why all startups should have a responsible sunset pledge[1]. The pledge should contain something along the lines of, "If we shut down, we will make it possible to run an instance of our product." That means open-sourcing server code, writing some minimal docs, and probably building some data export APIs.
I had the idea before starting Floobits (YC S13 yadda yadda), and of course, we've made a pledge: https://floobits.com/pledge
This helps the company as well as customers. People are more likely to adopt your product when they know you'll give them the source code if your company dies.
It's helped in subtle ways that I didn't predict. For example: If I ever think of taking shortcuts or building embarrassingly bad software, I remember that the public will likely see this code one day.
If you run a company, consider making a responsible sunset pledge. If you use a SaaS tool, consider asking that company to make one.
Likely, and maybe they're going to work on something like "Twitter Home," a new lock screen & experience for the Twitter app only on Android. If done correctly (and not invasively) I can possibly see people using it. Then they'll announce the Cover app is no longer available.
I swear term sheets must have a clause that requires you to use an acquisition blog post template.
"When we started FooBar.io $n years ago, we had $VISION_WITH_RAINBOWS_AND_UNICORNS in our young eyes.
...
It’s been an incredible journey and we are proud of what we've accomplished in the last $n years.
...
We were surprised when $BigCo approached us in the spring. But as talks progressed, we realised our magnetic fields were super aligned and in fact we are twins separated at birth, merely waiting to be reunited.
...
(Yes, we were building $mobifotosocioapp for Android, whereas BigCo is an ad retargeting corporation for iOS, so we may look very different, but actually it's turtles all the way down.)
...
With all the free snacks and Rifts now at our disposal, we can march forth with double the speed in achieving our real mission which was always actually about whatever BigCo's mission is right now.
...
None of this would have been possible without you, our amazing users. So, for you, we have a special something.
...
We won't simply admit that we'll be ignoring and soon shutting down your beloved app. Instead, let's pretend that everything's gonna be the same and we'll update you when "something changes" and give you ample time (at least 3 hours) to download your data in the extremely unlikely case that we pull the plug.
...
You guys are the best. Thanks for making us rich. Love from Jo, Flo, Beau, Mo and $obligatory_pet."
Only in the start-up world do you call a few months a "journey". But as I'm sure they got very little sleep it probably felt like a journey for them. Cover only launched (invite-only) in late October.
Same for believing in rather mundane things, visions of rather mundane things, and writing a billion paragraphs about a thing only using sentences you could say about anything else, too - leaving the reader with exactly zero information as to what you're actually talking about. Writing as well as reading such blurbs could and should be automated.
This is really disappointing news if this acquisition goes the way it's sounding. Cover was a great app and one of the reasons to use Android over iOS (along with Link Bubble, etc.).
At the least, if it gets pulled or falls into abandon, that's opportunity for someone else to fill the spot. There are obvious ways to improve Cover (like picking a time interval for it to default to Work mode--it is pretty bad at detecting Work mode in general IME). It would also be nice if you could customize the number of apps that show up in the app switcher (mainly useful on large devices like a Note 3).
As someone who had recently had to switch to an Android phone (Note3) I'd love to know of other apps beyond cover and Link Bubble that you like. Can you please expand on the "etc." in your first paragraph.
Damn. This was one of the few apps that made me prefer Android over iOS. It's highly likely it's now going to die (the only thing Twitter gains from this is the team, the app has no relevance to them). It also probably means my one major annoyance with the app won't be fixed. It changes to work settings based on location but I work from home. Was hoping they would add a setting to set it to work between certain hours.
Don't the original investors usually get their investment back from these things? So Twitter pays the investors $1.7M and pays the founders $200K per year as a dev team.
The $1.7M investment was a seed round (in Oct 2013), with lots of individuals putting money in[1]. If it were bought for say $20M (who knows?) then I'm pretty sure those seed investors would be happy with their 5x to 10x returns (depending on liquidation preferences) in 6 months.
If it were bought for $5M, then not so much. But if it was only $5M on the table I doubt they would have sold that quickly.
Such a shame. After owning an iPhone for since the first launch, I recently bought a Nexus 5. Cover was one of the first apps I downloaded that showed me the power of Android. Effectively doing what you want with the OS. I wasn't oblivious to it, but here was a nice approach to make my life just that tad bit easier. I showed a lot of friends and they were all impressed. Felt like maybe something that should be baked in Android. Unfortunately, after 2-3 weeks of usage, I gave up after it wouldn't reliably switch home to car or car to work and found I needed to intervene a lot more than I would have liked to. However, I was hopeful this would be smoothed out...guess not now.
I see a lot of undeserved negativity here for what I'm sure is an exciting time for the Cover guys. Let's not piss on their parade. I say congratulations, I hope you guys made a bit of cash, had a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy working on interesting projects at Twitter!
It's not undeserved if a product you really liked is effectively deadpooled. It's possible to be both happy for the team that made it but also lament the thing you lost. That people are commenting more on the latter, tells me that this product must have been pretty good.
It's just the fundamental bipolar nature of Hacker News. For the VC side, a successful exit is the goal. For the programming side, a successful product is the goal.
