Gawker
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startups
Sun Valley's Lusty Old Men Are Fickle
Allen & Company is doing its annual thing in Sun Valley, Idaho, in which old moguls shamelessly ogle the most supple young internet startups. This year, everyone's drooling over Twitter. Last year's trophy companies? Not looking so sexy. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by raincoaster: Not ONE J*l*a A*l*i*o* reference. It IS a totally New Gawker. more » | Other threads
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startups
Twitter, Facebook Just Actively Ignoring Business Opportunities Now
Who can afford to be blasé about making money in this economy? A hot Web 2.0 startup, it turns out. More »
6,761
By Ryan TateComment by Moriturus: "It turns out Dell SOLD $3 million worth of computer gear through its Twitter feed alone, meaning it has MADE... 4 Responses | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Inside the Startup Office from Hell
Frank Addante, the Los Angeles tech entrepreneur, has helpfully consolidated pretty much every terrible office idea and Web 2.0 startup cliché into one place: This video tour of his online ad company, Rubicon Project.
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By Ryan TateComment by Pope John Peeps II: First sentence: "We're a very metrics focused company." Are there companies that aren't? "Well, I'd really love to give you quarterly earnings... 7 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Silicon Alley's Bitter Awards Scramble
For a startup founder itching to cash out, the recession can be tough: The economy fades hopes for an acquisition or plum funding round. Perhaps this explains some of the testiness around this year's awards from Silicon Alley Insider. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by thecowardlylion: Oh, no say it ain't so. PR is the new marketing?! I am so proud of us little Internet babies. We... more » | Other threads
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business models
Zombie Business Model Revived By Hungry Blogs
Tech blog company GigaOm is starting a subscription research service to drum up cash; some think TechCrunch could soon follow. It would seem everything old in tech media is new again: Bloated dot-com magazines attempted this same tactic amid the popping of the last financial bubble. More » -
apocalypse
The World According to Twitter
How distorted is Twitter's view of the world? That question is neatly answered by Topsy, a new search engine that's like Google, except sorted by the attention-deficit-disorder sufferers who live on Twitter. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by FaceMelter: I always wanted a search engine for spam. more » | Other threads
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startups
Clinging to Dying Web 2.0 Dreams
Being a startup is way more fun than being a business. Which is why we see Twitter and Facebook in seeming economic denial this morning. Who wants to confront financial reality, like Google? More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Lizstless: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Twitter can start making money whenever they want, and they know... 2 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
The New York Times Battles a Googler for New Jersey
Why is the Gray Lady building websites for the obscure suburbs of South Orange, Maplewood, and Milburn? Perhaps because those are the exact same towns Google executive Tim Armstrong picked for Patch, his local-news startup. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tremonius: I read that the LA Times has online revenue exceeding its editorial costs, minus printing. That means if they went... 5 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
At Last, Google Funds a Bailout for Reporters
Journalism pundits have been begging Google to put its billions behind the project of saving journalism. At last, a Google executive has come through. Here's Tim Armstrong's secret plan to save the local news business. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Robert Strutin: As a startup doing research on Angel Investors this is exactly the way forward in business. Google is testing,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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tesla motors
Elon Musk's Electric-Car Fantasy
Silicon Valley is the land of dreams. Here's Elon Musk's dream: His electric-car startup has hundreds of millions of dollars in government loans and a bright financial future. Too bad that's all in his head. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Syrax: Apparently I'm not smart enough to swindle millions from thousands based on hundreds of vague promises and dozens of lies. 4 Responses | Other threads
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Shut Up, Twitter
Why Twitter Is the Perfect Startup
The financial world is in ashes. But that makes adorable little startup Twitter all the more precious. It is perhaps the only Internet dream left. And any economist will tell you that scarcity creates value. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Pope John Peeps II: "One could change the world with one hundred and forty characters." It's difficult to believe anyone who said anything this stupid... 2 Responses | Other threads
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flackery
JuicyCampus Going Out of Business in Flame of Publicity-Fueled Glory
