I don't think that's what happened here. Branch has failed to catch on as far as I can tell, this is a good ole boys acquisition.

  > This is why I could never be a tech start up investor. 
  > Every new app like this that I see, I dismiss as 
  > useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that.

Seasoned investors don't even try to decide whether the app is good or not. After all, who cares what the investor thinks? The only thing that matters is what the market thinks. Instead, they "place many small bets", and hope that one of them pays off big.

(edit: This is why there seem to be so many "bad ideas" that get funded.)

But by that logic every startup has an equal chance of investments, so the optimal tactic is to pump out nonsensical bad apps until somebody funds one.

That assumes your end-goal is to get an app funded. It's my understanding that funding is really just the start of the journey to having something that is successful and will make you rich (if that's your goal).

"many small bets" does not mean you're picking them at random.

This model of investment is one tactic. But in my opinion, it's not the one at play here.

Another majorly significant tactic of investment is to buy your potential competitors early and often. Find the upstarts that pose a threat to your business and make them an offer.

These are not great outcomes for the investors.

"This is why I could never be a tech start up investor. Every new app like this that I see, I dismiss as useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that. Then it gets bought by one of the big guys for millions a year later."

This is why I could barely use many new apps like this I see. I don't have time to waste on something useless/nothing new/why would anyone use that. Then it gets used by million of people after a year later. :)

Actually there are lot of competitors creating online conversations tools, so maybe it's not that useless. And they are the lucky guys being picked.

How about having something really new and useful? Let me know whether it also falls into "why would anyone use that": http://bingobo.info/blog/table-of-contents.jsp.

Using new apps are a great way to learn, design/product, and trends. Every startup is trying really hard to create something new, or some unique problem they see in the world. Not trying them out feels like a huge mistake as a product builder today

Yes, you have a point. Even if products have different market sectors, if there are something similar, trying it out may help for feature design and product enhancement.

One of the features we are building is to share the useful links among various friends circles, but don't have discussion in design yet. It seems very advanced feature.

Let's see if Branch will gain a fairly big market, then it really makes sense.

As a designer I find it interesting to guess at why the product owner designed something a certain way. I really recommend checking them out, if you get a chance