My last six months at Evernote

summary

Bending Spoons transformed Evernote from a loss-making 'dead unicorn' into a profitable entity by applying a ruthless business playbook focused on aggressive cost-cutting and leveraging user lock-in to hike prices. While the original company culture and workforce were dismantled, the product survived through a shift toward extreme operational efficiency and a 'buy instead of build' acquisition strategy. This process demonstrates that profitability can be achieved quickly when a company prioritizes financial metrics over legacy employee loyalty.

key points

1. Bending Spoons implemented a strict cost-reduction strategy by eliminating non-essential software subscriptions, closing physical offices, and replacing third-party vendors with in-house tools.
2. The company capitalized on the high switching costs for Evernote users, knowing that the difficulty of migrating years of data would allow them to nearly double subscription prices without losing the majority of their customer base.
3. The acquisition followed a pattern of buying apps with loyal users and replacing expensive Silicon Valley talent with lower-cost European engineers to maximize margins.

who should read it

Tech employees and entrepreneurs who want to understand the realities of corporate acquisitions and the mechanics of aggressive profit optimization.

discussion skeptical