<i>everybody is given a gray T shirt that reads MAKE WHAT PEOPLE WANT</i><p>What they really say is <i>Make something people want.</i> It's interesting that, whenever I have inside knowledge about an article's subject, I always seem to catch little mistakes like this. And it makes me wonder, how many other details do they get wrong?<p>It's a tired but true cliché: don't believe everything you read. (That being said, this article is basically right---as far as I can tell.)
i can't help but feel like this is an odd fit (auctomatic + communicate.com). Of course I know nothing beyond what I've read, and auctomatic sounds like a group of talented folks with savvy advisers - but the synergies between the two companies just aren't clear to me.<p>Maybe communicate (like many small google acquisitions) is buying for talent which would makes sense from their perspective, but they are not quite google so the allure from the founders side is a bit less shiny. Hard to second guess 5 million though.
wtf at submission headline.<p>im paying no tax on this deal.<p>the stock price hasn't been finalised on the deal yet either (related to point 2 above).
<i>"... When Auctomatic began negotiating, it put its efforts for a second funding round on hold—and just about ran out of money. ..."</i><p>Why did this happen?<p>As for the sale, well I think the decision not to hold out showed good judgement, an appreciation of the current credit squeeze. Is it always worth to hold out for <i>"double"</i> or nothing? Only time will tell if eBay market will be hit by the downturn. Is there any reason another startup in this area could not try a similiar tack?
To all the non-hackers out there... the Taggars learned to hack.<p>Although having Patrick and John was surely a huge benefit, it goes to shows where there's a will, there's a way.
Kinda nitpicking here but are they really 'millionaires' with that low of a buyout after taxes and everything else get taken out? Not trying to diminish at all what they accomplished, but I think its more accurate that they are all '6-8 hundred thousandaires'<p>Think about it, 3 (4?) founders, YC investment (assuming 7%) plus additional investment (10-25%) - 30-40% to the government does not leave as much as you might hope.
Sometimes I think that "make something people want" should really be "make something people need or could really use even if they don't know or think they want it".<p>But then every shirt would have to be XXXL.