Evaluating only Screenhero’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
Jahanzeb Sherwani and Ryan Noon found Screenhero in San Francisco, focusing on collaborative screen-sharing with voice.
ACQUISITION ATTEMPT
Slack acquires Screenhero for estimated $5-15M to add video and screen-sharing to its messaging platform.
SHUTDOWN
Slack shuts down Screenhero standalone app July 2016; promises integrated video in Slack; feature remains limited.
SHUTDOWN
Screenhero technology fully deprecated; Slack formally partners with Zoom for enterprise video instead.
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Screenhero was a collaborative screen-sharing and video call tool for developers, raising ~$2M before Slack acquired it in January 2015 for an undisclosed sum (estimated $5-15M) to integrate video calling into Slack. Slack stripped out Screenhero's standalone app in July 2016, promising deep integration that never fully materialized. By 2019, Screenhero's technology was quietly deprecated as Slack built its own video features and eventually partnered with Zoom.
Lesson
“Acqui-hires into large platforms risk the acquired technology being deprioritized the moment a stronger partner emerges.”
Failure anatomy
Collapse type
Acqui-hire
📉 MEDIUM
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