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April 07 2012
Why You’re A Startup Founder: Nature And Nurture
baby computer
Just over a month ago, a random conversation with another startup founder over lunch turned into a full-blown research project. “You and I are both first-born children,” I mused to my friend, “I wonder if that had any influence on why we chose to start businesses.” I theorized that first borns were often given more responsibility growing up, and wondered if this role served as training wheels for building startups. I also wondered if our upbringing had an influence on things like when we start, what we start, or how much money we raise — and ultimately, how successful we are with our businesses.
baby computer
Just over a month ago, a random conversation with another startup founder over lunch turned into a full-blown research project. “You and I are both first-born children,” I mused to my friend, “I wonder if that had any influence on why we chose to start businesses.” I theorized that first borns were often given more responsibility growing up, and wondered if this role served as training wheels for building startups. I also wondered if our upbringing had an influence on things like when we start, what we start, or how much money we raise — and ultimately, how successful we are with our businesses.
April 06 2012
Too Drunk To Drive, But Still Wanna Get Your Car Home? There’s An App For That
Double Phone Image_400px
You know what I hate most about getting too drunk to drive home? The hangover. No, no, I'm kidding (well, sort of) - it's having to go retrieve my car from wherever I left it the next day. Sometimes, it's been towed. Other times, it's been broken into (true story). That's why I'm hopeful about the possibilities a new service called StearClear has in store. The startup, which is backed by $500,000 in founder-led and VC funding, has been up-and-running for just a month in parts of New Jersey. What StearClear offers, simply put, is a way to get you and your car home. Safely. Oh god, please let this work.
Double Phone Image_400px
You know what I hate most about getting too drunk to drive home? The hangover. No, no, I'm kidding (well, sort of) - it's having to go retrieve my car from wherever I left it the next day. Sometimes, it's been towed. Other times, it's been broken into (true story). That's why I'm hopeful about the possibilities a new service called StearClear has in store. The startup, which is backed by $500,000 in founder-led and VC funding, has been up-and-running for just a month in parts of New Jersey. What StearClear offers, simply put, is a way to get you and your car home. Safely. Oh god, please let this work.
Philip Kaplan’s Social Network Fandalism Has Quietly Grown To 350K Musicians
fandalism
If you've wondering what Philip Kaplan, a.k.a. Pud, has been up to, wonder no longer: He's working on a social network for musicians called Fandalism. The site went live at the end of January, and without any publicity or advertising, it has grown to more than 350,000 registered users. You may remember Kaplan as the founder of the blog FuckedCompany and the ad network AdBrite. More recently, he co-founded social shopping startup Blippy, and when the product failed to take off (the other founders are working something new), he focused on smaller projects like newsletter-maker TinyLetter, which was acquired by MailChimp in August.
fandalism
If you've wondering what Philip Kaplan, a.k.a. Pud, has been up to, wonder no longer: He's working on a social network for musicians called Fandalism. The site went live at the end of January, and without any publicity or advertising, it has grown to more than 350,000 registered users. You may remember Kaplan as the founder of the blog FuckedCompany and the ad network AdBrite. More recently, he co-founded social shopping startup Blippy, and when the product failed to take off (the other founders are working something new), he focused on smaller projects like newsletter-maker TinyLetter, which was acquired by MailChimp in August.
500 Startups Raising New $50M Fund, Names 4 New Partners, With 250+ Investments To Date
500startups
It's a big day for 500 Startups -- you know, the seed-stage accelerator and capital fund founded by rabble rouser and geek on a plane, Dave McClure. Back in July 2010, McClure filed for the accelerator's first fund, raising $30 million to begin officially investing in startups under the new venture capital fund. Today, we've learned via SEC regulatory filing that round two is officially on the books, and 500 Startups is going bigger for its second round, raising $50 million. McClure and company are also today announcing an expansion of the team, as Paul Singh and Christen O'Brien have been promoted to partners. Singh will continue to lead investments, running the accelerator program, and acting as head Data/Metrics guru, while O'Brien continues on her role as head of business development, leading events and conferences, like Geeks On A Plane, Warm Gun, etc. Bedy Yang and George Kellerman have also joined as venture partners.
