Yahoo Finance It's no secret, 'Secret' is no more
Secret, a messaging app that allowed users a veil of anonymity, has closed it’s doors. In the highly competitive worlds of Silicon Valley and venture capital it wasn’t exactly an all-star. Valued at $100 million at it’s peak, it never broke into the higher echelons of the tech startup world.
“I’m not sure it’s too big of a tragedy for the venture capital world that this app didn’t work out,” says Yahoo Finance Technology Reporter Aaron Pressman. “I’d also like to say, just as the parent of teenagers, I’m kind of glad to see this app go. It had a lot of problems and it’s kind of a thing where people can anonymously bully each other and pick on each other. I’m not gonna miss it”
Still, the way in which founders David Byttow and Chrys Bader shuttered the company is a bit unique. Rather than taking the VC money and “pivoting” to a new business using the apps existing infrastructure, they gave the money back.
Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App
It’s a move many inside the company saw coming several months ago. “When they raised their last round the founders sold their shares,” notes yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task. “That was a signal to the other employees at the company [that] these guys aren’t really committed to Secret.”
In fact according to the New York Times’ account of Secret's final chapter, David Byttow took his share of the cash made from selling a stake in the company and bought a Ferrari. Many of the employees found out about it all...anonymously on Secret.
“That was really a death knell to the company,” Task says, noting that many of the company’s engineers jumped ship for more competitive jobs peppered throughout the Valley.
More from Yahoo Finance
Goldman Sachs buys into Bitcoin and McDonald's new DIY burger
Budweiser's 'no' must go: social media
Uber now drops off food, not just people
