The money was not raised to build a note taking app, they had already done that (in the US at least). Much of it was for international expansion (which they've done, particularly in China) and new things. Some of those new things (like Work Chat) were built and haven't seem to have gone anywhere. But just because a product seems DOA doesn't mean it was dumb to try. Slack raised $250mm and locked it away for a rainy day, I'm sure Evernote did much of the same.
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The money was not raised to build a note taking app, they had already done that (in the US at least). Much of it was for international expansion (which they've done, particularly in China) and new things. Some of those new things (like Work Chat) were built and haven't seem to have gone anywhere. But just because a product seems DOA doesn't mean it was dumb to try. Slack raised $250mm and locked it away for a rainy day, I'm sure Evernote did much of the same.