500startups
It's a big day for 500 Startups -- you know, the seed-stage accelerator and capital fund founded by rabble rouser and geek on a plane, Dave McClure. Back in July 2010, McClure filed for the accelerator's first fund, raising $30 million to begin officially investing in startups under the new venture capital fund. Today, we've learned via SEC regulatory filing that round two is officially on the books, and 500 Startups is going bigger for its second round, raising $50 million. McClure and company are also today announcing an expansion of the team, as Paul Singh and Christen O'Brien have been promoted to partners. Singh will continue to lead investments, running the accelerator program, and acting as head Data/Metrics guru, while O'Brien continues on her role as head of business development, leading events and conferences, like Geeks On A Plane, Warm Gun, etc. Bedy Yang and George Kellerman have also joined as venture partners.
Socialize Makes Any App Social, Already Reaches 10M End Users
socialize-logo
Socialize, the new platform that allows mobile developers to instantly add social features to their apps, has come a long way since its November launch of its Social Action Bar. Apparently, developers are giving this one a shot...in droves. 5,500 developers have downloaded the mobile toolkit to date, with 562 apps in testing and 150 apps which have gone live with integrations. (Here are a few). The startup is also now reaching over 10 million end users, up from 3.7 million in November. And its user base is doubling monthly, the company says.
socialize-logo
Socialize, the new platform that allows mobile developers to instantly add social features to their apps, has come a long way since its November launch of its Social Action Bar. Apparently, developers are giving this one a shot...in droves. 5,500 developers have downloaded the mobile toolkit to date, with 562 apps in testing and 150 apps which have gone live with integrations. (Here are a few). The startup is also now reaching over 10 million end users, up from 3.7 million in November. And its user base is doubling monthly, the company says.
Kickstarter: Help Fund A Film On The Story Of Social Media
Screen Shot 2012-04-06 at 11.45.40 AM
SoMe is a film about the rise (and fall?) of social media. Produced by web rabble-rouser and satirist, Loren Feldman, the film will feature Feldman's signature puppet act (it will be cool, I promise) and interviews with and segments about web luminaries like:
Screen Shot 2012-04-06 at 11.45.40 AM
SoMe is a film about the rise (and fall?) of social media. Produced by web rabble-rouser and satirist, Loren Feldman, the film will feature Feldman's signature puppet act (it will be cool, I promise) and interviews with and segments about web luminaries like:
Julia Allison, Michael Arrington, Steve Ballmer, Henry Blodget, Chris Brogan, Robert Bruce, Paul Carr, Pete Cashmore, Brian Clark, Ron Conway, Henry Copland, Jay Cuthrell, Mike Daisey, Barry Diller, Jack Dorsey, Dan Farber, Steve Gillmor, Paul Graham, MC Hammer, Shel Israel, Andrew Jecklin, Steve Jobs, Kim Kardashian, Ashton Kutcher, Loic LeMeur, Jakob Lodwick
Virginia Is For TechCrunchers: DC, Norfolk, and Richmond, Here We Come
virginia is for lovers
Just a reminder: starting April 9 TechCrunch will be hitting Virginia for a barnstorming tour of three cities - DC on Monday, Norfolk on Tuesday, and Richmond on Wednesday. You should have already RSVPed (did you?), you should have already picked out what you're going to wear (did you?), and you should have your pitch ready (do you?). As a special bonus, DC meet-up folks will get to meet our new co-editor, Eric Eldon, who is coming in from San Francisco and who will be in Virginia with us that evening. It will be, as they say in Virginia, a hoot.
virginia is for lovers
Just a reminder: starting April 9 TechCrunch will be hitting Virginia for a barnstorming tour of three cities - DC on Monday, Norfolk on Tuesday, and Richmond on Wednesday. You should have already RSVPed (did you?), you should have already picked out what you're going to wear (did you?), and you should have your pitch ready (do you?). As a special bonus, DC meet-up folks will get to meet our new co-editor, Eric Eldon, who is coming in from San Francisco and who will be in Virginia with us that evening. It will be, as they say in Virginia, a hoot.
