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We’re saying goodbye - Nukern’s story ends
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We’re saying goodbye - Nukern’s story ends

edited December 2017 in General

Just received an email just now:

Friday, December 8th, 2017
It's time to say goodbye
Almost four years ago, we set out to create the most beautiful and intuitive billing platform for web hosts and digital agencies. Our mission was to make managing web hosting services so easy that anyone could do it and make real money doing it.

Along the way, we met many individuals; designers and freelancers, but also companies who believed in our mission and validated that the web hosting industry was ready for a change. We're proud of the community that rallied around Nukern and inspired us to always push further.

Today we're announcing that we will be shutting down Nukern on February 1st, 2018. This is probably the hardest decision we've ever had to make. Even harder when so many of you were counting on Nukern to grow your business.

After missing too many deadlines, doing a soft-launch in August, and over 200 companies signing up for Nukern with no marketing, we're running out of funds. We have business loans we can't repay and no core technical team. The development of Nukern was outsourced to help our burn rate but, 3 months ago, we ended up in a serious dispute with the remote development firm. They stopped the development and we couldn't find the right investors nor could we put the right team in place to keep Nukern alive in the short amount of time we had to turn around.

What does this means for me?
1. If you pre-ordered Nukern, you will receive a refund.
If you took part in the pre-order promo we had a while back, you will be receiving a refund notice from Stripe within the next 7 days. You will see the refund as a credit approximately 5-10 business days later, depending upon your bank.

  1. If you have a Nukern account, all your data will be erased.
    We're not interested in making a quick buck from selling your email address or any of your data. We take your privacy very seriously, even if we're shutting down the company. You'll be able to access your account until February 1st, 2018.

  2. If you have important data in your Nukern account, you still have time to export it.
    Our servers will be shut down, and the Nukern application will no longer be functional after February 1st, 2018. If you need help with anything before then, simply reply to this email and we'll do our very best to help you.

  3. If you're looking for another platform, take a look at Cheddar.
    They have a unique approach to subscription management, so you might want to take a look at their platform and API for developers.

  4. If you're interested in acquiring our intellectual property, read below.
    We're currently talking to a small number of customers & partners who think the IP we built is still valuable. If you would like to engage in that conversation with us, please reach out to philnukern.com

  5. If you have unanswered questions, please reach out.
    If you have questions, you will be able to reach philnukern.com at least until February 1st, 2018.

Goodbye

In the next couple days, we will make this announcement public on our website, social medias and inside each Nukern account. We will also put together a dedicated FAQ about our closure, available on our website by the end of the month.

Nukern's current story ends here. Many challenges in the world of web hosting remain unsolved, and we failed to create the best management & billing platform for web hosts and digital agencies. For this, we're deeply sorry.

We were truly fortunate to have the support of amazing users like you. Thank you for inspiring our work and motivating us everyday. All the best from the Nukern team.

Phil Rivard
Founder & CEO, NUKERN INC.

Comments

  • What did this program actually do? And yeah, outsourcing to a remote company usually ends up costing more than it saves.

  • HarzemHarzem Member
    edited December 2017

    A tech business run by managers, running on loans and no core technical team? I wonder why they weren't successful. Such a mystery.

  • I see, www.nukern.com explains and has an ultra slick web design. My tastes run towards simpler but I know that fancy javascript stuff is the new hotness. Main mistake I can see is expecting to find any revenue from cheapskate VPS hosts...

  • jhjh Member

    Love their web design and I agree with @willie - they were trying to get blood (money) out of a stone (small web hosting companies). I think the loans and lack of technical team were probably a new development as part of a desperate attempt to keep the product going.

    I also noticed the TechStars branding in the footer of their website - they seem to have gone the same way as Virtkick who were supported by the same programme.

  • Yeah $29 month for 19 clients for a not known script ends like this.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited December 2017

    I have to say I am not even a little bit surprised, yet another next big thing that listens to no one not even potential or current customers, thinks they know it all before they have traded for a day and chases image above profit.

    I called that about a year ago, no suppose OnCrapp jumped on the bandwagon: https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/1834619/#Comment_1834619 they are headed in the same direction IMO.

  • @AnthonySmith said:
    I called that about a year ago, no suppose OnCrapp jumped on the bandwagon: https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/1834619/#Comment_1834619 they are headed in the same direction IMO.

    You have an obsession. I literally did a single call with them to help with their API integration after a customer requested it.

    Thanked by 1sithrebel15
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    OnApp_Terry said: You have an obsession.

    Sadly you don't.

  • Please do not derail the thread.

    ... oh wait, I don't moderate this forum.

    ... (checks out the other one) oh wait, I don't moderate that one either anymore.

    I guess do whatever you want :P

    On a side note, nukern had the mistake of charging per client with a setup fee. The fact that they offered the service for free for a while doesn't change the fact that it was expensive for web hosts to use. No one will build their business around something that will later cost $100 for a few hundred clients, while better software already does it for $15. Web hosting has razor-thin profits already. NAT guys won't use it, $1/mo vps providers won't use it, not even $5/mo providers will use it, why give 10% profits to a yet-incomplete billing system?

    You should already be running a profitable business (in which case you wouldn't move your existing database to nukern anyway) with no debt and at least 25% or more pure profit per customer to afford those prices, and you need to be unhappy with existing billing systems.

    Who was their target group?

  • @Harzem said:

    Who was their target group?

    Pulls up the Power Point slide which illustrates how Hosting industry is worth billions of dollars and management will be rich if only we get 1% pie of total market $$$$$$$$$$

    Thanked by 1jh
  • They didn't seem to get much in the terms of funding.

    https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nukern

    Thanked by 1MikePT
  • raindog308raindog308 Administrator, Veteran

    CreatePrivateServer said: Our mission was to make managing web hosting services so easy that anyone could do it and make real money doing it.

    image

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    It's too bad. I really miss that software they were so proud of that they would never even give me a preview.

    Thanked by 1Lm85H4gFkh3wk3
  • mfsmfs Banned, Member
    edited December 2017

    Well, when you're pants heads down in the tentacle porn business things like deadlines and projects may fall out of... hand

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    It was pretty good software in terms of ease of use, I paid for it just to test it, but they just gave the usual polite appreciation reply to customer feedback and did nothing with it because they knew best and they listened to none of the overwhelming public criticism and no matter where that was when they had no real answer they just said you are not our market.

    It was obviously 1 guys unwavering vision that ran out of money before it was realised.

    Thanked by 1raindog308
  • edited December 2017

    They could still be in business if this happens in the past. Say $30/month or something

  • There's always VirtKick, ya know..

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