

Strikingly (YC W13) raises $1.5M from SV Angel, Index Ventures, FundersClub - dfguo
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/26/yc-alum-strikingly-nabs-1-5m-from-sv-angel-index-ventures-fundersclub-others-for-its-diy-website-creator-service/?fromcat=all

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goronbjorn
I've tried Strikingly and really like it. I _would like to_ recommend it to
all of my non-technical friends who want to make simple websites but can't
afford to hire someone to do it, instead opting to use things like iWeb (yes,
average people actually use iWeb).

However. I'm apprehensive about doing so because I'm worried about Strikingly
being acquired, and my non-technical friends being hung out to dry with their
websites. These days it seems like any startup pre-Series B that gains
traction is liable to get acquired and possibly disappear. I wouldn't want to
put my non-technical friends in a situation where they have to deal with that.

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teng
Hi, thanks a lot for your support! We're in Strikingly for the long run and we
definitely put our users' interest as the top priority. Part of raising the
money is also to ensure that we have enough runway to make sure that the
product can sustain itself. I definitely don't want you to worry about this.
Thanks for your support again!

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redguava
I don't understand how you can be in it for the long run if you've taken
funding. That means you need to be working towards some sort of exit. VC isn't
just there to make your business awesome, they want their money back (in
multiples of course).

I understand the benefits to VC and congrats on raising it, I just don't see
how you can be in it for the long run. How is that possible?

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thinker
How do you guys differentiate from Weebly, one of the earlier YC startups?

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Odin9
How is Strikingly different from SquareSpace as far as interaction? Less
features? More features?

<http://www.squarespace.com/>

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teng
It's faster for you to set up a website on Strikingly. Squarespace is awesome,
especially for designers. We're easier to set up. Let us know what you think
when you've tried it out!

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clanceystahr
This is a great company!! We at ZenShin Capital are very excited to help
tailor the service for Japan. We're also re-designing our site with
Strikingly!

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davidedicillo
About and Contact links at the bottom don't work

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teng
This was a small bug, and it's been fixed now!

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thetrumanshow
teng, I'm curious what direction you are immediately headed with this funding
round. A deeper technical team, salespeople, bizdev, or other. HN is an open
community used to sharing ideas, and I'm curious if you have anything
interesting to share here. I'm hoping to, one day, get to where you are now.

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teng
We're definitely looking to bring great technical talent to our team - that's
our highest priority after funding. There are always more things to build and
work on! As we grow, we want to keep up a strong development pace.

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thetrumanshow
Thanks Teng. Hmm... whenever I hear that a new company is taking money to
stack the technical team, my first thought is immediately "Aha! A planned run-
up to a fast acquisition!", which you have perhaps already pointed out to be a
misguided guess on my part.

But, this begs the question: expanding the platform, paying down technical
debt, adding some adult supervision (heh) are all very valuable for the
medium-to-long term, but can't this be achieved by using contractors alone?
BTW, I ask this from the perspective of a full-time software engineer and
part-time entrepreneur.

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teng
Great points! We definitely take hiring very seriously and we want to make
sure that everyone share the culture and the vision. We are in this for a long
run and we want to make sure that everyone understands that for sure.

We always want to keep the team size small and effective, but we'll soon face
a development bottleneck unless we start bringing great talent on board.
Contractors may work for part of this, but it's definitely good to have a
whole cohesive team that's invested in the company. Thanks for the advice!

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garagemc2
I've actually recommended this service to a client of mine as I didn't have
time to take on their work.

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futhey
Great job! Could use a few more templates, but still recommending Strikingly
to others!

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teng
Thanks for your support! More templates will definitely be coming up!

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jasondrowley
Keep killing it, David, Teng & Dafeng!

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teng
Thanks so much, Jason!

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oam322
Support!!!!!

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philfung
Congrats david, teng, dafeng!

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teng
Thanks so much, Phil! :D

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pclark
this product has an insanely great user experience. i'm a paying customer.

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pbreit
Signup form did not work for me. First, the labels don't disappear. Next, I
got some weird JSON in my window:
{"status":"redirect","html":null,"message":null,"to":"/s/select_template?new_user=1"}

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teng
This has been fixed now, thanks for the report!

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maegantam
Congrats to the team!!!!

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haishachen
Thanks a lot!!!

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kumarski
my favorite YC startup. ridiculous level of customer support.

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runspired
Hell yeah UChicago!

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fscof
Congrats guys!!

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michaelwsk
Congrats!

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coffeebite
Gangsters

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haishachen
haha, thanks!

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bly2425
kegstand for everyone!