Learning To Code Apps? Programr, The Codecademy For Higher-Level Languages, Adds Support For Android
helloworld
Programr, an online lab for learning to code - yep, sort of like Codecademy, but for higher-level languages, has just introduced Android coding support. With the added option, aspiring student developers can create Android apps right in the browser. When the project is complete the apps can be downloaded into APK format, then loaded up on your Android devices, shared with friends or sent off to theAndroid Market...Google Play store.
And, says company co-founder Rajesh Moorjani, the startup is working on doing the same for iOS apps next.
For a little background, Programr is a new entry in the "learn to code online" space, which has seen growing interest over the past several months, thanks in part, to Codecademy's "Code Year" initiative which saw some 100,000 users sign up in just 48 hours of going live.
This year, everyone wants to learn to code, it seems.
helloworld
Programr, an online lab for learning to code - yep, sort of like Codecademy, but for higher-level languages, has just introduced Android coding support. With the added option, aspiring student developers can create Android apps right in the browser. When the project is complete the apps can be downloaded into APK format, then loaded up on your Android devices, shared with friends or sent off to the
Nextpeer Pledges To Make Any Mobile Game As Social As OMGPOP’s “Draw Something”
nextpeer
There were plenty of other Pictionary-like games in the iTunes app store before OMGPOP's Draw Something. But the secret ingredient behind Draw Something's runaway success was its very social, asynchronous gameplay. Most independent game designers don't necessarily have the extra manpower to build an engine that supports this. That's where an Israeli startup called Nextpeer comes in. It's kind of like the next generation of OpenFeint, a mobile-social gaming network that was acquired by Japanese gaming giant GREE for $104 million last year. Game designers can integrate Nextpeer's SDK to let their players compete against each other. Up until now, Nextpeer only supported synchronous gameplay, meaning that players had to be available at the same time. But now Nextpeer is offering an asynchronous mode, which means that players can finish a round whenever they have a spare moment. That's the secret sauce that has made games like Zynga's Words With Friends and then Draw Something insanely viral.
nextpeer
There were plenty of other Pictionary-like games in the iTunes app store before OMGPOP's Draw Something. But the secret ingredient behind Draw Something's runaway success was its very social, asynchronous gameplay. Most independent game designers don't necessarily have the extra manpower to build an engine that supports this. That's where an Israeli startup called Nextpeer comes in. It's kind of like the next generation of OpenFeint, a mobile-social gaming network that was acquired by Japanese gaming giant GREE for $104 million last year. Game designers can integrate Nextpeer's SDK to let their players compete against each other. Up until now, Nextpeer only supported synchronous gameplay, meaning that players had to be available at the same time. But now Nextpeer is offering an asynchronous mode, which means that players can finish a round whenever they have a spare moment. That's the secret sauce that has made games like Zynga's Words With Friends and then Draw Something insanely viral.
Wingsplay Pays Influencers To Spread Viral Videos, Runs Campaigns For NBC And Oxygen
Logo_Wingsplay HD
If business creates a fun, potentially viral video, what's the best way to convince people to share it? Wingsplay has a straightforward idea: Pay them. So advertisers pay Wingsplay to promote videos that they want to go viral. "Influencers" with accounts on Wingsplay then visit the site to watch the videos. If they like one, they can post a link to the video on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog, along with a personal message and the "#viralad" hashtag (to comply with the FTC's disclosure requirements). Then the influencers are paid based on every "seed" view of the video that they generate.
Logo_Wingsplay HD
If business creates a fun, potentially viral video, what's the best way to convince people to share it? Wingsplay has a straightforward idea: Pay them. So advertisers pay Wingsplay to promote videos that they want to go viral. "Influencers" with accounts on Wingsplay then visit the site to watch the videos. If they like one, they can post a link to the video on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog, along with a personal message and the "#viralad" hashtag (to comply with the FTC's disclosure requirements). Then the influencers are paid based on every "seed" view of the video that they generate.
