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Shut App.net down already

So Dalton posted a blog on the State of App.net and had good news and bad news. Its clear as day, there was ONLY bad news.

http://blog.app.net/2014/05/06/app-net-state-of-the-union/

Good news:
The good news is that the renewal rate was high enough for App.net to be profitable and self-sustaining on a forward basis.

This is what the Valley called Ramen profitability.

Basically they barely made enough to pay the hosting bills. And yet Dalton was ballsy enough to say: “App.net will continue to operate normally on an indefinite basis.”  NORMALLY indefinite implies for the forseeable future. In this case, indefinite is a spin for “until the next subscription cycle”.

Next startup to watch for is PostHaven. Another “we’ll just make enough to to run forever” business.

  • Services that make the minimum to survive are kidding themselves. There will come a time where something major happens – DB crashes, DDOS, website hacked – and the founders won’t have the necessary resources or motivation to go fix it and it will die.

    Reply

    • Advertising free Twitter (I think it was started as a protest to Twitter effing over their developers).

      Just like Posthaven = advertising free Tumblr.

      Reply

  • I’ve been on app.net(ADN) since the launch, disquiet around it’s aim and ability to survive has periodically swirled around the community there, people who paid $50 to get in on an ad-free platform for the most part feel a strong sense of ownership.

    My own feeling is that it’s Developer focus and unwillingness to nurture non-Dev communities and initiatives was an oversight.

    Check in in ADN and it’s mostly impenetrable developer chat, that’s impenetrable for new users.

    This post by Brianna Wu expresses one side of the argument,

    http://www.revolution60.com/page2/index.php?id=84850310691

    I’ll be sad to see ADN go under for the friendships and interaction I have there that doesn’t compare to my other social networks.

    Reply

  • I really liked the idea of App.net. It’s a shame it didn’t draw in the crowds it deserved.

    I think that’s what http://www.museblox.com is trying to do. Ad-free + undisclosed data social network like App.net. I hear they’re working on mobile platforms next.

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