Sunrise

What did it do?

Sunrise was a calendar app that brought different calendars such as Google Calendar, iCloud and Exchange together on a single screen, and also added information from services such as Foursquare, Trello, Asana and Evernote. Available on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web, it stood out for its careful design and event icons.

Why did it shut down?

Sunrise did not go under on its own; its success made it an acquisition target for a big company. Having bought the email app Acompli, Microsoft acquired Sunrise in February 2015 for more than $100 million and moved the team into its Outlook division. Although it was initially said that the app would live on independently, on 28 October 2015 Microsoft announced that Sunrise would be shut down and its features moved into Outlook. The closure, planned for 31 August 2016, was pushed back to 13 September 2016 so that the Outlook update would be ready, and the app stopped working on that date.

The story

Pierre Valade and Jeremy Le Van, who had previously worked as designers at Foursquare, founded Sunrise in New York in 2012. The project began as an email digest that sent users their daily schedule; the iPhone app was released on 19 February 2013.

Sunrise's strength lay in gathering events from Google Calendar, iCloud and Exchange on a single screen. On top of that, the app added information from services such as Foursquare, GitHub, TripIt, Asana, Evernote, Trello, Songkick and Wunderlist, and placed small icons on events according to their type. The company raised $2.2 million in June 2013 and $6 million in July 2014 in a round led by Balderton Capital. Android and web versions arrived in May 2014.

In February 2015 Microsoft bought Sunrise for more than $100 million. The acquisition was part of Microsoft's push into mobile productivity, and the email app Acompli had been bought shortly before. Microsoft initially said Sunrise would continue to live on as a standalone app. The team joined the Outlook division and played an important role in redesigning Outlook's mobile apps.

On 28 October 2015 the expected news came: Sunrise would be shut down and its features moved into Outlook. The closure was first announced for 31 August 2016, then moved to 13 September 2016 so that Outlook's new calendar features would be ready. On that day the app stopped syncing calendar changes, and the next day users were logged out.

Sunrise is not a classic failure story; it is the story of a successful product being absorbed into its buyer's strategy. Some features, such as the event icons, lived on in Outlook, but the standalone app that users loved passed into history.

Lessons for founders

• When selling to a big platform company, do not take promises that your product will live on independently as certain unless they are written into the contract.
• Solving a scattered problem, such as gathering several calendars on one screen, through design can make a small team a strategic target; but that kind of exit leaves the product's lifespan up to the buyer's strategy.
• When shutting down a product that has become a daily habit, giving users a clear transition date and an alternative protects the brand's reputation; Sunrise announced its closure months in advance.

Sources

1. Sunrise Calendar (Wikipedia)
2. Microsoft Is Acquiring Calendar App Sunrise For North Of $100 Million (TechCrunch, 2015-02-04)
3. Microsoft confirms acquisition of hot calendar app Sunrise (VentureBeat)
4. Microsoft finally kills Sunrise, brings more features to Outlook (Engadget, 2016-09-13)

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