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TrintMe: Perseverance a Friend or Enemy?

Sarika Pruthi
January 1, 2016
SKU:
BUS-004184
Region: 
North America
Topic: 
Strategy & General Management
Length: 
3 pages
Keywords: 
venture creation, Migrant, entrepreneur, Opportunity, Facebook, Silicon Valley
Copyrighted by: 
Journal of Critical Incidents
Student Price: 
$4.00 (€3.75)
Average rating: 
0

The idea for TrintMe was born at an alumni meeting in California when one of VS Joshi’s former classmates wondered why he had never asked her out while at College. Joshi realized that two individuals who had the same feelings for each other had not been able to express themselves because of the fear of rejection, and developed a Facebook (FB) application, TrintMe, to solve the problem. Just as the marketing campaign for TrintMe was gathering momentum, Joshi discovered that FB was going to change its APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Users of TrintMe connected to the app through FB, and a change in APIs meant that they could no longer access information about FB’s users, which threatened the very basis of TrintMe’s existence. As the deadline to withdraw from the FB platform drew close, Joshi wondered if he could save the venture before the change came into effect.

Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Discuss the challenges in emergence and early development of entrepreneurial ventures
  2. Develop criteria for deciding whether to persist or exit at critical junctures in the life of an entrepreneurial venture
  3. Evaluate alternative strategies founders can pursue to improve the survivability of their ventures
  4. Assess the role of founders’ social and human capital in emergence and development of their ventures