

Facebook Acquires Branch - alex1
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/facebook-acquires-branch/

======
waylandsmithers
This is why I could never be a tech start up investor. Every new app like this
that I see, I dismiss as useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that. Then
it gets bought by one of the big guys for millions a year later.

~~~
jt2190

      > This is why I could never be a tech start up investor. 
      > Every new app like this that I see, I dismiss as 
      > useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that.
    

Seasoned investors don't even try to decide whether the app is good or not.
After all, who cares what the investor thinks? The only thing that matters is
what the market thinks. Instead, they "place many small bets", and hope that
one of them pays off big.

(edit: This is why there seem to be so many "bad ideas" that get funded.)

~~~
jiggy2011
But by that logic every startup has an equal chance of investments, so the
optimal tactic is to pump out nonsensical bad apps until somebody funds one.

~~~
rpicard
That assumes your end-goal is to get an app funded. It's my understanding that
funding is really just the start of the journey to having something that is
successful and will make you rich (if that's your goal).

------
GBKS
I always got the impression that Branch had a very talented team, but that the
products were very over-engineered. By that, I mean that the interface was
very polished, but also very confusing. So I'm sure it's a good deal for
Facebook to add this very focused talent to their stable.

------
scotthtaylor
Makes sense, I love the Branch product but seems they never really got enough
traction to make it a buzzing place of conversation & interaction. Will be
interesting to see what happens with the product within FB.. will it be
largely a talent acquisition or does FB really believe in what Josh and the
team were building.

------
aditya
The Verge reports an acquisition price of around $15mm.

[http://mobile.theverge.com/2014/1/13/5303702/facebook-
acquir...](http://mobile.theverge.com/2014/1/13/5303702/facebook-acquires-
link-sharing-app-branch-for-15-million)

~~~
rfnslyr
My goal in life is to get bought out of acquihired.

~~~
hnnnnng
Thats silly. You never start out trying to get acquihired unless you know
exactly what the company you want to get acquihired by, wants. You aim super
high for an ipo but if stuff goes south, you can always get acquihired.

~~~
rfnslyr
My goal priority:

2) Start profiting enough to quit my job

3) Hire people + have office

4) Either get bought out or acquihired

5) Retire

If #2 at least doesn't take off by the time I'm 35 at the latest I'm killing
myself.

~~~
arjie
At the risk of being the guy who doesn't get the joke, I suggest a better
failure mode for your life. Unless you're 34 at the moment, you probably have
enough time to reconsider so I hope you do.

I believe it's an inferior mode of operation, besides. Having the "at least I
can do X if this fails" option lowers cognitive load caused by worrying about
the consequences of failure. I don't remember where I saw this, but I believe
you are actually harming your chances by setting too harsh an alternative.
Then again, you may be different.

~~~
rfnslyr
The wager is the lasting long term motivator.

------
acjohnson55
I just discovered Branch today, and I think the problem it tries to solve is
one that hits me quite frequently. I consume content nonstop online, but I'm
lacking a good medium to share content I like with friends _and_ have semi-
private conversations around it.

I like Pocket a lot for the first piece of that puzzle, but it lacks
discussion capabilities. Facebook is my de facto solution for the second part,
but it's not good for letting people bring in their friends who aren't my
friends. So I suppose my dreams may come true if Facebook really is interested
in letting the Branch team continue to pursue the problem.

~~~
prostoalex
> Facebook is my de facto solution for the second part, but it's not good for
> letting people bring in their friends who aren't my friends.

Reddit?

------
webwanderings
The analogy Branch used in the earlier days of its launch (which isn't too
long ago) was, in my words: consider Branch as a high school cafeteria, where
each table has people of different taste and stripe discussing things.

So I guess the school was private after all and it got bought out by another
private school.

You know, those students are eventually going to grow up and they're going to
realize that private corporations are using (abusing?) their time and
conversations to their own advantage.

------
Omnipresent
Branch looks like a good app. In some way it is kind of similar to Pinterest.
Would be interesting to find out why they didn't gain enough traction? Could
it be because they weren't targeting a niche audience compared to Pinterest
targeting niche users at the initial stages.

------
jeffehobbs
Welp, glad I didn't invest too much time or interest in Branch or Potluck.

~~~
cllns
I liked Potluck a lot before the pivot into bite-sized news discussions.

For those who don't know, it used to be a place to share links and discuss
them with friends.

~~~
untog
Agreed. It was a daily go-to until they totally redesigned the thing around
those cards. I never got the UI so I gave up.

------
mindotus
Congrats to everyone at Branch. Can't wait to see what's to come from them
over at FB!

------
emmett9001
Congrats to the whole team!

------
techaddict009
Even I felt the same while using it!!

#Irritated

------
mpk
Needs an active FB session to read.

~~~
nicholassmith
"After two years building Branch and Potluck, I am thrilled to announce that
we will be continuing our mission at Facebook!

We will be forming Facebook's Conversations group, based in New York City,
with the goal of helping people connect with others around their interests.
Their pitch to us was: "Build Branch at Facebook scale!"

Although the products we build will be reminiscent of Branch and Potluck,
those services will live on outside of Facebook. A more thoughtful note and
details to come soon but I am writing this haphazardly from a mountain in
Japan (I was tipped that the story was going to leak while on vacation).

In the meantime, a huge "thank you" to our investors. Especially, Jason
Goldman, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Ryan Freitas, John Borthwick, and Jonah
Peretti, who all spent an extraordinary amount of time with us.

Most importantly though, a big congrats to my eight teammates who have worked
tirelessly, often behind the scenes. So much and admiration:
[http://branch.com/company#team](http://branch.com/company#team) \- on we go!"

~~~
lmartel
> Their pitch to us was: "Build Branch at Facebook scale!"

Or was it closer to: "Want $15M?"

~~~
rhizome
"Keep your startup culture inside of Facebook!"

