Bus numbers and it's connections.
Growing up in a metropolitan Asian city, I enjoyed taking buses everywhere. To school, to grandparents place, to friend's houses, to friend's grandparents houses etc,
I could give routes that went through posh neighbourhoods, or food recommendations along the routes.
It was my super power before Google maps came along 🥲
Sophie's world by Josvein Gaarder and unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera.
Read these in my late teen rebellious age, made me introspective and really emo (read: pretentious and annoying) and gave me a philosophical lens and human psychological lens in my relationships with others and with the world.
May not be typically mind-blowing books as they are, but coming in that time in my life, it shaped my world view.
I was an early adopter and lover of Evernote. It was a simple proposition, syncing your notes across all devices, and relatively good management system. Used it for school notes, managing life, planning holidays, events etc.
Loved loved it.
Then came along Google keep which did everything, and had a simpler cleaner UI/UX. Made the switch and never looked back. Until now (de-googling)
I guess the trajectory is pretty much the same for all these other companies where they couldn't sustain the growth, and it reached a limit within their reach.
Besides business model decisions, perhaps it's also down to the appetite and ambition of the founder.
Evernote: Acquired in January 2023, in July 2023 Bending Spoons laid off all Evernote staff and transferred the operations to Bending Spoons HQ.
Mosaic Group: Acquired in January 2024, immediately laid off all 330 staff members, folded operations into Bending Spoons HQ.
WeTransfer: Acquired in July 2024, in September 2024 laid off 75% of all staff.
MeetUp: Acquired in January 2024, in February 2024 laid off a “significant” portion of the workforce
Brightcove: Acquired in November 2024, yesterday, March 19th, laid off 2/3rds of US employees
https://enclose.horse/ Day 38 🥇 Excellent! 🥇 92%