Tag Archives: funding

Silicon Valley Vet: This Is How You Grow

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.

If you want to start one it's important to understand that. Startups are so hard that you can't be pointed off to the side and hope to succeed. You have to know that growth is what you're after. The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into place. Which means you can use growth like a compass to make almost every decision you face.

Silicon Valley Vet: This Is How You Grow

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.

If you want to start one it's important to understand that. Startups are so hard that you can't be pointed off to the side and hope to succeed. You have to know that growth is what you're after. The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into place. Which means you can use growth like a compass to make almost every decision you face.

Boy Scouts Lose Largest Corporate Donor Over Anti-Gay Policy

Since July, when the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, the Scouts -- and organizations that give to it -- have come under steady pressure from gay rights organizations that are outraged over the policy. Some of that pressure is beginning to show results.

This week, Intel, which was recently identified as the Scouts' largest corporate funder, announced that it is no longer giving to the youth organization. In 2010, Intel reportedly gave more than $700,000 to local troops and councils.

In a statement to ThinkProgress, Intel clarified its policies, and said that it would no longer give to organizations that were out of step with its nondiscrimination principles. "Earlier this year we revisited our policies associated with the program, and applied new rigor that requires any organization to confirm that it adheres to Intel’s anti-discrimination policy in order to receive funding," Intel’s Chief Diversity Officer wrote in the statement to ThinkProgress. According to ThinkProgress, those Boy Scout troops and councils that do allow gay troops and leaders, in defiance of the organization's policy, are still eligible for Intel's funding.

Earlier this week, Zach Wahls, the founder of Scouts for Equality, a group aimed at changing the Scouts' century-old policy, launched a Change.org petition calling on Intel to end funding of the Scouts until it ends its national ban on gay scouts and scout leaders. Wahls petition was signed by more than 30,000 Americans.

“Intel made the right decision here, in order to live up to their corporate values of diversity, equality and individual liberty,” said Zach Wahls in a press release. “Companies that support the LGBT community simply can’t be in the business of funding organizations that discriminate. Frankly, by sending this message, Intel is upholding the true spirit of Scouting better than the BSA is today.”

After the Funding, Trouble Brews For Kickstarter Projects

PORTLAND, Ore. — An effort to build a sleek aluminum charging dock for the iPhone generated fervor online when it was announced last December. The project’s creators raised close to $1.5 million through Kickstarter, a crowdfunding Web site, and promised to start shipping their Elevation Dock in April to those who had backed the project.

But last week Apple announced a redesigned iPhone that is not compatible with the dock — and because of manufacturing delays, some of the project’s original backers were still waiting to receive theirs. The designers are now scrambling to make an adapter and update the product.

“I’m just hoping to get mine before the iPhone 6 ships at this point,” one backer wrote on Kickstarter.

Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are letting designers and other creative people connect with audiences who want to finance their dreams, and they are becoming increasingly popular. Nearly three million people have helped a total of 30,000 projects meet their fund-raising goals on Kickstarter, the largest such site, to the tune of $300 million in pledges.

But for the creators of these projects, getting the money is sometimes the easy part. They then have to turn their dreams into reality, with a crowd keeping an eye on their progress.

If A Kickstarter Project Fails, Where Does The Money Go?

Kickstarter success stories tend to capture attention, but what happens when a project's funding goals are met and its founders aren't showing signs that they're going to deliver?

Several news outlets have attempted to answer this question, but it was NPR that prompted Kickstarter to offer a response on its website.

Although Kickstarter does "take accountability very seriously," it doesn't offer guarantees since it would defeat the model it supports: creators taking risks versus traditional funding systems that are risk-averse. The company also doesn't offer refunds, as a post on its website explains:

Kickstarter doesn't issue refunds, as transactions are between backers and the creator. In fact, Kickstarter never has the funds at all. When a project is successfully funded, money is transferred directly from backers' credit cards to the project creator's Amazon Payments account. It's up to the creator to issue a refund, which they can do through their Amazon Payments account.

Kickstarter goes on to advise that, "If a creator is making a good faith effort to complete their project and is transparent about it, backers should do their best to be patient and understanding while demanding continued accountability from the creator."

And if that isn't sufficient? Well, the crowdfunding site suggests that it's up to the creators to find a resolution, either by offering refunds or letting their backers know how their funds were used.

