

Young entrepreneurs turn a Tweet from Richard Branson into $1 Million - ahlemk
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/young-entrepreneurs-turn-a-tweet-from-richard-branson-into--1-million.html?fb_action_ids=10100137262022753%2C10100137211768463%2C4381961266023%2C10100137295874913%2C10100137272476803&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_ref=type%3Aread%2Cuser%3Ayo7P_jX-MtPx1x1aimvV0XIDiNE%2Ctype%3Aread%2Cuser%3AdNxYkXFY8RDbENFkZ8cz-oFwOPs%2Ctype%3Aread%2Cuser%3A8WxvqIFAUhtDWjtWTnfik46e8fU&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210100137262022753%22%3A10151032496944835%2C%2210100137211768463%22%3A10151032496944835%2C%224381961266023%22%3A10150969731529342%2C%2210100137295874913%22%3A10151086246274935%2C%2210100137272476803%22%3A10151906558735416%2C%2210100137271788183%22%3A10151022720879675%7D&code=AQDR1t5ao7gGR4OkAlE4PNTI7gXZAqwr_NpJBcAW67r7qpzIzX-Shkw5R2-sdr3LveO52R9KqKdUUO09s-oICChAi1_bq0aBOa1kI1qUK6LQATQMrCKiiSgXtEkYIyta6mzZqTxUpRL1uXg5KxPVqxP_Ui8FtGq_6h0Vwbx6jCw1NiMXmR4Mlub8IZaenWWpm5A#_=_

======
natrius
From their security page:

 _We are very secure and make sure to cover many angles to insure your data
can never be compromised. Many often ask what exactly we do to make the data
so secure. Unfortunately, one of the things that makes the site so secure is
that we do not disclose the exact encryption practices._

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

It's also a bit weird that it's apparently two unrelated products in one.
Pinterest and LastPass: two great tastes that taste great together?

~~~
justauser
This is quite an eye-opener too...

"How secure is MySocialCloud.com? From day one, it has been our goal to
provide the best security on the web. While we don't expose how we keep
MySocialCloud secure (if we told you, it would be unsecured!), we do ensure
that not even our employees are able to see any of your sensitive data."

One of their videos shows a bookmarket so I'm going to presume they're using
that for somekind of encryption clientside with AES???

~~~
tylermenezes
"if we told you, it would be unsecured!" doesn't sound like AES... It sounds
like they're using _entirely_ security through obscurity.

------
AlexMuir
Only managed the first paragraph before the bubble-o-meter went off the
fucking scale.

\- Crap buzzword filled domain name. Check.

\- All encompassing vague idea. Check.

\- Young computer whizzkids. Check.

\- 1 millllion dollars. Check.

~~~
law
Don't forget the obligatory leave-of-absence from NYU.

~~~
wickedchicken
Drop out of college to make a combo Delicious/LastPass!

~~~
adrinavarro
Why the hell would anyone want such thing? The fact that people might use both
things doesn't mean they can go together.

Hell, there is a lot of things you can glue together, but these aren't ones.

~~~
borplk
I'm sick of this social frenzy in web already. Every goddamn website wants me
to share, discover, connect, cloud, blah blah blah...share friends boom
revolutionary idea...why don't we share photos? wow! here...take all my
billions...what if we mix your cloud crap with your passwords? sweet jesus
take all my money. Don't get me wrong, it's good to see people innovate, but
it feels like most (at least those who are being seen) have forgotten about
the true problem solving and innovation and are just mixing services and APIs
together and selling it as yet another revolutionary idea.

------
richardv
This is ridiculous. I actually started reading with a really positive mind,
but Richard Branson is never going to see any of that $1M.

\- Scott... got the idea when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet
containing all his usernames and passwords.

