Sometimes, there can be a little too much disruption. So goes the thesis of Joost Schreve, the former head of mobile for TripAdvisor, who left the company last November and started his own startup, KimKim, in December. The nascent company — newly seed-funded with $1 million from investors, including NFX Guild — is catering to […]
Startup
Howdy Raises $1.5 Million from Top VCs to Build Apps for Slack
Despite a checkered history with online platforms, developers are always looking for the next big distribution model and a small but growing number is betting Slack, the popular group-messaging platform, is the way to go. One such startup, Austin-based Howdy, may be the first to nab venture funding based largely on that vision. Specifically, the […]
The Case Against Anthony Noto, and Most Other CFOs, Becoming CEO
Dick Costolo — who is stepping down as CEO of Twitter in July — has, at a couple of recent conferences, described Twitter CFO Anthony Noto as more than an “accountant” and said that Noto was not brought into the company “just be a CFO.” Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal even suggested that Noto has […]
Uber Exec Tom Fallows on the Company’s Culture, and More
At a StrictlyVC event in San Francisco last week, Tom Fallows, Director of Global Expansion Products at Uber, talked with us about what’s important to Uber right now, why Uber sees the fight for India and China as far from over, and the various ways that Uber and Google differ culturally. (Fallows was hired away […]
Andreessen Horowitz Bets Big on Tanium — Again
Tanium, an eight-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based company founded by father and son David and Orion Hindawi, has landed $52 million from Andreessen Horowitz less than a year after raising $90 million from the Sand Hill Road firm. Somewhat amazingly, it hasn’t touched a penny of it, either, says Orion Hindawi, the company’s CTO. In fact, Tanium […]
Jason Lemkin on the “Slack” Effect
There’s no shortage of talk lately about frothy private company valuations, particularly when it comes to enterprise companies. Slack Technologies, the company behind the increasingly popular enterprise messaging platform, is the current poster child. Less than six months ago, Slack raised $120 million at a billion-dollar-plus valuation that many found stunning. Now, Bloomberg says it’s talking […]
Did Pinterest Just Change the Game?
In tech, employees often join startups with the idea that they might become millionaires if those companies go public or are sold. But even experienced startup veterans often underestimate the costs involved in exiting one’s stake. Purchasing equity that has appreciated can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars — if not millions — […]
Yik Yak: The Startup in Twitter’s Rearview Mirror
Yik Yak, an app that acts like a local bulletin board, allowing users within a 1.5-mile range to post to it anonymously, hasn’t received nearly as much press as other anonymous apps, including Whisper and Secret. It’s seeing much more user pick-up, though. As of last night, Yik Yak was the 27th most downloaded free […]
Troubled Payday Lender Wonga Still Has a Chance, Insist Insiders
In the span of seven years, Wonga, a London-based online payday lender, managed to become one of the best known Internet brands in the U.K, with half the buses in London plastered with its ads, along with a good number of soccer players, through Wonga’s sponsorship of the English Premier League team Newcastle United. Then, […]
After Onavo
Earlier this week, The Information published a piece about mobile software makers who are flying blind following Facebook’s acquisition last year of Onavo, an app analytics startup, even as consumers spend more time inside apps than ever before. In fact, according to a new Comscore report, activity on smartphones and tablets has grown to 60 percent of […]