// startup autopsy

Look.io

Mobile live chat swallowed by the enterprise cloud giant.

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built a standalone mobile live chat product in a niche that enterprise giants were actively acquiring, leaving no path to independent scale once acquired.

Founded	2011
Closed	2013
Country	USA
Sector	Developer tools

50%

Key Events Timeline

2011-01-01

FOUNDING

Look.io founded to deliver in-app live chat and engagement tools for mobile apps.

2012-06-01

FUNDING

Look.io secures funding to grow its mobile customer engagement platform and expand sales.

2012-10-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Full product launch of in-app live chat SDK targeting mobile-first B2B software companies.

2013-06-01

SHUTDOWN

Look.io acquired by Oracle and absorbed into its customer experience cloud, ending its independent operation.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Look.io was a Santa Monica-based mobile live chat startup founded in late 2011 by Grant Miller, built out of the Amplify accelerator. The product allowed developers to embed real-time live chat with visual scre...

en-sharing ("Visual Assist") into iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, enabling support agents to view and guide users remotely. Look.io was acquired by LivePerson just nine months after founding, in June

Verified lesson

“...”

Unlock full lesson →

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Look.io collapsed from built a standalone mobile live chat product in a niche that enterprise giants were actively acquiring, leaving no path to independent scale once acquired.. Documented cause, verified lesson, all failure signals.

Unlock full analysis →Create free account

See all plans·Analyst plan — €149/mo