Gawker: valleywag, ken howery

Facebook spends $50,000 of Microsoft's money on investor's nightclub

Owen Thomas — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:42:25 EDT

Microsoft's $200 million is not all going to buy servers, as Mark Zuckerberg would like you to think. He splashed out $50,000 to rent Pangaea, an Austin nightclub, for the week, or so a doorman said as he turned away a local the other night. Pangaea is part-owned by Ken Howery of the Founders Fund, a Facebook investor. The payoff of this cozy arrangement: When Zuckerberg needed to do damage control a day after his tragicomic keynote interview, he had a stage at the ready. (Photo by Yelp/Kevin N.)

Founders Fund partners hiring personal assistant

Owen Thomas — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:00:21 EST

Peter Thiel has a butler, and we're not the only ones who are jealous. The former PayPal CEO turned venture capitalist has, it seems, inspired his colleagues at the Founders Fund to get a bit more household help. Ken Howery, one of Thiel's partners at the fund, is seeking a personal assistant. You won't find the job listing on the fund's website — he's circulating this help-wanted by email. The assistant will help Howery and a colleague pay bills, keep house, go shopping, and do research. Want to be a gofer for San Francisco's hot VC firm of the moment? Drop Howery a line at first initial last name at foundersfund dot com. Oh, the firm's also hiring a CFO, controller, and associate. The personal-assistant job description, after the jump.

Personal Assistant, The Founders Fund
Two of the GPs are seeking a full-time personal assistant to help them manage their personal lives so they can focus on building The Founders Fund.

In addition to a strong professional track record, the best candidates for this position will be attentive to detail, respectful of confidentiality, very reliable, responsible, and organized, and OK with a highly variable schedule. Experience with basic computer software and access to a car are required.

Primary job functions will include:

* Manage personal travel.
* Manage personal calendar.
* Manage GP residence.
* Personal shopping/running errands.
* Miscellaneous research.
* Event planning.
* Paying bills.
* Misc. and other projects.

Compensation is competitive and negotiable based on experience.

Health insurance is provided.

Please email your resume for any of these positions to me or Ofa Taufalele at ofa@foundersfund.com.

Facebook funders party naked

Megan McCarthy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:59:12 EDT

"One of my roommates tells me this morning that she went to 'the craziest party ever' in Pacific Heights last night," a tipster writes in. "It involved an indoor pool, a lot of champagne, naked people, and someone in a Viking costume who said he was a Facebook founder." Ah, she must be talking about the house owned by Founders Fund partners Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, nicknamed the Grotto. And who was the Hagar the Horrible Facebook Founder? "She's trying to find out his name from other friends who were there, but said he's tall, has dirty blond hair and glasses, and is not particularly attractive." Based on that somewhat unkind description, we'd guess the Viking was Sean Parker. Shame we weren't there to remind people that Parker's not actually a founder of the social network. The party was ostensibly held to toast Microsoft's recent investment into the social network, though we've heard whispers of other reasons behind the celebration. Were you there? Snap any pics? Let us know.