Color: We Are Not Shutting Down

How on earth did it take over 3 hours for someone at Color or Sequoia to confirm the company is in-fact not dead? You'd think employees/founders/investors would have been tweeting like crazy to deny the rumor.

Well, I guess they've found the person who leaks everything to the media... It says VentureBeat confirmed the email was sent to just one person. I wonder if this was a mole hunt.<p>Still, Color is gash and an embarrassment to the whole industry, and its death would not be mourned by many.

Unfortunately, not giving up and willing yourself to success isn't enough to overcome an nonexistent business model.

A similar pattern was recently in the news here: Onlive.<p>August 17, 2012 &#62; <i>OnLive lays off all employees, assets sold to new company</i> [0]<p>5:20 PM - August 17, 2012 &#62; <i>OnLive Denies It's Shutting Down, Won't Comment on Layoffs</i> [1]<p>08/20/2012 10:11:33 AM PDT &#62; <i>Game company OnLive reveals new details of restructuring</i> [2]<p>Winding down a business might mean they are trying to orchestrate a merger or aq-hire. Or a whole host of other things. For which you would not want your name in the news (sensitive negotiations, or wat-ever).<p>______________________<p><i>“We don’t respond to rumors, but the service is not shutting down,” OnLive said.</i> [3]<p>______________________<p>[0] <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/176180/OnLive_lays_off_all_employees.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/176180/OnLive_lays_off_al...</a><p>[1] <a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/news/OnLive-Shutting-Down-Layoffs-Bankrupt-Statement,16993.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.tomshardware.com/news/OnLive-Shutting-Down-Layoff...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_21351760/game-company-onlive-reveals-new-details-restructuring?source=rss" rel="nofollow">http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_21351760/game-co...</a><p>[3] "Just a short while ago reports emerged that the gaming and virtual-desktop software start-up had issued pink slips to all of its employees and was effectively shutting down the service. The first part, we’re told by an OnLive spokesperson, is not the case." <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20120817/onlive-denies-reports-that-its-shutting-down/" rel="nofollow">http://allthingsd.com/20120817/onlive-denies-reports-that-it...</a>

Assuming Color's statement wasn't a lie that's some pretty shitty reporting by Venture Beat. Reporting a companies board has voted to shut it down is pretty big news and should require much more verification that one single email. Tech 'journalists' need to do a better job when reporting this sort of thing.

I would love to see an AmA with a Color employee to get the inside scoop on what's going on there. It must be devastating for morale for a rumor to spread that everybody assumed was going to happen at some point anyway (was anybody surprised when their shutdown was announced? I didn't even bat an eye) and then have to come out and vehemently deny the rumor. And all the while the absentee CEO is galavanting around the world on some exotic "sabbatical" as his company burns to the ground. Only a matter of time until this news resurfaces again, only next time it will be for real.

My question would be: Why not?

That email felt weird, didn't look like an email you'd send to employees to tell them you were shutting down.

As a slight aside - is it just me, or is their logo basically a rip-off of the Royal Air Force roundel?

I'm still trying to figure out how a company who has $41 million in funding and over 400K users can't seem to come up with a business plan that generates revenue.<p>Is this another example of buyer beware when you invest in these kinds of companies?

I bet color is getting way more traffic than normal with this stuff.

In other news, Paris Hilton stated "I'm not quitting"