Some Final Words on Foursquare

Posted by hornokplease 1 day ago

Comments

Comment by andirk 5 hours ago

One of my most favorite apps that I use daily and is the basis of my short story where the algorithms start causing people to do weird things like check-in to natural disasters before they happen.

Ironically, my story (done at end of 2026) will live on longer than its inspired app.

Dang.

Comment by thoughtpeddler 1 day ago

> My north star for Foursquare’s culture (2010s) was always, “We want people to look back and think, ‘That was the best job I ever had because those were the best people I ever worked with’.” And I hear from ex-Foursquare people over and over again that we absolutely nailed this.

Reminds me of what we've been hearing recently from the mathematics community: that if AI completely overtakes their field, it's still about doing math with your fellow humans (just like how people still massively enjoy chess despite AI's dominance over that game).

More and more, technocapital progress reveals the social and communitarian heart of our soul.

Comment by andirk 5 hours ago

This type of capitalism is tiresome, but is not that what these companies sign up for when they sell their souls to the highest bidder with fingers crossed that those money-first buyers give an F about the heart and soul of the company and product?

Comment by thoughtpeddler 5 hours ago

Yeah, basically. I suppose as a business owner ideally one tries to walk a tight rope between the 'artistry' and 'fun' of aspects of the business and running it, vs. the cold brutal logic of capitalism, markets, demand, etc. It is interesting that biology is similar: you can as a being of emergent complexity choose to do so many interesting and artistic and fun and social things with your mind, but then you are embodied as trillions of cells, which will eventually succumb to the unfeeling cruelty of natural systems. That's reality it seems!

Comment by nadis 1 day ago

> "It’s okay to fall in love with the company you’re building, but don’t deny yourself the ability to get closure and move on just because the company itself hasn’t yet experienced an exit or ending."

This note at the end feels like something many founders might grapple with at one point or another, especially if it's not a rocketship or clearly going to become one.

Comment by andirk 5 hours ago

Maybe the lesson is: don't fall in love with something and then sell it.

Comment by misiti3780 1 day ago

so they raised ~400M and it went to zero? seems nuts

Comment by mathattack 1 day ago

It’s going to be a more common occurrence. If you’re buying a company in distress, you don’t really care about the common shareholders. You pay the employees you want to keep via guarantees.

This is especially true when you can use AI to code an almost good enough competitor for cheap.