But creators seem to have varied ideas about appropriate resolutions.

When NPR raised this question of accountability to several project founders, they got different answers. Ouya, the open source video game console, for example, has more than 63,000 backers expecting to receive a console by next March. So what would they do if they couldn't deliver?

"Technically, from the Kickstarter perspective, I actually don't know the answer to that," Julie Uhrman of Ouya told NPR. "But from a doing-the-right-thing perspective, we will treat our backers the best possible way."

David Barnett, another Kickstarter project founder, told NPR that he has already ended up giving $1,300 in refunds through PayPal to 40 of the 500 people who backed him when the production of his iPhone case was delayed.

Other founders seem to have tested the patience of their backers, though.

Earlier this week, the New York Post pointed to backlash over a Kickstarter project to build a prototype for sunglasses that can record HD video.

The founders, Evan Lindquist and Brent Burroff, raised about $340,000 in May of 2011, and they allegedly haven't sent backers any status updates. (The founders told the Post that there will be an update soon.)

Similarly, the Denver Post spoke with the founders of TrekPak, who started a Kickstarter project for a padded divider that protects camera gear. The company recently pushed back the planned delivery date from July to September and cited unexpected problems with the "manufacturing process" as the issue.

"As we've learned, there is a huge difference between creating a project that works that's using materials from the craft store, and then starting to work with legitimate suppliers and industry manufacturers," Georgia Hoyer, the TrekPak president, told the Denver Post.

According to Kickstarter, about 30,000 projects have been funded by more than two million people since the site first launched in 2009.

‘Sideways Plane’ Concept Wins Funding From Nasa

Nasa has awarded $100,000 in funding for a team designing a new 'sideways' super-sonic plane.

The aircraft, which looks like a four-point ninja star, was developed at Florida State University.

The new plane could fly much faster than traditional commercial jets, with a greatly reduced 'sonic boom' when it reaches super-sonic speeds.

The idea is essentially to lay two 'flying wing' planes on top of each other, at 90 degrees.

One configuration is designed for sub-sonic flight, the other for super-sonic flight.

The aircraft would rotate by 90 degrees when travelling faster than sound, with the result that it would avoid making the loud 'sonic boom' which resulted in the Concorde commercial aircraft being banned from large swathes of American airspace.

It would fly fast enough to travel from Tokyo to New York in four hours.

Ge-Chen Zha, the engineer behind the design, says that the rotation would not be unpleasant for passengers, and would create less of a G-force pull than during take-off.

Nasa doesn't expect the design to take off (in any sense) for at least 20 years, but said it wanted to fund concepts that might represent the future of air travel.

"We are inventing the ways in which next-generation aircraft and spacecraft will change the world and inspiring Americans to take bold steps," said Michael Gazarik, director of Nasa's Space Technology Program.

Ambitious Space Mission Gets Major Vote Of Confidence

By: SPACE.com Staff
Published: 09/02/2012 08:53 AM EDT on SPACE.com

A Dutch company that aims to land humans on Mars in 2023 as the vanguard of a permanent Red Planet colony has received its first funding from sponsors, officials announced this week.

Mars One plans to fund most of its ambitious activities via a global reality-TV media event, which will follow the mission from the selection of astronauts through their first years on the Red Planet. But the sponsorship money is important, helping the company — which had been self-funded for the last 18 months — get to that point, officials said Wednesday (Aug. 29).

"Receipt of initial sponsorship marks the next step to humans setting foot on Mars," Mars One founder and president Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. "A little more than a year ago we embarked down this path, calling upon industry experts to share in our bold dream. Today, we have moved from a technical plan into the first stage of funding, giving our dream a foundation in reality."

Initial sponsors include Byte Internet (a Dutch Internet/Webhosting provider); Dutch lawfirm VBC Notarissen; Dutch consulting company MeetIn; New-Energy.tv (an independent Dutch web station that focuses on energy and climate); and Dejan SEO (an Australia-based search engine optimization firm). [Video: 'Big Brother' on Mars?]

"Mars One is not just a daring project, but the core of what drives human spirit towards exploration of the unknown. We are privileged to be a supporter of this incredible project," said Dan Petrovic, general director of Dejan SEO.

