
Weave.in shutting down - dougdonohoe
https://weave.in/
======
dougdonohoe
Context:

Originally "Tinder for Linkedin" ([http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/25/weave-is-
a-tinder-for-link...](http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/25/weave-is-a-tinder-for-
linkedin-minus-the-sexy-parts/)), Weave pivoted to its current incarnation of
"Professional Introductions" (unsure when).

Received this email at 1:15 AM EDT:

"Hello,

We started Weave to make expanding your professional network easy, productive,
and enjoyable. In the last 3 years we've created hundreds of thousands of new
professional connections. Connections that became co-founders, investors,
mentors, co-workers, and friends. Your stories were what made working on Weave
so fun and fulfilling.

While Weave became the primary source of new professional connections for many
people, we were unable to make it financially viable. As of next Monday, we
will be shutting Weave down.

Thank you so much for being part of our community. You made time to meet and
help complete strangers. You were what made Weave great.

The Weave Team"

------
corobo
I really wish these projects would post a Show HN or something a month or so
before announcing their shutdown.

So many times I hear of something new and interesting I'd like to give a go
through a shutdown message on HN.

~~~
throwawayReply
They didn't seem to have a monetisation strategy, so would more interest help?

From their FAQ:

> How much does Weave cost?

> The service is absolutely free. We're venture-funded and will monetize in
> the future via premium (even better!) services for our members.

~~~
nedwin
They had two monetization strategies. I was a premium user - paying for
features like being able to pick who I met with and setting a meeting point.

They also explored enterprise - helping companies create new connections
throughout the organization.

I got a ton of value out of it. Never used the premium features but met a ton
of great people that was worth the price of admission.

------
josh_carterPDX
Sad to hear this is shutting down. I had a few Weave meetings in SF and
enjoyed everyone. I was really pulling for expansion into markets like
Portland where this would have been very well received.

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satiwick1
Weave was a truly useful service. It's sad it's shutting down. Far being
elitist, it helped a completely outsider like me to meet & build connections
in the Valley

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calbear81
I enjoyed the few times I connected on Weave to meet other folks who were
interested in networking with me as well. Brian, the founder, had worked with
some of my colleagues at a previous startup and was gracious to offer advice
and feedback when I was applying to YC a few years back.

------
virtualized
After having read the whole FAQ, I still don't know what the product is. Where
are these "meetings" held? Who attends the meetings? Why should I care? Why do
I have to "apply"? How do they plan to make money?

~~~
gwintrob
I thought the product was pretty cool. It "automated" networking with other
professionals who might be good hires or potential co-founders in the future.
You'd sign up for a specific time (e.g. Friday at 9am) and once a week get an
email with someone to meet and a location to grab coffee.

I went on a few of these meetings and thought there were some interesting
people in the network. Sad to see it shut down :( That being said, the service
was free and I don't know if I would've been willing to pay Weave.

------
dawhizkid
I used Weave a few times when it was still "Tinder for Networking" and it was
pretty clear it'd always be a niche product without a clear monetization
strategy.

These are the kinds of startups that make me think twice about becoming a
founder myself i.e. raising VC money and hiring a bunch of people only to
become trapped into working on an idea for 3-4+ years that you know is not
working after year 1-2 because you still have money to burn.

------
Noseshine
Since the title links only to the homepage where I didn't find an announcement
(at this time), here's an article that shows the email they send out:

[http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/12/weave-shutting-down-
profes...](http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/12/weave-shutting-down-professional-
matchmaking-service-says-wasnt-financially-viable/)

~~~
dougdonohoe
Thanks - when I posted, all I had was the email (noted in another comment).

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jbb555
Given it's domain name, was this an india thing?

~~~
sbuccini
No. I know it was available in the Bay Area but I'm not sure if it was in
other cities.

~~~
askmike
Also available in London.

------
conwayanderson
This is a bummer. I was just looking forward to being able to take more Weave
meetings next month...

------
reustle
> Weave had previously raised $2 million in funding from Y Combinator, Index
> Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Eastlink Ventures, and others.

Does anyone know if they had a solid business model when they raised? Or was
it valued on mostly hype?

~~~
mseebach
$2mm isn't actually a huge amount to test out a potentially valuable idea
without having more than a vague business model -- if successful, this would
be directly hard cash valuable to a lot of people, so it's not unreasonable to
hand-wave "find a way to charge people later". I've heard of plenty of
projects (inside larger companies) that probably cost more than that and were
unceremoniously shut down when they didn't work out.

1: at $100k, it's 20 engineers for a year, and that's without office space,
desks, computers or servers

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nedwin
Loved weave and sad to see it go.

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haskal
Such a nice domain name.

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splatcollision
First I'd heard of it, but seems like a really effective way to apply bias
filters for elitist tech folks to meet and advance careers of other elitist
tech folks. Glad it's shutting down.

~~~
bosdev
That's a really horrible thing to say. They presumably worked hard to help
people connect. I'm sorry if you don't like their selection criteria, but
people meeting and interacting in the real world is better than them not, no?

If you would like to start a competitor which helps bridge 'elitist' to 'non-
elitist' please do, until then, please don't hate on someone's attempt to make
their part of the world better.

~~~
splatcollision
Thanks for your comment. Lots of people work hard on things but that doesn't
magically make them any good. Working hard has no value just by itself.

~~~
ivanca
They were trying to make people meet over shared professional interests.

And anyway, for your assertion you would have to prove it produced elitism,
not only "that you feel like it would".

