eggdrop
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
EggDrop was a mobile marketplace application for real-time local commerce, built by EggCartel, a San Francisco company founded in 2010 by Dan Zheng (ex-Google) and Brian Lynch (ex-Playdom). The app let people buy and sell goods with others in their local community using smartphone-native features: camera photo posting, location-filtered search, and push notifications for watched items. It launched in June 2011 with a novel 'falling price auction' model designed for frictionless transactions without haggling, then switched to traditional marketplace-style listings in November 2011. By March 2012 it had over half a million downloads on iOS and Android and $8 million in listings across the US and UK, its two primary markets.
02 / eggdrop FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
EggDrop's primary killer was slower-than-expected growth. CEO Dan Zheng said the company failed to secure a Series A round in Q1 2012, which it needed to take things to the next level: investors were looking for 'hyper growth,' and despite traction in several metropolitan areas, EggDrop never reached critical mass. A cease-and-desist letter from Craigslist a few months earlier — EggDrop had cross-posted to Craigslist and pulled about 5% of its listings from external sources — put the company on Craigslist's radar, but Zheng said it was not the primary factor in the shutdown decision.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- EggCartel founded
Dan Zheng and Brian Lynch founded EggCartel in San Francisco in 2010.
- EggDrop launched
EggDrop launched in June 2011 with a falling-price-auction model for local mobile commerce.
- Pivot to listings
In November 2011, EggDrop switched from falling-price auctions to traditional marketplace-style listings and began to pick up steam.
- Traction peak
By March 2012, EggDrop had over 500,000 downloads and $8 million in listings across the US and UK, but failed to secure a Series A in Q1.
- Shut down
In October 2012, EggDrop shut down, citing slower-than-expected growth; it had received a cease-and-desist letter from Craigslist a few months earlier.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In October 2012, EggDrop announced it was shutting down, informing its user base via email.
- 02
CEO Dan Zheng attributed the closure to slower-than-expected growth and the failure to raise a Series A, not primarily to the Craigslist cease-and-desist.