Evernote: a 100-year company, conceivably without the creator?

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I keep seeing inconsistencies such as the following in the media:

"We've been approached by lots of companies as an acquisition target and I would never rule anything out, " Phil Libin told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Wednesday. He declined to specify the companies but called them "the usual suspects." "The last thing we're looking at is to have an exit."

I read somewhere that Evernote Food was going to be scaled back, if not, totally discontinued - straight from the horse's mouth... then they go ahead and roll out new features just recently - along with more promotion. "Reacting" to and moving with the market could be a good thing... but I've started to see a lot of inconsistencies in Evernote's vision here and there. 

I guess, in the unlikely case of a future acquisition, the concept of Evernote would continue to live on and improve under the leadership of another. Either way, I'm sure it's all good. No adult alive is going to live another 100 years anyways...

[jefito 5,589]

Inconsistencies in the media? "I'm shocked, shocked, to find gambling in this saloon."

Regarding Phil's statements, I don't see them statements as being particularly inconsistent with each other. I read it as "we'd rather not sell out if we don't have to, but we might have to anyways".

Really, I don't see that much has changed with respect to Evernote's clarity of vision as expressed by their public statements, and I don't take a lot of stock in them for that reason.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

 "I'm shocked, shocked, to find gambling in this saloon."

 

Haha! Nice Casablanca reference ;-)

 

I agree with you jefito. The vision is intact. I love what Phil has created. I'm positive about Evernote either way. I just think that if Phil has big plans to take on the Office suite and what with the ambitious plans that are materializing year by year... let us not hear about even the hint of a sellout. I'd like to see a tad bit more confidence than that... absolute confidence. It's along the same train of thought related to the recent exclusion then reinstatement of public notebooks (we got a mixed bag of conflicting explanations from Evernote staff) ... plus the uncertainty of Evernote Food sticking around, followed by the confusing betterment thereof. It's going away... but then it gets better.

 

I don't read much of what Phil says publicly, but it does seem out of kilter at times with the little things that matter to many. All we can do is trust in the vision... but it would be great for the nitty gritty to line up too. Either way, I'm not very passionate about the behind the scenes stuff... but I do find it interesting and worth kicking around a little. I'm not intending this to be an overly harsh criticism or anything... mostly a passing comment.

[jefito 5,589]

Glad you caught that, not everyone does. Great movie, if for no other reason than the great lines it contains, applicable in many situations.

I try not to peer too closely at the tea leaves; talk is cheap, and Phil does have his marketing hat on often, which is useful, but not always reflective of reality. Evernote still suits my use case, and while it's clear that there are problems that some folks can't live with (even some of our long-term Evernotistas), it still has a lot going for it, and I hope, a long future ahead of it.

BTW, the Evernote folks who post here in these forum tend to provide, for me, a truer face of the company. I'm having trouble imagining trying to support a product with a user base of 80 million+; the small company I work for has no more than 100k users (rough estimate), and that's tough enough (though they tend to be rather technical).

[Metrodon 2,184]

Treat Phil as basically human click-bait and you'll be fine. He often seems to say the kind of things that will get him/the company coverage rather than things that will directly affect how you use Evernote.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

BTW, the Evernote folks who post here in these forum tend to provide, for me, a truer face of the company. I'm having trouble imagining trying to support a product with a user base of 80 million+; the small company I work for has no more than 100k users (rough estimate), and that's tough enough (though they tend to be rather technical).

 

For one thing, Evernote has been pretty smart to give people this romping ground. It gives them a decent "volunteer staff" base for responding to hiccups and the like.