In its brief life, online college burn book JuicyCampus won notoriety and lawsuits for letting students diss their campuses and classmates. Now it's going out of business. With the help of fancy Hollywood flacks! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by your Mrs. Robinson: at first glance, i thought juicycampus was a site for girls from other schools to talk about their awesome juicy... 2 Responses | Other threads
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black holes
Why Reality Will Bury Digg's Profit Dreams
Digg, the raucous online news-rating site, has laid off 8 people from its 75-person workforce. CEO Jay Adelson writes that the company will "aggressively focus on reaching profitability within the year." There's no way. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Craig Agranoff: Show me any company who was able to get profitable by having outside ad sales staffs. Well put Owen,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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startups
Dodgeball, Overhyped and Underused, Deserved to Die
Google has axed six services, from Google Video uploads to a shopping-catalog search. But none has sparked more outrage than the closure of Dodgeball.com. Dennis Crowley, the friend-locating service's twentysomething founder, is miffed. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by saythatscool: Can we please get rid of the word Microcelebrity? I'm not blaming Owen because many others use it here too. Being... 10 Responses | Other threads
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startups
Why Halsey Minor Can't Have Nice Things
Dotcom mogul Halsey Minor, the CNET founder, has spent freely on real estate, artwork, and startups. He's having trouble keeping them all. The latest bauble to run aground: San Francisco magazine publisher 8020 Media. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by hminor: Owen I invested $6 mm of my own money against an idea I had and found others who shared to... 1 Responses | Other threads
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recessionomics
Can Björk Save a Ruined Iceland?
Björk, the quirky Icelandic singer, is investing her very emotions in a fund for startups, in the hopes of turning her near-bankrupt country into a green paradise. Sort of!
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By Owen ThomasComment by BookishLookish: If she promises never to sing again, I'm good for $100 US. 9 Responses | Other threads
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black holes
It Costs Digg $5 Million a Year to Run the Internet
Perhaps Digg really is the future of the news business. The headline-discussion site, once an icon of the Web 2.0 movement, is losing millions of dollars a year.
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By Owen ThomasComment by surlybastard: Can someone please explain to me why Digg needs so much money to operate? 5 Responses | Other threads
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recessionomics
Lingerie shots show a founder's dilemma
Times are tight for Web startups: Catalina Girald couldn't afford to hire a model for her fashion site's lingerie collection. So she stripped down to her designer skivvies.
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By Owen ThomasComment by fashionistaontheprowl: Alright male founders, let's see you don your skivvies. Having second thoughts? Yeah, I thought so. 5 Responses | Other threads
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wantrepreneurs
Twitter + election a twit selection
In the runup to today's vote, we've gotten three separate pitches for new websites which mash together Twitter messages and election results. Three's a trend. But what's the story? Twitter's hot, and the election's hot, so these wantrepreneurs figure that putting them together will land their startup some VC funding. But these efforts just leave me cold. Why not visit Twitter's live stream of status updates? Last I checked, it was all election, all the time. -
meltdowns
Valley blowhards gush forth advice
Professional annoyance Kara Swisher, the BoomTown blogger, went to a how-to-survive-the-downturn gabfest, and all she got was this lousy video. Captured on her Flip camera: Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis, who didn't predict the downturn; Nirav Tolia, the Epinions cofounder — an entrepreneur — who hasn't laid anyone off since the last bubble burst and is surely rusty; Google investor Ram Shriram, who has way too much money to care about such mundane affairs as a recession; and Fast Company videoblogger Robert Scoble, who is cheerfully clueless as ever. The bright side: If Scoble is saying companies need to conserve cash, perhaps we've hit a market bottom.
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By Owen ThomasComment by FiveStarEggRoll: First Ashton Kutcher and now that "Fez" guy. Sheesh, up next will be Topher with something techy. Harry "wishes he played... 2 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Screwdd wrings ironic last pennies from AdSense
Yet another contender in the FuckedCompany 2.0 sweepstakes, Screwdd — launched in February, I think, but suddently more bookmarkable — is a site about layoffs that's more built out than the newer FuckedStartups. At least the ads are. Nice touch: a 408-area voicemail line for tipsters wary of Internet TCP/IP connections. The quasi-anonymous "we" behind the site has already learned the dirty secret of gossip blogging: "Our most viewed story to date also had the least amount of details. If Digg could engage in a round of layoffs, we’d be golden."
