// startup autopsy
Readmill
Readmill built the most beautiful e-reader app with social highlighting. Dropbox acquired it in March. Shut it down in July.
acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire
Fatal mistake: Dropbox acquired for engineering talent with no plan to operate or migrate the product
// the model, blind
Evaluating only Readmill’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Competition as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: Acquisition gone wrong.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Readmill founded in Stockholm, Sweden, with a vision to create a social e-reading platform for iOS with public highlighting and reader discovery features.
PRODUCT LAUNCH
Readmill launches its iOS e-reader app publicly, allowing users to import ePub books, highlight passages, and share reading progress with a social network of readers.
FUNDING
Readmill raises approximately $1.4 million in seed funding to grow its social reading platform and expand its small but passionate user base.
ACQUISITION ATTEMPT
Dropbox acqui-hires Readmill in an acqui-hire deal focused on the engineering and design talent; Readmill announces shutdown giving users four months to export their data, highlights, and reading history.
SHUTDOWN
Readmill permanently shuts down all services on July 1, 2014, deleting users' reading history, highlights, and notes. The product was never integrated into any Dropbox offering; the team was absorbed into Dropbox projects.