Mars One aims to launch a series of robotic missions between 2016 and 2020 that will build a habitable outpost on the Red Planet. The first four astronauts will set foot on Mars in 2023, and more will arrive every two years after that. There are no plans to return these pioneers to Earth.

Company officials say they've talked to a variety of private spaceflight firms around the world and have secured at least one supplier for every major piece of the Mars colony mission. The corporate sponsorship money will be used mostly to fund the conceptual design studies provided by the aerospace suppliers, each of which require 500 to 2,500 man-hours to complete, officials said.

Mars One estimates that it will cost about $6 billion to put the first four humans on the Red Planet. The company hopes the "Big Brother"-style reality show will pay most of these costs. The televised action is slated to begin in 2013, when Mars One begins the process of selecting its 40-person astronaut corps.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

The Boldest Mars Missions in History Giant Leaps: Top Milestones of Human Spaceflight Mars Explored: Landers and Rovers Since 1971 (Infographic) Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Jim Kukral: Crowdfunding: Kickstarter vs. IndieGoGo

If you're going to start a crowdfunding campaign you will inevitably come to the point where you will need to decide what platform to use. For my first project for my book series, I ended up raising over $35,000 on my own, without either Kickstarter or IndieGogo. For my second campaign called Jim For Life, I purposely choose to go with IndieGogo over Kickstarter. Here's why.

Note: There are plenty of other platforms out there you can use besides these two. These just seem to be the most talked about.

#1 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Kickstarter doesn't take all projects. Read their terms. They ask you to submit your project first, and if you pass their gatekeeper requirements you get in. I hate gatekeepers. Sure, I get why they do this, and they have every right to do it, I just don't like it.

#2 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Kickstarter forces you to use the Amazon payment system. Ugh. First off, the set up of verification of your bank account is excessive and takes up to 5-days or more. And frankly, forcing people to pay this way is just ridiculous. IndieGogo takes all major credit cards and Paypal.

#3 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Fees. From Lockergnome's Chris Pirrillo, Indiegogo offers users the ability to accept funding even when their goals are not met. This comes at a higher percentage (9% underfunded versus 4% for fully-funded projects) but it can help you avoid falling just a hair shy of your goal and losing any chance of funding as a result.

The current fees for projects funded on Kickstarter is 5%. Indiegogo's fees start at 4% and raise to 9% if you fail to reach your funding goal. That makes Indiegogo a better deal for folks with fully-funded projects and the only option for folks willing to self-fund to make up the difference should they miss their goal amount.

#4 Reason I Went With IndieGogo Instead of Kickstarter

Did I mention I hate gatekeepers? If you're going to offer a service, make it open to everyone. Picking and choosing who can use it pisses me off.

Want to see IndieGogo in action? Stop over and drop a buck and get with the Jim For Life project where you can get all of my books for the next year for only $1.00.

What Life Is Like In A Fake Asteroid — Under The Sea

In July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it was killing its funding for the Aquarius Reef Base, which, located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, is the only sea lab of its kind in the world. Even during a science funding drought across the board, it was a difficult blow for the decades-long project of sending scientists and divers 60 feet below sea level to live on the ocean floor.

Space Elevator Project Seeks Funding On Kickstarter

Crowd-sourced funding website Kickstarter is undoubtedly a great service - but it's usually used to raise money projects on the scale of a new Mac peripheral, or perhaps a human-to-robot dance party transformation.

Not space elevators.

A plan to develop a low-cost way to launch cargo into space via a giant elevator has taken Kickstarter by storm.

The basic idea of a space elevator is to drop a very long, very durable 'cable' from a space station, enabling cargo (or people) to travel up into space by mechanical means and without the use of rocket fuel.

LiftPort, founded by former Nasa researcher Michael Laine, was set up in 2003 to further studies into realistic space elevators.

But after finding some success - and winning the record for building the tallest elevator in the world - the company went into hibernation in 2007.

Now they're back - and a few days ago they launched a project on Kickstarter to find $8,000 in funding, which they've already exceeded four times over.

LiftPort admit that a true space elevator is still 20 to 25 years away, but say before then there are "some vital interim steps" to take before we get there. They argue an elevator could already be built on the Moon "with current technology", and in the meantime they want to develop a robot that can climb two kilometres to a platform suspended by giant balloons, as part of a $1m feasibility study.

