File this under “Disrupters Being Disrupted.”
As Valleywag details in this saucy account, “How Quickly a ‘Genius’ Startup Can Tank,” the tech company that displaced Million Fishes Art Collective has been unceremoniously evicted:
Bloodhound had everything going for it. TechCrunch once hailed the tradeshow app as “genius” and Peter Thiel lead a $3 million investment round in the “blowing up” company. So when a landlord drove out a popular arts collective from its home in the heart of the San Francisco’s Mission District, Bloodhound was quick to sign as the new tenant. Fifteen months later, the company is out on the street and being sued for unpaid rent.
The visual evidence of Bloodhound’s eviction is clear—and comes from an anonymous Mission Local reader who submitted these photos via our Snapp link. (Citizen journalism’s working! Thank you.)
There is a lot of interest in forecasting when the tech bubble bursts, while this story maybe just about tea leaves, or it may also be about changes in the wind, and people who are seeing over the horizon.
And with comments like 24-26’s, people start to feel, I hope the bubble burst sooner rather than later, Which is a shame because new ideas, new technology can improve peoples lives. But with such an attitude, many will hope that 24-26 will leave soon.
here’s a landlord who is doing is right:
“I’m looking for something community serving,” said Mallia, who explained he had many offers for the roughly 2000 square foot space. “Community serving is not an office, a bakery is community serving, a restaurant is community serving, a high tech office is not community serving.”
Mallia said he was asking for about $4000 a month for rent, translating to $2 a square foot, which is actually a pretty good deal on Valencia. The corridor’s commercial rents go as high as $4 a square foot.
from this article: http://missionlocal.org/2014/07/wonderland-fills-gypsy-honeymoons-spot/
A: Million fishes wasn’t evicted
B: Million fishes had no living wage jobs available for anyone
C: Million fishes showed terrible art
D: Art is an extremely self centered and egotistical pursuit
E: Million fishes moved in once upon a time and everyone said “there goes the neighborhood”
F: if you want something better in that space, then you should rent it and do something. If you are not happy with what the landlord is doing with his units, make him an offer he can not refuse and then you will be able to decide what transpires in the building within the guidelines of SF tenant laws. If not, maybe you should be quiet. I doubt that landlord cares what you do with your possessions.
in a time where a 22 year old CEO with no track record can convince billionaire venture capitalists with even bigger dollar signs in their eyes to pour millions into some social media app being built by 3 guys in a mission storefront, it’s art that is egotistical and self-centered?
Yah, about Million Fishes — while I love the idea of having an artist collective around, but they certainly didn’t “serve the community” in any useful way. I live within 2 blocks of the spot and walk by there all the time. Million Fishes never seemed to be open or showing art to the public, I could never figure out what they were doing there. They seemed to be so busy with their own thing, they didn’t make any effort to connect with the locals.
I was sad when they went, because I love the idea of artist spaces in the neighborhood, but the failed startup actually had more art in the windows than million fishes usual did.
24-24.
You write sense. The people who protest have no sense. They also usually have no money but want to take someone else’s. Because they have useless degrees or are just dummies they the think they should dictate what everyone should do.
Oh boy. Art is an extremely self centered and egotistical pursuit? Hahaha. Please. Follow Bloodhound and gtfo of the Mission. I hope I don’t see you enjoying any of the murals or public art in the Mission. I’ts obviously too self-centered for you. Stick to writing apps that clearly are not self-centered….
The article starts by saying that this tech company displaced the art collective, but in the very next paragraph, it says the landlord evicted the art collective. Which one is it? The article implies that if bloodhound didn’t exist,the art collective would still be there. Just naive and ignorant young journalist. Well, don’t know if Keli is young or not.
the artist collective didn’t have their commercial lease renewed. The landlord renovated the space and then rented it for ~6x what the collective was paying in rent. The artist collective couldn’t pay what the startup was willing to pay. So, we had an artist collective who was there for 10 years and contributed to making the neighborhood vibrant, interesting, and safe. Now we (the community) have no artist collective. We have the trash left behind by the failed startup, and the landlord has pocketed a year’s worth of (arguably) insanely inflated rent. So, good for him. The startup didn’t kick the collective out. But, in the absence of a startup fed millions of dollars to impress potential hires with their “cool” office… it’s reasonable to imagine a scenario where the art collective could’ve negotiated an affordable increase in their admittedly low rent. If all of the world operated by the laws of market demands with no regard for what is right and good… we’d have no Golden Gate Park, or any National Park System for that matter…. no historic preservation… no soul. Just sayin.
The rent going from $5000 to >$31000 a month is just insane…
Don’t shoot the messenger, fellas. This is another hard lesson learned, if you’re sharp enough.
Mission business closes down and people lose a their jobs, crying shame and potentially a conspiracy.
Mission tech business closes down and people and people lose their jobs, just desserts being dished out. MissionLocal stop claiming to represent ‘everyone’ when your ‘journalism’ is so unabashedly slanted.
this isn’t just a story about one business failing… it’s about the trend of parasitic “companies” with no sincere or long-term commitment to the community coming into the neighborhood, consuming, and then leaving it worse off…. it’s about the fleeting and speculative nature of tech… comes in with tons of money but rarely if ever offers something of lasting value… mostly just prices people out… changes the community forever… and then disappears. There are great models… like Craigslist… where money wasn’t the sole motive… where founders and investors were willing to leave something on the table for others… and, they have a longevity that Friendster, and MySpace, and surely Facebook/twitter/Instagram won’t have… because, greed.
What trend are you referring to?I assure you that all those empty storefronts on Valenicia and Mission are not the hulking relics of failed dot coms. Certainly not MySpace and Friendster.
Ah, so every empty storefront in the Mission once housed a failed parking app for com helmed by a 22 year old. I had no idea. Given that context your suggestion actually makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.
Disrupters being disrupted? Really? Rabble rouse much?
Well if they haven’t been paying their rent….wha’ddaya expect?
…errr…why is this a story? To show that LL’s evict tenants that don’t pay their rent? Genius!