2013年8月8日

據TechCrunch報道，在進行了61萬美元的種子輪融資後，Facebook營銷平台PostRocket宣布該公司將於8月15日周四關閉。該公司聯合創始人兼首席執行官蒂姆·蔡(Tim Chae)是巴布森學院(Babson College)的輟學生，他周三向PostRocket的客戶發送了一封電子郵件，提醒他們有一周的時間從平台上刪除自己的數據。蔡在電子郵件中寫道:“當我們最初創建PostRocket時，我們不僅想幫助像你這樣的營銷人員在Facebook營銷上取得成功，還想用卓越的產品和服務來支持它。”“我們永遠無法達到我們為自己設定的高標準。我們的產品有很多問題，即使在停機時間和bug中，您仍然堅持使用我們。我們對此表示感謝。”這封信，全文如下，誠實，令人心碎，堪稱典範。蔡在2011年巴布森大學商業計劃競賽的本科賽中獲得第一名後，賺了2萬美元，裝滿了他的馬自達3掀背車，和他的三個最親密的朋友開始了3000英裏的舊金山公路旅行。42小時後，三人到達了，除非是加油，他們從未停下來，很快就被500 Startups錄取了，這讓蔡康永更容易做出從巴布森學院退學的決定。在加速器項目期間，PostRocket為賣出多白金唱片的音樂人Pitbull管理了Facebook業務，並從500 Startups、Polaris Partners和各種天使投資者那裏獲得了上述種子輪融資。 Dave McClure, venture capitalist and founding partner at 500 Startups, took to AngelList and boldly called Chae “ the next Mark Zuckerberg .” Now, the Facebook founder’s story started a bit differently, but for every Zuckerberg, there are thousands of Chae’s, and his willingness to take a risk is both commendable and inspiring. As one local entrepreneur tweeted in response to hearing the news of PostRocket’s shutdown: “[I] have no doubts you’ll continue to build great products and do awesome things.” Part of being an entrepreneur is having that inherent drive—Chae spontaneously deciding to take that drive on the road to San Francisco embodies what it means to be a founder. The best founders also know when it’s time to admit defeat and move on to the next project. I—assumedly like many others, given the responses via social media—believe Chae will still be the next Mark Zuckerberg, despite this bump in the road. Not all risks reap the intended reward, but can you know that without taking the leap? Chae has reassured , “I’m in a good place. … It’s been a great ride.” Chae’s full letter to PostRocket customers can be found below: This is really disappointing to say, but I must inform you that PostRocket will be shutting down its products and services next Thursday, August 15th. When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves. Our product had many issues and even through the down-time and bugs, you stuck with us. We thank you for that. We should and could have done much better in bringing you a reliable product that expanded as quickly as the landscape of Facebook marketing changed. You will be refunded any of your remaining prorated credits as of today 8/6/13 and will be able to continue using PostRocket to migrate your data or find another provider until 11:59PM PST 8/14/13, at which point all data will be erased and removed. If you’re looking for an alternative service to migrate to after PostRocket, I *strongly* recommend using Facebook’s all new native Insights product. I would have never recommended using native with FB marketing, but their new product blows any other service out the water. They are rolling out this Insights product and you should expect to receive it in the next few weeks, if you don’t already have it. Again, thank you so much for being a PostRocket customer. We really do appreciate you believing in us. We wish we could have done better for you. On behalf of the PostRocket team, Tim