Pixate

What did it do?

Pixate was a tool that let designers build interactive app prototypes for iOS and Android without writing code. Prototypes assembled in the browser ran natively on the phone, so animations and gestures could be tried out instantly on a real device. Before moving to this product, the company had offered a developer framework for styling native mobile apps with CSS.

Why did it shut down?

The company, part of Y Combinator's summer 2012 batch, released its first product, the CSS framework, in January 2013 and raised USD 3.8 million in a round led by Accel in July 2013. In October 2014 it changed focus by launching a prototyping service for designers. Google acquired Pixate in July 2015, made Studio free and cut the price of the cloud service sharply. In October 2016 the team announced that Pixate would close, saying it believed it could make a far bigger impact with new projects. On 31 October 2016 the cloud service, support and Studio downloads ended; files not exported were to be deleted from 1 November.

The story

Pixate's founders, Paul Colton and Kevin Lindsey, had previously worked together on Aptana, a development environment later sold to Appcelerator. Joining Y Combinator in the summer of 2012, the pair worked on a framework that let developers style native iOS apps using CSS, the language web developers already knew. The product, which also raised backing on Kickstarter, was opened to everyone in January 2013, and in July 2013 the Palo Alto-based company raised a USD 3.8 million Series A led by Accel.

The team soon set its sights on a bigger problem: letting designers try out complex animations and interactions without needing a developer. With the prototyping service launched in October 2014, designers could run a prototype built in the browser natively on the phone and see every change on the device instantly. The personal edition started at USD 10 per user per month.

In July 2015 Google acquired Pixate. The team joined Google's design team; Pixate Studio became free and the price of the cloud service was cut sharply. These moves raised expectations that the tool would reach many more product teams.

In October 2016, however, the team announced it would bid farewell to Pixate. According to the announcement, the team believed it could make a far bigger impact with the brand-new projects it had started and wanted to focus on its wider vision. On 31 October 2016 the cloud service, support channels and Studio downloads ended. Users were asked to export their prototypes before that date; from 1 November, remaining projects and account information would be deleted automatically.

Pixate became one of the examples showing how quickly a much-loved product can lose its independent existence once it is folded into a large company's strategy. The promise of free access made after the acquisition turned out to be shorter-lived than the product itself.

Lessons for founders

• When selling your product to a large company, ask how long the free-access and discount promises made to your users will survive the team's priorities at its new employer.
• Pixate found stronger demand by moving from a developer tool to a designer tool; after a pivot, weigh the path of independent growth seriously before selling.
• When shutting down a service that holds users' work, provide clear export tools and a clear timetable; Pixate gave its users less than a month.

Sources

1. Pixate Raises $3.8M Series A From Accel Partners To Bring CSS Styling To Android And Mac App Development (TechCrunch, 2013-07-01)
2. Pixate Launches Its App Prototyping Service For Designers (TechCrunch, 2014-10-14)
3. Google Acquires Mobile App Prototyping Tool Pixate (TechCrunch, 2015-07-21)
4. Google will kill Pixate on October 31 (VentureBeat, 2016-10-05)
5. Pixate To Shutter, Google Cloud Remains Work In Progress (MediaPost, 2016-10-06)

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