Using this as a story to explain his startup is awful. So, you are running a
tool to manage passwords, where you previously stored everything in a
spreadsheet? This guy obviously knows a lot about security. Where can I sign
up?

~~~
toyg
That's harsh. I have to say, his pitch resonates with the common man more than
you think. How many people keep their passwords in spreadsheets or other
haphazard ways? Zillions. How many stop and think "mh, what's gonna happen if
I lose this spreadsheet"? Not many -- otherwise they wouldn't store passwords
in spreadsheets to begin with. Scott just reminded them that they'll be
screwed at some point, and he's here to help. I expect part of the reasoning
behind Branson's investment is that the man himself (or some of his minions)
must have had the occasional lost-password-crisis here or there.

Clearly, with a bland but fairly descriptive name like MySocialCloud, they are
not targeting paranoid geeks (the ones who worry about details like "who's
running this service?", and would rather use services going by dorky names
with random missing vowels), they are targeting the common man who stores
passwords in spreadsheets. They are scratching an itch they themselves had,
which is often how you validate your own business plan. I don't see why they
should be ridiculed for it.

(This said, the whole post is just planted marketing of the lowest quality.
Hardly HN-worthy, if you ask me.)

~~~
lelele
> Scott just reminded them that they'll be screwed at some point, and he's
> here to help.

Problem is: he doesn't know how to help, yet people are going to trust him
because they don't know better. I'd bet they are going to store their users'
password on an Excel spreadsheet, but they will take care to backup it often
;-)

There is LastPass already, and they are doing a great job. Competition is
good, but why should we support clueless competitors?

That said, I'd bet MySocialCloud.com will succeed. Worse is better, isn't it?
And now they have lots of money.

------
coderdude
There's a lot of over-the-top hating from the peanut gallery in this thread.
I'll balance it out:

What a ride this must have been so far. They're doing a great job getting
their name out there, that's for sure. An investment from Richard Branson and
a co-founder of Photobucket, plus this article in Yahoo Small Business that is
now trending the HN front page. I hope they're able to take this massive
opportunity they've been given and turn it into a successful business.

------
elmuchoprez
Regardless of whether this is a good idea or not, to say they "turned a tweet
into $1 million" is a bit of a reach.

They saw a tweet advertising an event which Branson would be at, borrowed
several thousands of dollars from their parents to attend the event, and used
that opportunity to get an email address that was capable of reaching Richard
Branson, which they used over a period of time to develop some sort of
relationship with him and another (Murdoch), and through a series of pitches
both in person and remote, they secured initial funding.

~~~
mkramlich
... in a time when investors are desperately seeking anything to throw their
money at that will get good returns. And it's hard to find software engineers.
And, especially to less sophisticated investors, they just know "social" and
"cloud" are the hot hot thing so they want to park some bets in something with
those words involved. Thus... MySocialCloud.com

------
jakeonthemove
I just checked out the service and I don't understand what's with the hate?

It's a Pinterest/Delicious/LastPass mashup, and while I would not trust them
with my passwords (they really should rephrase that explanation, or give a
real overview of their security measures), there are plenty of people who will
(my parents still store their passwords in simple text files :-)).

If they add RSS-reader functionality, I can actually see myself using the site
as a home page!

I believe it's got potential - they'll have to work hard on the marketing and
keeping even or ahead of the competition, though...

------
gilrain
...and so we told Richard, "Hey, just sign up for LastPass!" He was so
grateful, he gave us a million dollars.

------
calydon
This reads like there is something missing from the story. They already had an
office and a 9 person team, but they needed to borrow $4k from their parents
to meet Branson?

------
SagelyGuru
What a ridiculous country. It is OK to lend them $1M but illegal to offer them
a cocktail?

------
mkramlich
Wow. This has both bubble and disaster written all over it. May things go much
better than that for them, though, of course. But it reads more like a parody
or a list of warning signs than an article about a real new business.

------
jbranchaud
Here's a better venture idea based on the experience, "Scott... got the idea
when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet containing all his
usernames and passwords."

How about designing computers that crash when users try to store usernames and
passwords on them. Users will eventually learn to stop doing that.

~~~
natrius
There's nothing wrong with storing usernames and passwords. There is something
wrong with storing them in a spreadsheet.

------
yaix
> he got the idea when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet
> containing all his usernames and passwords.

Sounds like a good idea to entrust him with all your passwords then.

------
tkahn6
The more I see things like this, the more I believe I have no idea how the
world works.

~~~
codgercoder
It just reinforces my feeling that it's easier for simple, bad ideas to get
funding than complicated, good ones. Modulo the reporting, of course.

~~~
waterlesscloud
Your last sentence is probably the most insightful on the thread. We really
have no idea what actually happened.

------
kasahmed
Great story

------
waldemarb
This startup app stores your encrypted passwords on DropBox:
<http://passboxapp.com/>