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By Paul BoutinComment by DeadlySinz: Ooops abit of a typo in your writing FuckedSartups = FuckedStartups more » | Other threads
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meltdowns
Pud was so much better at this
Eight years ago Philip Kaplan, aka Pud, turned his anonymous rumor site FuckedCompany into a modest advertising business. Today, Kaplan is chief something-or-other at AdBrite, a Sequoia-backed startup whose CEO has dutifully slashed its payroll down to profitability. By contrast, sloppy typist "FS Crew" at FuckedStartups has already thrown in the towel. "We have incredible pipeline of rumors and tips," promises the For Sale post atop the site. "We have other projects and don’t have the time to focused (sic) our 100% attention on this project." What FS Crew really means is: "Fuck, this is hard. Someone please pay me to quit." Sorry, but on Web 2.0, it's the other way around: Your customers quit you, for free.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Shadowlayer: Web 2.0, nothing but a juxtaposition of glossy generic graphics and verdana font. Every friggin site looking like a clone... 2 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
The layoff lie
A wave of layoffs is sweeping startupland. But why? "Today is my last day at Revision3," writes Damon Berger, one of the victims, in a mass email. "Due to budgetary cutbacks that are a direct result of the economic meltdown, I will no longer be employed at the company." Revision3, an online-video startup, has slashed five Web-video shows from its lineup, and with it some unknown number of employees. But are we to believe that collateralized debt obligations killed "Internet Superstar"? Of course not. More » -
scribd
Startup guru Paul Graham's "greatest success" may be floundering
I've always thought Scribd, the online document-posting startup, was set up mostly so its investors had an excuse to throw parties. They may not have that excuse much longer, if FuckedStartup's report that Scribd is running out of money is accurate. At a time when any number of startups are running out of money, why fret about Scribd's bank-account balance? Because Scribd was manufactured in angel investor Paul Graham's Y Combinator startup factory. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Shadowlayer: @Figaro: Word, whoever buys it will get an extra serving of lawsuit from the print industry. Anyway, I feel bad for... more » | Other threads
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craigslist
Mystery startup admits it's overspending on office space
In a Craigslist post titled "R.I.P. Good Times? Save Money by Sharing our SoMa Office," a San Francisco startup seeks a cotenant to defray its monthly lease. It's an allusion toVC firm Sequoia Capital's times-are-tough presentation, which called on startups to cut their burn rates. What the ad doesn't say: The fact that this startup has space to spare means it rented an oversized office, likely in the hopes of making more hires, and now realizes it can't fill it. Any guesses, based on the details in the ad — a top executive named Justin, an office at 7th and Mission — who it is? Leave them in the comments. Here's the ad, with more pictures: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wavewash: Looks like the Justin.tv offices because I vaguely remember that red couch in a picture? Man what a great deal. They'd... 4 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Why peer-to-peer lending startups are running out of cash
They were supposed to transform the financial landscape: Prosper.com, Zopa, Lending Club, and other peer-to-peer lending startups brokered loans from one Internet user to another. But they are now on the ropes. Another victim of the credit crisis? No. What's killing the nascent business of peer-to-peer usury is a lack of forethought. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by SanandaKablamy: Not all p-2-p models require regulation similar to Prosper, Loanio, or Lending club. ZimpleMoney’s web product enables people or... more » | Other threads
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startups
The 15 dumbest Web 2.0 startup names
AdaptiveBlue, Thoof, Weebly, Yoono, Zlio, Diigo, Heekya, Insala, Jiglu, mZinga, Oooooc.com, ooVoo, SocialThing, Sclipo, CrazyEgg. Did they miss any? [The Next Web]
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By Owen ThomasComment by Lawrence: CrazyEgg is not that bad actually, it sticks. the worst by-far is, how many O's is that: Oooooc.com 1 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
The long march