April 05 2012
Twitter Puts Its Foot Down, Takes Five Biggest Spammers To Federal Court
no-spam
A warning: You can only spam Twitter so much before it brings in the law. As Twitter grows -- the company now claims to have 140 million active users -- naturally, it's become an attractive target for spammers, which have collectively made their drek a familiar part of the social network's user experience. Now Twitter is officially putting its foot down and enlisting the help of the federal courts, filing a suit in San Francisco today against its five most aggressive spammers. In pursuing legal action, Twitter said in a statement on its blog, it believes it's going "straight to the source".
no-spam
A warning: You can only spam Twitter so much before it brings in the law. As Twitter grows -- the company now claims to have 140 million active users -- naturally, it's become an attractive target for spammers, which have collectively made their drek a familiar part of the social network's user experience. Now Twitter is officially putting its foot down and enlisting the help of the federal courts, filing a suit in San Francisco today against its five most aggressive spammers. In pursuing legal action, Twitter said in a statement on its blog, it believes it's going "straight to the source".
Publishers Sue As Boundless Learning Grabs $8M For An Open Alternative To Textbooks
Screen shot 2012-04-05 at 2.47.48 AM
It seems it's a big news day for eBooks and eTextbooks. Google is winding down its eBook service for indie publishers, while Apple and top publishers are the subjects of domestic and European probes into eBook price-fixing. On top of that, Boston-based educational startup Boundless Learning, which is trying to offer students an open alternative to textbooks (and even eTextbooks), is itself on the receiving end of litigation, thanks to three top textbook publishers. But a little litigation isn't slowing down Boundless, as it today announced that it has closed an $8 million series A round, led by Venrock -- the VC firm that began as the original venture arm of the Rockefeller family. The sizable chunk of pre-launch funding adds to the $1.7 million seed round Boundless raised last year from Nextview, Founder Collective, Kepha, and SV Angel.
Screen shot 2012-04-05 at 2.47.48 AM
It seems it's a big news day for eBooks and eTextbooks. Google is winding down its eBook service for indie publishers, while Apple and top publishers are the subjects of domestic and European probes into eBook price-fixing. On top of that, Boston-based educational startup Boundless Learning, which is trying to offer students an open alternative to textbooks (and even eTextbooks), is itself on the receiving end of litigation, thanks to three top textbook publishers. But a little litigation isn't slowing down Boundless, as it today announced that it has closed an $8 million series A round, led by Venrock -- the VC firm that began as the original venture arm of the Rockefeller family. The sizable chunk of pre-launch funding adds to the $1.7 million seed round Boundless raised last year from Nextview, Founder Collective, Kepha, and SV Angel.
Spotify Says It’s Just Like Radiohead, Turntable.fm Says David Bowie
radiohead
Yes, that's one of the more random headlines I've written, but look — I wasn't the one who said it. Executives from Spotify and Turntable.fm really did compare themselves to popular musicians, and Pandora and TastemakerX took turns, too. All four companies spoke at the closing panel at ad:tech conference in San Francisco yesterday, and they were all instructed by moderated Brad Berens to choose a single musician or band to represent their company. (The Beatles and Elvis were out, because they're too obvious.) Here's what they said:
radiohead
Yes, that's one of the more random headlines I've written, but look — I wasn't the one who said it. Executives from Spotify and Turntable.fm really did compare themselves to popular musicians, and Pandora and TastemakerX took turns, too. All four companies spoke at the closing panel at ad:tech conference in San Francisco yesterday, and they were all instructed by moderated Brad Berens to choose a single musician or band to represent their company. (The Beatles and Elvis were out, because they're too obvious.) Here's what they said:
LeFeed Learns Your Preferences, Shows You Only Le Cool Stuff On Le Facebook
Screen Shot 2012-04-05 at 3.28.51 PM
Popping over to Facebook is always a crapshoot. Will it be a picture of a swaddled, newly born baby or your weird uncle spouting Jack Handey-esque aphorisms? You never now. That's what LeFeed.com is for. It makes sense of your Facebook feed and brings up almost exactly the content you prefer. LeFeed, launched on April 1, is clearly a work in progress and is, at best, a toy. However, the intelligence behind it is very compelling. Founder Serdar Yildirim says LeFeed has "two main goals: organizing users Facebook news feed and recommending new content to the user that don't suck." I also suspect his tertiary goal will be to not get sued by Facebook for using a similar logotype and color scheme, but that wasn't in the FAQ.
