Today it was announced that Milk is going to be acquired by Google. While I’m happy for the team, I can’t help but feel a bit surprised at the acquisition.
As recently as yesterday, I was remarking how much I liked their model of failing fast, and iterating quickly through ideas – spinning them off into businesses when they work. I thought, like many, that shutting down Oink was only the shedding of their first non-success.
I’m holding out hope that this model can work, as while it may miss a few good successes (that other people will no-doubt try again), it doesn’t waste time on products trying to force them to fit. You can re-use components over time, and build amazing things until something sticks.
Maybe they’ll end up doing something similar inside of Google?