An acquihire is not a success it's a failure, and instead of being excited, I'm sure the feeling is more like being resigned to at least having a place to go after closing the doors. It's sad too because their product is ace.
Can someone explain what it is/was? This is the first I've heard of it, and the site doesn't appear to have a description. Google's app store is returning a million apps with the word "cover," and none appear to be this.
Based on "Cover will remain available in the Play Store while we focus our attention on our work at Twitter," it's unlikely that it will receive updates, and may get pulled altogether soon.
I must say that Cover could go long road to a medium sized company instead of selling. IMO they sold out way to early. The product was great, it looks like they followed Startup spirit and really invested in this. The concept is also pretty nice and they had huge user base. Endless ways to monetize.
Unless they got really good deal this transaction could be premature...
I really don't connect with the "build a business to sell out" mentality. Cheapens the whole idea of entrepreneurship and self made independence. Maybe it's just me.
It's all the same thing in my mind. Build a business with the idea of selling out to some big corp, or to sell to as many customers as you can. Either way, you're going to be beholden to someone else. I don't begrudge these folks whatsoever.
[+] [-] GuiA|12 years ago|reply
tl;dr: Cover will die a slow, unmaintained death while the former Cover employees work on completely unrelated Twitter projects. Oh well.
[+] [-] ggreer|12 years ago|reply
I had the idea before starting Floobits (YC S13 yadda yadda), and of course, we've made a pledge: https://floobits.com/pledge
This helps the company as well as customers. People are more likely to adopt your product when they know you'll give them the source code if your company dies.
It's helped in subtle ways that I didn't predict. For example: If I ever think of taking shortcuts or building embarrassingly bad software, I remember that the public will likely see this code one day.
If you run a company, consider making a responsible sunset pledge. If you use a SaaS tool, consider asking that company to make one.
1. http://geoff.greer.fm/2012/09/19/a-responsible-product-sunse...
[+] [-] untog|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k-mcgrady|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcescalante|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unreal37|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jboynyc|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] revorad|12 years ago|reply
"When we started FooBar.io $n years ago, we had $VISION_WITH_RAINBOWS_AND_UNICORNS in our young eyes.
...
It’s been an incredible journey and we are proud of what we've accomplished in the last $n years.
...
We were surprised when $BigCo approached us in the spring. But as talks progressed, we realised our magnetic fields were super aligned and in fact we are twins separated at birth, merely waiting to be reunited.
...
(Yes, we were building $mobifotosocioapp for Android, whereas BigCo is an ad retargeting corporation for iOS, so we may look very different, but actually it's turtles all the way down.)
...
With all the free snacks and Rifts now at our disposal, we can march forth with double the speed in achieving our real mission which was always actually about whatever BigCo's mission is right now.
...
None of this would have been possible without you, our amazing users. So, for you, we have a special something.
...
We won't simply admit that we'll be ignoring and soon shutting down your beloved app. Instead, let's pretend that everything's gonna be the same and we'll update you when "something changes" and give you ample time (at least 3 hours) to download your data in the extremely unlikely case that we pull the plug.
...
You guys are the best. Thanks for making us rich. Love from Jo, Flo, Beau, Mo and $obligatory_pet."
[+] [-] colinbartlett|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Touche|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PavlovsCat|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] csbrooks|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nilkn|12 years ago|reply
At the least, if it gets pulled or falls into abandon, that's opportunity for someone else to fill the spot. There are obvious ways to improve Cover (like picking a time interval for it to default to Work mode--it is pretty bad at detecting Work mode in general IME). It would also be nice if you could customize the number of apps that show up in the app switcher (mainly useful on large devices like a Note 3).
[+] [-] amiramir|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k-mcgrady|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unreal37|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kul|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sinofer|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] minimaxir|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unreal37|12 years ago|reply
How does that usually work?
[+] [-] nl|12 years ago|reply
The $1.7M investment was a seed round (in Oct 2013), with lots of individuals putting money in[1]. If it were bought for say $20M (who knows?) then I'm pretty sure those seed investors would be happy with their 5x to 10x returns (depending on liquidation preferences) in 6 months.
If it were bought for $5M, then not so much. But if it was only $5M on the table I doubt they would have sold that quickly.
[1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/24/cover-android/
[+] [-] akramhussein|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pvnick|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amirmc|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yukichan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkr-hn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] caiob|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] why-el|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sosborn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mscarborough|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ihsw|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ExpendableGuy|12 years ago|reply
Based on "Cover will remain available in the Play Store while we focus our attention on our work at Twitter," it's unlikely that it will receive updates, and may get pulled altogether soon.
[+] [-] sirkneeland|12 years ago|reply
Cover is (was?) a phenomenal addition to my Android experience.
[+] [-] kul|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] funkyy|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] natrius|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pnachbaur|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Infinitesimus|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Colter|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mscarborough|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sirkneeland|12 years ago|reply
"Sparrowed!"
(I am imagining it being said in the Strongbad/Teen Girl Squad "Arrow'd!!" voice)
[+] [-] NicoJuicy|12 years ago|reply
To bad it's going to die :(
[+] [-] leonhuu007|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hlafshusfad|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tf1|12 years ago|reply