"Slash expenses, cut deep and keep marching. You can't be a general if you turn back." — Sequoia Capital partner Eric Upin at a mandatory all-CEO meeting on Thursday. For you, just remember that creep in the corner office isn't happy as your CEO. He wants to be a general. -
meltdowns
Sequoia calls off the boom
The good times are over, the partners of Sequoia Capital are telling the entrepreneurs they fund. Quite literally: They sent a summons to a summit meeting with a picture of a gravestone with the writing "R.I.P. Good Times," rival venture capitalist Om Malik reports. There, partners including Michael Moritz and Doug Leone told CEOs of companies in their portfolio that they should steel themselves for a prolonged downturn, make their businesses self-sustainable, and cut all unnecessary costs. More » -
startups
The fire sales to come
Silicon Valley has its own portfolio of toxic investments that no one likes to talk about. The office parks along 101 are littered with the living dead, startups running on fumes of hope and trickles of venture capital. What their future looks like: The $5 million asset sale of Radiance Technologies, a digital-video file-delivery company, to Comcast. An asset sale means that the buyer gets the technology, patents, and servers, while investors are left with the liabilities. Radiance's VCs, who sank $26 million into the company starting in 2000, are unlikely to see much from the purchase. Play that scenario out hundreds of times, and you get a glimpse at what's coming for investors and entrepreneurs. No wonder even sunnily optimistic VCs are losing hope. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by eze: are those undertones of encouragement and sympathy i detect, owen? 2 Responses | Other threads
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dustin moskovitz
Facebook founder's goodbye email hints at business-focused startup
When he announced his cofounder and college roommate Dustin Moskovitz's departure from Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn't say what he would be up to. But in a separate email leaked to Valleywag, Moskovitz hints at his plan: With fellow engineer Justin Rosenstein, who's also leaving the company, he hopes to create tools like the ones he built at Facebook to run its internal operations, and market them to all sorts of companies. Here's his note to colleagues: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by SavoryFigNewton: "I didn't want to construct efficiencies, I wanted to engineer them." Geez, he should start by constructing some efficiencies in his... 2 Responses | Other threads
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venture capital
Superinvestor Ron Conway suffers confidence crisis
Venture capitalists' "confidence" is at its lowest level since the University of San Francisco began a survey of startup investors in 2004. Sharing the pessimism, angel investor Ron Conway told Silicon Alley Insider that, given current economic conditions, wantrepreneurs should "keep their day job." If they can't find enough funding to get a year's worth of cash in the bank " then they’re not meant to start that company right now," says Conway. "If you can’t raise more money, you have to cut costs. And that’s what I’m harping on to my companies." Wait a second — in what economic situation would this not be good advice? (Photo by Joi)
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Comment by Tiki Tonga: Shadowlayer - exactly. Some of the best opportunities are created during these times. People won't stopping using... more » | Other threads
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deathwatch
Uber.com firesale to feature cheap, lightly used Aeron chairs
And so it begins — like a bad flashback to the year 2000, word comes from a tipster that while investors have pulled the plug on social networking startup Uber the site and service may stay online thanks to some free hosting help from ShareNow. But that doesn't mean there will be any employees around minding the store. There will be nothing to mind, since the company is planning to sell off all its physical assets as a lot, according to a tipster citing a rant from a soon-to-be-ex-employee. The bitterness at what's left of the company is already starting to set in, with particular scorn for co-founder and company president Glenn Kaino who was described as "a real bastard," to paraphrase the disgruntled minion. So while it may not exactly be a chance to save Uber, it may well be a chance to get that deal on a piece of Hermann Miller office furniture if you missed your chance in the dot-bomb. Who'd a thunk a site intended for jetset hipsters would end up a bargain-hunter's dream?
