The company behind MyQuire, a simple but pretty powerful online application that lets individuals and team members work on projects in a social network-like environment, has been recently acquired.
That’s about all we know. We got in touch with CEO Michael Dawson but he declined to comment or share any details because the buyer apparently requested full confidentiality on the deal.
A tipster shared the following e-mail he received:
We have some big news! After nearly two years of building MyQuire, we have been acquired. We have had a great time working with you, and couldn’t have gotten here without your help.
As part of this deal, we will no longer be able to operate MyQuire.com. Services on the platform will end January 1, 2009. We apologize for any disruption to your work.
The collaboration tool was first launched about 14 months ago at the DEMOFall conference but we hadn’t really heard anything from or about the company since. Even their own ‘press coverage’ and ‘press releases’ pages haven’t been updated since December 2007.
Anyone out there who knows a bit more about the acquisition?
Here’s a video of Founder and former CEO David Steinberg presenting MyQuire at DEMOFall 07:
Maybe this guy can use some of the acquisition money to trim his eyebrows and buy a podium that will keep him still for his next presentation.
easy there
“we will no longer be able to operate MyQuire.com. Services on the platform will end January 1, 2009″
not sure what that means … do you think it means re-branding, merging into another “parent” service, etc …
in any case doesn’t sound like a winner deal to me …
Simplifying the group work process in a fun and Social manner, what a great company!
I love astroturfers sometimes.
I had to look that word up, good vocab my friend…have a good one.
As per the email that went out, Michael has directed all of Myquire’s existing users to http://www.huddle.net – “Huddle.net [is] a group collaboration tool that shares many of MyQuire’s values and features, is our recommendation for a replacement tool”
Andy- RU kidding?
For clarity you should have just said,
‘look, we have no orderly transfer of your account planned out so your pretty much screwed. Peace out bro…”
Sounds more like Quire is shutting down and going out of business.
They were acquired, but they’re shutting down their service in four weeks? Dur.
Likely a rebuild on a new platform. E.g., look at some of the Salesforce.com acquisitions.
If it is a rebuild why would they be blowing off their customers?
First? Baloney.
There are PLENTY of these services…. ODesk, eLance, etc etc.
i’ll say they were “acquired” by a competitor for some minimal amount… just for the sake of squashing them down. another way of eliminating their competition. not exactly sure of the secrecy though… just announce it, it is not as if it will cause a big ripple effect or cause stocks to crash.
Agree. That said, the company did add that the acquisition was about the technology.
this is one main reason why my company doesn’t rely on online collaboration tools. one day you are here, tommorow your gone!
I personally have a huge problem with these kind of acquisition. That kind of acquisition communicate the wrong message to potential users, like MF just said: his company wouldn’t rely on online collaboration tools.
As the CEO of a startup that develop a platform for freelancers and small businesses [ http://www.octabox.com ], I don’t want to think how that would impact my business. [we're spending lot of money and energy on making our tools more reliable for a reason]. Users will be more careful before trusting a startup with their business.
I’d personally wouldn’t accept any acquisition offer that would mean shutting down my business without giving them a proper way to move their data to a tool of their liking (and no, redirecting your users to huddle isn’t a solution either).
Anyway , I am happy for Mike dawson
Hey Adam … just a heads up … you have a misspelled word on your front page – Self Manag[e]ment Platform.
“We have had a great time working with you, and couldn’t have gotten here without your help.” – Yeah right. That’s why they dumped all customers in one month….or they ran out of money and had to sell which may be a more likely scenario.
goto huddle.com… and PAY. Yeah, there’s a problem don’t ya think? It’s not the point of how much you’re paying to use their services – it’s that you have to pay at all…. not to mention all the other restrictions.
Maybe LinkedIn bought em. If there was ever a place that could use some collab tools for professionals – that’s it… and yeah, those people pay too.
Paul, I think paying is the best option.
As a customer, I wouldn’t rely on a free service for my business, I’d rather rely on a product that charge me 5-10$ a month and know that they have some kind of responsability for my business.
Don’t you think that a tool that is producing at least 1-2k $ of value per month isn’t worth at least 10$?
oh, if there was confidence in their ability to maintain, possibly… and, should really ALL your data be transferable should they close (or you cancel your account) then maybe… but maybe it’s just as much about wrapping my head around the idea of a ‘paid’ social network. I don’t know. paid collab tools, sure, but paying for the displeasure of working with people you already know and already work with??
I don’t like the idea of paying for any service where my data could be here today, gone tomorrow… sure that could happen with a ‘free’ model, but that’s why i said LinkedIn would be good for something of this sort – we all know they aren’t going anywhere.
I own a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT domain name for collaborative ventures and I’ve been working on several ideas for it’s use… unless I sell it outright (it’s not on the market right now)… so I think about these things a lot.
How great?
great x3
Nothing says exciting news for your users like you yanking the rug out from under them with relative little warning. One day these companies will realize users don’t like big news … they just like the stuff to stay up and keep working.
Oh, and since they’re shutting down … maybe they should take the sign-up links off their site.
Is this a real acquisition? Sounds more like total BS to me. No news on their site for over a year. And the buyer is conveniently anonymous and the existing service is shutting down. Maybe the founder just wants to make his resume look prettier when he goes looking for a job next. Yeah, my company was acquired by someone I can’t name and the service no longer exists. But it was a huge success! Trust me!
Acquired by the Deadpool.
I love astroturfers sometimes.
I am happy for Mike dawson