There are always 3 things: idea, team and execution.
Color had a genuinely interesting idea: make a social network via implicit information rather than deciding whether or not the a person is a "friend".
I can see this being of particular interest to Google as they built themselves on a similar premise: ranking web searches via implicit data (links, etc.) rather than a hand built index.
So, with an interesting idea and a strong team they secured both acquisition interest and a huge funding round. The idea being that they would release a series of applications and products that would deliver on the promise of implicit social network creation.
Then their PR got ahead of them (no doubt purchased with a chunk of the $41 mil) and expectations got built to a level that could never be delivered on with the first iteration of their first product - an iPhone photo app.
So, now there is a big backlash as people feel "duped" by the gap between the hype and the product and it is crushing the company.
Color had a genuinely interesting idea: make a social network via implicit information rather than deciding whether or not the a person is a "friend".
I can see this being of particular interest to Google as they built themselves on a similar premise: ranking web searches via implicit data (links, etc.) rather than a hand built index.
So, with an interesting idea and a strong team they secured both acquisition interest and a huge funding round. The idea being that they would release a series of applications and products that would deliver on the promise of implicit social network creation.
Then their PR got ahead of them (no doubt purchased with a chunk of the $41 mil) and expectations got built to a level that could never be delivered on with the first iteration of their first product - an iPhone photo app.
So, now there is a big backlash as people feel "duped" by the gap between the hype and the product and it is crushing the company.