Screen Shot 2012-04-05 at 3.28.51 PM
Popping over to Facebook is always a crapshoot. Will it be a picture of a swaddled, newly born baby or your weird uncle spouting Jack Handey-esque aphorisms? You never now. That's what LeFeed.com is for. It makes sense of your Facebook feed and brings up almost exactly the content you prefer. LeFeed, launched on April 1, is clearly a work in progress and is, at best, a toy. However, the intelligence behind it is very compelling. Founder Serdar Yildirim says LeFeed has "two main goals: organizing users Facebook news feed and recommending new content to the user that don't suck." I also suspect his tertiary goal will be to not get sued by Facebook for using a similar logotype and color scheme, but that wasn't in the FAQ.
Local Search App AroundMe Trumps Yelp’s Mobile Apps With 6M Monthly Users
aroundme_in-use
Wow, AroundMe has really been flying under the radar. The location-aware mobile search app is announcing today that it's now passed the 6 million mark for monthly unique visitors. To put that in perspective, Yelp's mobile apps see 5.7 million+ monthly uniques these days. Not bad, then, considering AroundMe has a single founder, a team of four, and no outside funding. The company is also now reporting having surpassed 1 million downloads per month, and has recently announced new partnerships with OpenTable, Booking.com for hotel reservations, and Telenav for web-based navigation.
aroundme_in-use
Wow, AroundMe has really been flying under the radar. The location-aware mobile search app is announcing today that it's now passed the 6 million mark for monthly unique visitors. To put that in perspective, Yelp's mobile apps see 5.7 million+ monthly uniques these days. Not bad, then, considering AroundMe has a single founder, a team of four, and no outside funding. The company is also now reporting having surpassed 1 million downloads per month, and has recently announced new partnerships with OpenTable, Booking.com for hotel reservations, and Telenav for web-based navigation.
Zimride Nabs LinkedIn Design Lead, Brings Its Ridesharing Service To Mobile
hero_iphone_large
There's a lot of exciting action in collaborative consumption, much of it being inspired by the early success of carsharing and ridesharing networks. After hitting 100 million miles served last year, Zimride is now one of the biggest online ridesharing companies in North America. Today, the startup is announcing the release of the mobile version of Zimride.com, a mobile-optimized version of its online service, which will, among other things, enable users to receive and send messages, view user profiles, search for, post, and book new rides. The mobile service's launch coincides with this year's Coachella Music Festival -- which takes place April 13 to 15 in Indio, California -- as the startup has been named Coachella's exclusive ridesharing partner. (It's also the exclusive ridesharing partner for the Bonnaroo music festival as well.)
hero_iphone_large
There's a lot of exciting action in collaborative consumption, much of it being inspired by the early success of carsharing and ridesharing networks. After hitting 100 million miles served last year, Zimride is now one of the biggest online ridesharing companies in North America. Today, the startup is announcing the release of the mobile version of Zimride.com, a mobile-optimized version of its online service, which will, among other things, enable users to receive and send messages, view user profiles, search for, post, and book new rides. The mobile service's launch coincides with this year's Coachella Music Festival -- which takes place April 13 to 15 in Indio, California -- as the startup has been named Coachella's exclusive ridesharing partner. (It's also the exclusive ridesharing partner for the Bonnaroo music festival as well.)
