For startups without a warchest full of cash, times are about to get very tough. The latest to hit the deadpool is Eyespot, which announced its demise not with a press release, but with a Twitter from co-founder David Dudas stating simply:
Eyespot has shut down. Lots of great peeps available: engr, product mgmt, HR, content, bizdev, account mgmt. Let me know if u need anyone.
Eyespot raised $3.7 million way back in October, 2006 for its Web-based editor that makes it easier to create video mashups. But the Web video editor space soon got crowded, and there are only so many buyers. (Yahoo eventually acquired competitor JumpCut, for instance).
One tipster tells us that Eyespot was on the verge of selling itself, but the M&A deal fell through at the last minute. With no cash left, the company had to shut down and let all 22 of its employees go on Monday. The site, though, is still up. Anyone in San Diego looking to hire should contact David Dudas.
Don’t forget MySpace and Flektor, which has been a dud for them just like JumpCut for Yahoo.
I worked with Dave at MP3.com, he is a great guy and undoubtedly had a great team.. sorry to see eyespot go.
this is just part of startup ecosystem.
oh is the ecosystem ever so changing right now…it’s churning, baby
Weird that the site doesn’t mention it…
Sucks but, they probably had to let the person go who was in charge of updating the site.
Sorry to see these guys disappear.
@sv dropout: No, it’s not typical of the startup ecosystem. The point of the post is that the startup ecosystem is about to undergo (I’d say ‘is already undergoing’) a severe drought in funding. My company just shut down despite good revenue growth, strong product, and a very low burn rate. Round C funding was just not available. Two of my friends’ companies are right now in the same boat: Can’t get the next round.
Revenue != Profit
if (Profit <= 0)
die();
I think we will see alot of these “mashup app” for video and music sites fall apart with no sound foundational personalized strategic location based niche offerings. Hopefully when this bubble of “app” startups melts in the coming months it will open the door for the real foundational players to emerge and take there rightful position in the digital ecosystem.
KillerLocator.com
Sounds like they were in trouble before the recent blows to the economy.
Bummer. David’s awesome, and can’t wait to see what he does next!
Hate to see this happen. Anyone looking for job should check out http://www.boulder.me Lots of great startups are hiring and it’s great way to get a free trip to Boulder!
Sadness!
This is the Beginning of the End of Web 2.0 Bubble.
What a shame, I liked the guys at EyeSpot, David’s a good guy, he’ll land on his feet.
I am (or was) and Eyespot employee. Yes… it’s sad to see it go. Dudas assembled an intelligent and dynamic group, and I counted myself lucky: I enjoyed going to the office everyday! Everyone brought solid development skills to the table but, as Dudas joked, we could’ve called it Eyespot University, there was so much learning and teaching going on at the same time. I’m sure my fellow Eyespotters will be snatched up quickly.
What did you do there?
As software engineer I was involved in API development for content management, workflow and integration using Perl and Python. Built systems that used JSON and XML to communicate between client and server.
Worked with and maintained a video transcoding system which took video in any codecs (FLV, h.264 etc) and transcoded into any other supported codec using multiple public domain tools (ffmpeg, Mplayer) .
Performed UI development in Javascipt/AJAX (Mootools, Jquery & Prototype), PHP, XHTML, CSS.
Integrated Eyespot tools into Drupal, WordPress, Ektron 4.7 (plugin fun!)
Can you tell who’s updated his resume
Sad to hear the news. Eyespotters interested in moving to SF should look into things here at Mercantila. Sounds like the environments parallel one another closely – exciting place with a great team in the works.
If all these companies are going to the dead pool but still have a loyal base of clients, couldn’t they and their IP be had for next to nothing.
That sucks. I’m sorry to hear about any company closing. Best of luck to David and the others. Sarah Carr is putting together an event to facilitate mingling for folks looking for a new gig. MindTouch will buy the wine (it will probably be held at Wine Steals in Hillcrest)
Details to follow at http://mindtouch.com/blog
Wow…Eyespot was the buzz back in the video mashup days. Sorry to hear it doesn’t make it.
This whole category has been feeling pain: Juicecaster, Zannel, TinyPictures, Veeker, Kyte.tv, Treemo
As a bankruptcy attorney in San Diego, I can tell you it isn’t exactly a cheap place to live and be unemployed.
What a sad story. It shoul be a lesson for others
I guess Veeker had been dead for quite sometime..great idea but probably the timing was wrong
Looking for more information on video/tool engr, product management, HR, Content, BizDevelopement, and Account Manager. Stealth in New York looking for longdistance or local. Would love to talk new ideas with you Dave.
naturalent@yahoo.com
I used to visit Eyespot a lot when it was just released by the AjaxWrite team (or in conjunction with them. Something like that). I haven’t visited in a while, but it’s sad to see it go.
But what about their video distribution/social platform that is used by other companies with content delivered through Eyespot? That can be sold off to someone I suppose… Maybe to a company trying to do what the Social Project did with Flux? Or maybe it could be spun off… Time will tell.
Good luck to the team!
As an eyespot employee I am sad to see Eyespot go. Everyone there is really skilled and was great to be a part of that team.
There are a lot of people looking for work let David know. (and me I’ve set up a eyespot mailing list so employees can stay in touch. They’d be interested in jobs posted to that. Email me and I’ll email it to the list. Everything from backend server programming, administration to reporting/analytics, business dev, marketing, mobile, ui, and flash.
kapaakeamanastudioscom
I’m looking for work too. I was on the Flash Engineering team (3ppl), helped build the mixer, built the uploader, and monetization components, mixer player, and a bunch of other stuff. Looking for some challenging flash development myself (hard-core programmer/artist hybrid).
Former email didnt go through..trying to stop bots from harvesting my email..
kapaakea.at.manastudios.dot.com
We’re sorry to see a great company like Eyespot go. We’d be happy to hear from former Eyespotters, as well as former Eyespot customers looking to seamlessly transition and potentially enhance their online video solution.
Kaltura offers a full video platform that is open source, thus providing a great alternative to proprietary solutions in the market. The platform includes video editing as one feature among many others. http://www.kaltura.com
How long will the website stay up, and what about their existing clients?
Delve Networks is an online video platform provider that is offering special discounts of existing EyeSpot customers looking to transition to another provider.
Alex Castro
CEO
Delve Networks, Inc
http://www.delvenetworks.com
I wanted Eyespot to succeed bad. I needed an online video editor where I could collaborate with clients and storyboard their video concepts. (Syncveiw where are you?) Given another year and I think they would have had a package for smb’s to utilize the platform locally. Sorry to see them go. More sorry for the investors. There is alot wrong with the whole Web 2.0 business model. Virile social networking schemes in hopes that one of the big three will buy you out. Whatever happen to the idea of business applications. Your clients are loyal and they pay for their supper. We also forget there is a social digital digestive period. I use Conceptshare for my collaboration utility. To me the GUI is elementary, to my clients it is greek. A three year run wasn’t enough time chew it all.
How can I retrieve the stuff I uploaded.Is there ANY WAY ?
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