Comments on: Bebo, lessons from the edge of the deadpool

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:28:15 +0000

Agree and disagree Shannon, I think if a company isn't core when it's acquired without an integration strategy and benefits that are defined before acquisition then in makes sense to keep it separate (like Flickr – and possibly like LastFM), but if a company is core to the business the integration can work. I think Y! did a good job integrating Right Media, Goog integrated YouTube, Double Click fairly effectively as well. But in any case you need the people who are passionate about the product around to keep innovating, and you need to keep them motivated.

By: Shannon Ferguson

Shannon Ferguson — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:54:40 +0000

been trying to think of examples other than Flickr where startups with traction have thrived in bigger companies, and can't! Yahoo! Music did well for awhile, but ultimately died the death of must monetize vs. invest in product development and future revenue streams. Altho acquired companies benefit from immediate access to larger consumer base and marketing/promotion, IMHE don't believe the benefit of that outweighs the downside of bureaucracy, constant fighting for resource allocation (product dev, mktg/promo etc). Flickr somewhat of an exception because it was “siloed” within Y!, without interference in product, cross-promoting other Y! products etc etc. altho as you point out, maybe it could have been more successful standalone.

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:16:10 +0000

Interesting, I haven't used Last.fm in a while and haven't heard much about it since Spotify started showing some leg. Not sure if they're doing enough, or as much as they would be doing had they not been acquired. Imagine you're an independent company and a competitor comes out and starts taking market share, odds are you'd be competing pretty aggressively, don't think Last.fm has been competing like they should.

By: Ed Freyfogle

Ed Freyfogle — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:06:45 +0000

I agree with your conclusion, but why do you include last.fm in this list? Yes, Spotify is the pretty new thing, but seems to me last.fm is still thriving and doing very cool things product wise.