Shufflr Brings Its Social Video App To the iPad
iPad2
A startup called Althea Systems wants to reinvent the way we find videos online. Its app Shufflr is already available on desktops, the Web, iPhone, and Android, and today it's launching on the iPad. Shufflr co-founder Rajnish (he goes by a single name) isn't shy about his larger ambition. In the same way that companies like Facebook are reorganizing the web around social identity and connections, Rajnish wants to build a new form of video discovery that's organized around people — one that could eventually surpass television. Yes, it's a crazy goal, and while I'm not sure Shufflr will go all the way, I was impressed by the product that Rajnish showed me earlier this week.
iPad2
A startup called Althea Systems wants to reinvent the way we find videos online. Its app Shufflr is already available on desktops, the Web, iPhone, and Android, and today it's launching on the iPad. Shufflr co-founder Rajnish (he goes by a single name) isn't shy about his larger ambition. In the same way that companies like Facebook are reorganizing the web around social identity and connections, Rajnish wants to build a new form of video discovery that's organized around people — one that could eventually surpass television. Yes, it's a crazy goal, and while I'm not sure Shufflr will go all the way, I was impressed by the product that Rajnish showed me earlier this week.
Google’s GoMo Expands, Adds DIY Mobile Website Building Tools
gomo-main-logo
DudaMobile, the DIY mobile website maker, fresh off news of its $6 million Series B, is today announcing a partnership with Google. Going forward, Google's GoMo service, which launched last November to refer business customers to development shops that could take their website mobile, is now offering a mobile website builder that's powered by DudaMobile.
gomo-main-logo
DudaMobile, the DIY mobile website maker, fresh off news of its $6 million Series B, is today announcing a partnership with Google. Going forward, Google's GoMo service, which launched last November to refer business customers to development shops that could take their website mobile, is now offering a mobile website builder that's powered by DudaMobile.
Graphicly Kills Its Mobile Apps To Double Down on Publishing Tools
graphicly logo
Over the past few months, Graphicly started to abandon its vision of becoming the "iTunes of comics" and instead focused on digital publishing tools for comics and other image-heavy books. Today it's fully committing itself to that strategy, shutting down the comic store apps that it offered on both iPhone and Android. CEO Micah Baldwin says that decision reflects the difficulties of launching a marketplace app in the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace — you face your own challenges attracting users to those app, then only a fraction of those users are going to purchase any individual title.
graphicly logo
Over the past few months, Graphicly started to abandon its vision of becoming the "iTunes of comics" and instead focused on digital publishing tools for comics and other image-heavy books. Today it's fully committing itself to that strategy, shutting down the comic store apps that it offered on both iPhone and Android. CEO Micah Baldwin says that decision reflects the difficulties of launching a marketplace app in the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace — you face your own challenges attracting users to those app, then only a fraction of those users are going to purchase any individual title.
FLUD 2.0 Rolls Out To Android & Windows Phone, As Startup Readies Its Series A
FludAndroid_2
FLUD, the scrappy news reader backed by $1 million in seed funding, is today introducing FLUD 2.0 for Android and Windows Phone. FLUD 2.0, for those who don't recall, was the big redesign that turned FLUD from being just another news reader into a true social news experience. Although participating in a crowded space, where it goes up against better-known brands like Flipboard, Zite, and Pulse, FLUD founder Bobby Ghoshal believes his company has what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Not only is the startup building its own social network - as opposed to one built on top of Facebook or Twitter - it's now also doing so cross-platform.
FludAndroid_2
FLUD, the scrappy news reader backed by $1 million in seed funding, is today introducing FLUD 2.0 for Android and Windows Phone. FLUD 2.0, for those who don't recall, was the big redesign that turned FLUD from being just another news reader into a true social news experience. Although participating in a crowded space, where it goes up against better-known brands like Flipboard, Zite, and Pulse, FLUD founder Bobby Ghoshal believes his company has what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Not only is the startup building its own social network - as opposed to one built on top of Facebook or Twitter - it's now also doing so cross-platform.
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