
Tixe, “Exit” Spelled Backwards: Co-Founder Matt Brezina Has Also Left Xobni - dwynings
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/16/brezina-xobni-out/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
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qeorge
Honest question:

What was Xobni's plan after turning down Microsoft's offer? Making > $20MM
selling $40 software seems pretty unlikely.

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charlesju
Probably forced by VCs. No point is liquidating at that price range, doesn't
make an impact on their fund.

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qeorge
That seems too simple. Why did they get so close to an acquisition if the VCs
were steadfast against the sale?

The TC article implies the Xobni team pulled out, over concerns about the
product & team's future within Microsoft. If that's true, I'm confused as to
why they built an Outlook plugin to begin with.

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maxklein
It was always a strange company, driving more by marketing than by product. I
dislike these type of companies that fall into the vulture grasps of people
looking for a massive exit. It's just another form of speculation - with the
value being created just a side-effect of the financial games.

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gruseom
_driving more by marketing than by product_

I distinctly recall people being excited by the product. Admittedly I haven't
been paying attention since the early days, but you did say "always".

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roel_v
"I distinctly recall people being excited by the product."

I think it's more that people were excited by the promises about the product,
and what it could have been. I've tried it 4 or 5 times since it launched, and
always uninstalled within a few days. And I'm a heavy Outlook user, searching
mail is a serious pain point for me.

They too often focus on 'non-corporate' (basically, useless) features: social
network integration, counting who emailed you the most and other stats, ...
while the actual UI was hard to use and not in line with the rest of Outlook,
searching only selected folders was only included after a long time (I don't
want to search my RSS and mailing list folders, I don't think I'm special in
that), sorting/filtering/search in search was unintuitive to use, ... It
always felt like the features were put in to look nice in a marketing pitch,
and that nobody at the company actually actively _used_ the product. I guess
that's not the case but it felt that way.

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yesimahuman
Don't forget the "paid only" auto complete (that supposedly is a bug but I've
noticed it on other installations):
[http://community.xobni.com/xobni/topics/dont_try_to_sell_me_...](http://community.xobni.com/xobni/topics/dont_try_to_sell_me_access_to_my_contact_fool)

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SoftwareMaven
I can't help but wonder if this is a VC/Founder dispute. I also can't help but
believe that, in some way, the MS deal is a factor in this.

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riffer
Best of luck Matt, I'm sure you'll go on to do more great things

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iamwil
With news like these, I always wonder about the story behind the story.

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eli
Back when I wore my journalist hat I once got curious about one of these
stories. I did the leg work and tracked down sources and dug up financial
statements. I had imagined some tale of boardroom intrigue and secret back-
room deals, but really it was just big egos and greed and inexperience. It was
kinda depressing. I never wrote the story.

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_pius
All I know is that Adam, Gabor, Matt et al built a LOT of value for Xobni
before they left. Good on them and good luck.

