10/4/2010 Dear 12ers,
Nearly 3 years ago, David Beach and I decided to grab a beer at a local pub and talk about startup ideas. I told him a dumb idea and he told me about one called 10seconds. I said, "we should do that one." He said, "okay." And that was it. That is until we figured out that 10seconds.tv was already taken. 12seconds sounded pretty good to us too.
We set out on a journey that would take on a wild ride of ups and downs. We experienced birth, death and (Beach) even battled cancer.
Today we are announcing the end of 12seconds.
Why? As you probably know, everything has a life cycle. 12seconds is in its twilight. After all the new product launches and attempts at a revenue model, fundraising with VCs and late night coding sessions with Jacob hunched over his monitors - it's time to call it. It is time to end 12seconds.
However, if 12seconds had a bucket list it would have filled it up with amazing life experiences! We launched an innovative micro-vlogging system, built crazy mobile apps, created revenue with legit sponsors, we were nominated for awards and had the best users on the Internet - our beloved 12ers.
12seconds is not a failure - it is a life well-lived. It really is about the journey. I know this because I'm at the destination.
You're thinking, "holy crap I made like 1000 12second videos, what do I do?" Later this week, we're going to release a download tool for you to capture those moments in time. [Update: The export tool is now available. Please login to access it] It will be available until we pull the plug - on October 22nd.
If you have any questions or want to say goodbye, feel free to click here (goodbye@12seconds.tv) to wish us all well.
There were a lot of team members and users who made 12seconds an incredible experience. I can't possibly list them all here but you know who you are. Finally, to my co-founders Beach and Jacob - I love you guys.
Sol Lipman Founder