Grammarly acquires Superhuman

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Grammarly’s Strategy and Role as “Holdco”

  • Several see this as Grammarly following a Salesforce-style rollup: acquiring solid but slowing, overvalued, founder-led products with loyal niches (e.g., Superhuman, Coda).
  • This is contrasted with private equity rollups: expectation is growth via product-focused founders rather than cost-cutting.
  • Some argue long-lived private “unicorns” are a problem because public investors are shut out; IPOs become cash-out events with the public as “bagholders.”

Acquisition Outcomes and Email-Client Skepticism

  • History of acquired email clients (Mailbox, Sparrow, Rapportive) is cited as bleak: usually shut down or degraded after purchase.
  • A few examples of positive acquisitions (YouTube, Android, Google Maps, some industrial brands) are offered, but others dispute whether those really stayed “better.”
  • Multiple Superhuman users fear the product will get worse or “enshittified,” drawing analogies to Dropbox’s bloat.

Superhuman Product, Users, and Value

  • Mixed perception of Superhuman:
    • Fans praise speed, keyboard-driven UX, inbox-zero workflow, and are willing to pay the premium.
    • Critics see it as Bay Area status product, overpriced for features that browser plugins or newer clients can replicate.
  • Revenue/user estimates (~$35M, ~85–90k users) lead many to assume the acquisition is a down-round or even fire sale from 2021’s ~$825M valuation.

Grammarly’s Position, Alternatives, and AI

  • Some say Grammarly is existentially threatened by general-purpose LLMs and local models; others argue its core moat is UX, ubiquity, and integrations.
  • Users raise privacy and performance concerns (heavy browser injections, cloud processing) and desire local or self-hosted alternatives (LanguageTool, Harper, proselint, vale, local LLMs, Chrome’s Gemini Nano).
  • Debate over whether LLMs actually outperform Grammarly on strict grammar.

Metrics, Email Volume, and Productivity

  • Superhuman’s claim of 72% more emails per hour and 5x AI-composed emails is criticized:
    • Many argue “more email” is a bad metric, associated with spam and cognitive overload.
    • Others note some roles (sales, recruiting) genuinely benefit from higher email throughput.
  • Several describe “inbox zero speedrunning” as harming communication quality for everyone else.

Terminology and Financing

  • “Dry powder” sparks a subthread explaining it as finance slang for deployable cash, via military/gunpowder metaphor.
  • Some question why Grammarly is the logical “centerpiece” of an AI rollup, even with $1B in new financing.