How to Hire Bill Gates to Demo your Startup’s Product

Personal Productivity, Software, Startups February 12th, 2008

Actually, I don’t know how, but Xobni apparently does: Bill Gates presented Xobni for Outlook as “the next generation of social networking†(is that why he quit Facebook?) at the Microsoft Office Developers Conference yesterday (video here).

Now, let’s think for a minute. What does it mean when Bill Gates presents your product, a super-cool Outlook plugin to his crowd of developers?

  1. Gates’s message: now go back and copy this fast. That would be the classic Microsoft style, as many software startups can attest to. It would also put the market introduction to somewhere … around 2015? Unlikely.
  2. Microsoft will acquire Xobni in no time. Sweet and fast deal. Congratulations to the Xobni team and investors! martini

Update (2/15): Xobni has a new CEO: Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo’s vice president of social search until now. Did he just escape from one Microsoft acquisition and get into another one? ;-)

Update (3/2): TechCrunch has sources confirming the Microsoft negotiations.

Update (3/20): Bob Warfield believes Microsoft is about to close the deal with Xobni.

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11 Comments to “How to Hire Bill Gates to Demo your Startup’s Product”

  1. Microsoft May Buy Email Startup Xobni | March 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am

    [...] Zoli Erdos points out that Bill Gates loves [...]

  2. Microsoft May Buy Email Startup Xobni | Article Blog | March 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 am

    [...] Zoli Erdos points out that Bill Gates loves Zobni: CrunchBase Information Xobni Information provided by [...]

  3. Microsoft May Buy Email Startup Xobni : New Web 2.0 Magazine | March 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am

    [...] Zoli Erdos points out that Bill Gates loves Zobni: CrunchBase Information Xobni Information provided by [...]

  4. Microsoft Signs Letter Of Intent To Acquire Xobni | April 20th, 2008 at 11:27 am

    [...] but a previous offer of sub-$20 million was supposedly rejected by Xobni. Bill Gates has publicly complimented the [...]

  5. Microsoft buying Xobni Social Network Plugin « The Analytics Guru | April 20th, 2008 at 11:48 am

    [...] - Microsoft Signs Letter Of Intent To Acquire Xobni in TechCrunch today. Bill Gates has publicly complimented the service, calling it “the next generation of social [...]

  6. Microsoft soon to acquire Xobni for unknown sum | Compaholics.com | April 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    [...] Gates has publicly complimented the service, calling it “the next generation of social [...]

  7. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » 情報：マイクロソフトãŒXobniè²·åŽã®åŒæ„書ã«ç½²å | April 20th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

    [...] ビル・ゲーツã¯ã“ã®ã‚µãƒ¼ãƒ“スを公ã®å ´ã§è³žè³›ã—ã¦ã€Œæ¬¡ä¸–代ã®ã‚½ãƒ¼ã‚·ãƒ£ãƒ«ãƒãƒƒãƒˆãƒ¯ãƒ¼ã‚­ãƒ³ã‚°ã€ã¨å‘¼ã‚“ã§ã„る。 [...]

  8. TechCrunch en français » Microsoft confirme son intention d'acquérir Xobni | April 20th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

    [...] gates avait personnellement complimenté ce service en le définissant comme “la prochaine génération de réseau [...]

  9. Why Americans love haterade « Carus.Famulus.Proeliator.Princeps | April 20th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    [...] for Xobni, whether the acquisition goes through or not, and with recent press in the NYT as well as a mention by William Gates himself, they’re at least on their way to its other important acquisition: [...]

  10. Microsoft and Xobni | April 21st, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    [...] Bill Gates has publicly complimented the service, calling it “the next generation of social networking.†[...]

  11. Microsoft confirme son intention d’acquérir Xobni | April 24th, 2008 at 2:50 am

    [...] gates avait personnellement complimenté ce service en le définissant comme “la prochaine génération de réseau [...]

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