Nuvvo For Sale
John Philip Green
Its with a heavy heart that we make this post. (First of all, we hope
no one minds us spamming the group like this... our apologies.)
We are trying to spread the word that our little baby, Nuvvo, is now up
for sale. Here's the announcement, made just a few minutes ago:
http://blog.nuvvo.com/2006/10/03/for-sale/
Any help in spreading the word would be very much appreciated. We want
to find our little baby a nice new home.
One last request, please follow up with any
comments/questions/well-wishes on the blog post instead of here.
Thank you most kindly,
John & Malgosia
Albert Lai
I've read the blog, whats the real reason behind the sale?
Also, are you looking to sell your team along with the IP to the buyer? What the plan?
-- Albert
John Philip Green
The "real reason" is that we ran out of money--I certainly didn't mean
to be obtuse about this!
We went through a long and painful process with "Toronto VC" but a deal
never worked out. Part of the reason was that our internal champion at
"Toronto VC" left the company mid-process. I suspect that we would have
had better luck if he'd stayed on.
Up until very recently, we were in active discussions with two other
VCs. We had several signs that chances were rather good that we'd get
funding--but we've learned that they ALWAYS look good. Its a technique
well known as SHITS: Show High Interest Then Stall.
After the wheels fell off with "Toronto VC", and after several months
of no salaries, we all started looking for other options. The team has
since dissolved... Chris & Ajay are off to great jobs at a Wall St.
consultancy, and Malgosia & I are now off to San Fran. (See our Married
Inc. blog for the announcements.)
I tried to make clear at the end of the "For Sale" Nuvvo blog post what
was for sale. IP: yes, Team: no. This may or may not work for all
organizations. In the case of Tucows and their acquisition of Kiko,
they have such technical depth internally that they really didn't need
or want the Kiko team. I don't mean to suggest that our deal will look
anything like Kiko's, should we get one, just that this sort of
transaction is amenable to some companies.
As an aside, we've been a bit overwhelmed with the number of interested
parties! We'll see if anything pans out, we've put too much into this
to sell it for cheap. Stay tuned. If Nuvvo doesn't find a new home,
we'll keep the service running for the forseeable future regardless.
Albert, please feel free to follow up with me privately if you'd like.
John Philip Green
Albert Lai
I'm sorry if you felt that I was trying to publicly "out" you on the mailing list.
But the fact that you've replied with such transparency and willingness to share your story speak a great deal about your character IMO.
The story you shared is not totally uncommon, it really saddens me to see you guys let go of Nuvvo -- as I've always thought you guys uncommonly good design sense in the build out of your product and brand, and an uncommon willingness to venture forth -- esp. in the Canadian environment.
I wonder if you would have had the same fate if we had a stronger community of founders here. I know there was talk of one, and I'm also a part of a fairly well organized group called ACETech -- which runs a CEO round table every couple of months -- problem with that group is that its (1) too diverse a group (wish there were more web types), and (2) my schedule never matches up with them either.
I was thinking it would be fun to do a group skype call once in a while -- but something like that probably doesn't need a formal organization behind.
BTW: Just followed up on the personal blog now, congrats and good luck on the next move. I will follow up in private via skype to chat...
-- Albert
From: John Philip Green <john.phi...@gmail.com>
To: TorCamp <tor...@googlegroups.com>
Deborah Hartmann
:-)
deb
--
Deborah Hartmann
Agile Process Coach
deb...@hartmann.net
416 996-4337
"Learn the principle,
abide by the principle, and
dissolve the principle."
-- Bruce Lee
John Philip Green
We've been missing you at the *Camps recently! Haven't seen you in
months.
I don't think you can ever have too strong of an entrepreneur
self-support group. I know Malgosia had met for dinner a couple times
with a group including Michael McDerment, Leila, and others... she got
a lot out of that I think. (I wasn't invited for some reason!
Seriously, I'm still bitter. ;)
Anywho, I think Toronto should copy what Rapleaf's CEO Auren Hoffman
has started in San Fran: A Founder's Brunch. I think he hosted the
first one, but there have been many since hosted by others. I think
they hold one every month... for 30 or so--founders only. I've been
invited to the next one, so I'll be able to tell you more about it
then.
John
alex....@gmail.com
While we haven't met I feel your pain.
I've worked closely with Albert at the early days of BubbleShare, with
Sutha for a very long time re:Ambient Vector, and now I've launched
ChickAdvisor with my wife Ali.
You can read her thoughts on the experiences trying to raise money on
RedCanary. I've been down this road in web1.0 (ProfessorJones) and do
know that Canada is a very, very tough place to launch. For what's
it's worth I think you've launced a great product.
I do think that launching the equivilant of an entrepeneurs brunch is
an awesome idea.
John Philip Green
Thanks for your thoughts.
Just a few days ago I did notice that b5 media got funding from Rick &
Salim (JLA & Brightspark). Perhaps we gave up too soon? Rick & Salim
are good guys and they know what they are doing.
Good luck with your startup... I'll keep my eye on it for sure. I loved
working with my wife every day and I bet you will too.
All the best,
John