

Ask HN: Re-inventing an acquired & closed Startup, Need Advice - maverick2

Me &#38; my co-founder started working on an idea 4 months back we are 50% into it. And two days back I stumbled across a post about another startup/product which had a same product(approximately it is a 90% overlap). This previous start-up ran for around 2-3 years, and was eventually bought by Google for rumored 10+ mil $. Google had shutdown the product(tech pundits commented that it was basically acqui-hired), Also founders have a patent about how they technically implemented the idea. The product was widely used and had an install base of 100+ mil.<p>Me &#38; my co-founder are not co located, and are working. This weekend I am travelling to meet him and decide the future course. Thought of getting some advice from HN community first. Please advice if you would continue with development, or start looking for another problem to be solved(Idea).
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maverick2
An answer from a guy ' Matthew Kane' at Quora -
[http://www.quora.com/Startups/Copying-an-acquired-closed-
Sta...](http://www.quora.com/Startups/Copying-an-acquired-closed-Startup-Need-
Advice)

"My advice would be to reach out to the team who had the startup which was
acquired and get their feedback. They will be able to tell you if what you are
doing is worth pursuing, if there is still a need in the market, if there are
any legal/IP issues etc. I wouldn't waste anymore time on the project until
you have spoken to them. They should be more than happy to help especially
considering they already have exited their investment and are locked up at
Google"

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michaelpinto
two questions you need to ask yourself:

1\. did google kill the project for a lack of potential or did it just not fit
into their larger picture?

2\. are you bringing something to life (i.e. killer feature) that the other
project didn't have?

just so you know sometimes a project can be too ahead of its time. sometimes
someone can do a very similar a few years later and have a real hit: a good
example would be that founder of zynga first did a social networking site like
facebook (tribe.net) which failed:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Pincus#Career>

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maverick2
We know that the market for the product is their as the startup has been
acquired less than 6 months back, there are no popular replacements. And this
has created a noticeable void.

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michaelpinto
i'm seeing this 3 days later, but it sounds like you have a clear path.
although keep in mind that other people trying to do the same thing is a form
of validation of concept on the flip side. good luck!

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Mizza
Is it Etherpad? Did you invent Etherpad again?

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maverick2
No it not Etherpad. If you want some pointers, it is in B2B space, where end
users is still internet at large.(Think outbrain/disqus)