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By Jackson WestComment by SajalaAlligator: How did they blow through five million dollars so quickly? I thought MC Hammer had his hands full with dancejam.... 1 Responses | Other threads
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wantrepreneurs
Calley Nye wants you to be her angel
Young Southlander Calley Nye has done the flack thing as a social media marketer, has done the hack thing in a brief stint at TechCrunch is now doing the cofounder thing with Dashbuzz, which promises to make it easier for you to promote yourself or your products online. In other words, she's had an "entrepreneurial spirit" revelation. She and fellow wantrepreneur Scott Sullivan are offering favors in return for donating toward their goal of $25,000 to get to prototype. And by "favor" they don't mean "equity." Which, frankly, shows a promisingly cagey business sense. Which lends credence to my theory that if you spend enough time anywhere near Jason Calacanis — even just the same county — you'll grow shrewder through a mysterious form of osmosis. Her emailed plea for your support after the jump. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Keymaster: 35 word version: I could admit that I have neither the connections nor the business model to attract investors but instead... 2 Responses | Other threads
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hires
Mevio, née Podshow, replaces cofounder with new CEO
As they say in fashion: One day you are in, and the next day, you are out. And the same is true even for podcasting startups long after podcasting went out of style. Ron Bloom, cofounder of then Podshow, now Mevio, just touted the rollout of a site redesign on Monday. Now a tipster tells us that Bloom has been replaced as chief executive by Jeff Karp, the SVP of marketing at video game publisher Electronic Arts. The company received $15 million more in funding in July for a total of $23.5 million. The new site has rolled out "channels" of entertainment and other programming, but one look at the trend on Compete shows you all you need to know about the startup's prospects even after the name change. -
meltdowns
The fake crisis that's killing startups
Ever heard of Uber.com? Join the club. But the Los Angeles-based social networking startup now says it's a victim of "the crisis in the economy." Investors like Discovery Communications and Universal Music Group, which sunk up to $7.6 million in the social network-turned-publishing platform, want what's left of their money back. Discovery's investment came just last May, with the company looking to use the site for its Miami Ink and LA Ink shows on TLC. But was it really the economic meltdown, or just investors coming to their senses? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Shadowlayer: "Artist and designer Glenn Kaino originally envisioned the site as a social network for jetset hipsters" Full of FAIL! I tell... 2 Responses | Other threads
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startups
VCs dump $16 million more in Ooma
Ooma, the voice-over-IP phone company, has received a hot cash injection of $16 million from existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson. This is on top of $26 million already sunk into the company and, of late, convertible bridge loans which have kept the lattes flowing at the office. Sales at Best Buy stores should really pick up when customers learn their new $399 might become useless when the company's money dries up again. [TechCrunch] -
exits
Ex-Yahoo making good doing same job elsewhere
There are plenty of entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas at Yahoo. They just have to leave the company before they can do anything about them. Take Ex-Yahoo Travel general manager Yen Lee. He left the company a year ago and founded travel search engine UpTake. After a $4 million first round in December 2007, he's just landed another $10 million. Trinity Ventures and Shasta Ventures led the round, which follows UpTake's $4 million first round last December. The difference between UpTake and Lee's old gig running Yahoo Travel? UpTake's focus is content from third-party sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia and yes, Yahoo Travel. Which of course means UpTake would fit quite nicely with Yahoo president Sue Decker's whole "open" strategy for Yahoo. Perhaps what she's really holding open is the door to the exit.
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Comment by yahooalum: So true! Never understood why yen stuck around at yahoo so long given all the b.s. he took from weiner.... more » | Other threads
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online video
Seesmic's newest feature: layoffs
Seesmic, an online-video startup, is laying off some employees working to create original clips for the short-form video site. The official explanation, from newly unemployed video host Rachael Joy: "Seesmic's not a content site, never has been. It's a conversation tool." Joy was host of the startup's daily news and views "Seesmic du Jour." Talk of layoffs is not the conversation founder Loïc Le Meur wanted to start about Seesmic, which lets users pretend they're talking to each other through the medium of short, recorded webcam clips. Joy delivered the news with a wagging finger, in a spot-on parody of the bombastic Le Meur. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: damn, not even tech crunch pandering could save them..... 1 Responses | Other threads
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zemanta
Fred Wilson amplifies tech's echo chamber
Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson has given European startup Zemanta another $750,000, raising the young company's total to $2.25 million in early funding. What does Zemanta do? They've created a set of browser and blogging software plugins that automagically suggest and quickly adds "relevant" links to your blog posts, which Wilson has described as like "AdWords for content creators." My prediction? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by posna: I tried this service a few weeks ago... It seems to be pretty simple in terms of functionality. Kind of like... more » | Other threads
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