Most of all they just want to build a "community". Laine says on the Kickstarter page that before LiftPort can restart its research, they need to "reengage" with science fans around the world and create excitement around the idea of riding elevators into space.

Currently the total stands at $32,000 - and is set to raise much higher in the next fortnight as science fans rush to support the project. Three people have pledged more than $500, for which they'll gain the opportunity to ride the robots to the top of the elevator and basejump off the platform.

"I can't express my gratitude properly, yet, - but I'll find a way," said Laine. "Thank you!"

SOLD

In the face of a myriad of rumors and conflicting reports this morning, the pioneering cloud gaming service OnLive confirmed today that its assets have been sold to a new, still unnamed company. OnLive will continue to operate its services during the transition and the new company is backed “by substantial funding,” said a spokeswoman for Steve Perlman, the chief executive of OnLive.

Man Seeks Funding To Transform Himself Into A Robot Dance Party

For some, their goal in life is to reach the stars. For others it's to jump the farthest or run the quickest, or find fame, riches and glory.

For one man in California, it's to transform himself into a giant robot and teach the world to dance.

Chris Hirst has a destiny to become a one-man Robot Dance Party. And he's taken to an online fundraising site to make it happen.

OK - what Chris has is in mind isn't a 'real' robot, as such. It doesn't have a computer brain or gyros, or even the ability to move on its own. All it has are a giant cube head, long tube legs, clamps for hands, six speakers in the chest and a man inside the suit who loves to groove, automaton style.

Once suited up in his prototype, Chris goes to parks (or is invited to parties), walks around, waits for someone to plug in some music, and starts dancing. Soon more people are joining in. People smile. People have fun.

And... that's it. No, it isn't the most complex or world-changing Kickstarter in the world. But it might just be the sweetest.

Chris says has been testing the suit in parks in San Franscisco and Santa Cruz for months, and says that the reaction has been overwhelming.

"As the music emanates from his frame, the robot dances his heart out in a demonstration that’s sure to put a smile on your face," he writes. "And hopefully get you dancing".

He built his first prototype "several months ago" and is now looking for pledges on the crowd-source funding website Kickstarter to take it to "the next level".

He has dreams of lights timed to flash with the music, an upgraded sound-system and a tablet mounted on the side to let dancers choose their own tunes. He also wants to build in a cooling system ("it gets rather hot in there") and maybe add some solar batteries. For this he needs $1,500 - not a small chunk of change, to be sure - but not impossible.

If Chris can get the money together, it's possible he can turn the Robot Dance Party into a living as well as a vocation.

But mostly he just wants to dance.

"I started this project because I love music and I love to dance," he says on his Kickstarter page.

"My goal is to amuse and entertain, but also to get people dancing. The Dance Party Robot creates a friendly and carefree environment that puts inhibitions at ease and helps people let themselves have fun.

"You could say he brings out the inner dancer in people through his charming smile and contagious dance moves. In a few of the robot videos that have been posted by fans on youtube you can see that even the camera operator can’t help grooving along to the beat."

So far Chris is doing okay - he has 23 backers and just over $400 of funding.

But if you want to see a little bit more robot boogie in the world and you have some spare change, consider sending it his way.

"I’ve been having the time of my life with this project," he says. "With your help I can take it to the next level."

Man Seeks Funding To Transform Himself Into A Robot Dance Party

For some, their goal in life is to reach the stars. For others it's to jump the farthest or run the quickest, or find fame, riches and glory.

For one man in California, it's to transform himself into a giant robot and teach the world to dance.

Chris Hirst has a destiny to become a one-man Robot Dance Party. And he's taken to an online fundraising site to make it happen.

OK - what Chris has is in mind isn't a 'real' robot, as such. It doesn't have a computer brain or gyros, or even the ability to move on its own. All it has are a giant cube head, long tube legs, clamps for hands, six speakers in the chest and a man inside the suit who loves to groove, automaton style.

Once suited up in his prototype, Chris goes to parks (or is invited to parties), walks around, waits for someone to plug in some music, and starts dancing. Soon more people are joining in. People smile. People have fun.

And... that's it. No, it isn't the most complex or world-changing Kickstarter in the world. But it might just be the sweetest.

Chris says has been testing the suit in parks in San Franscisco and Santa Cruz for months, and says that the reaction has been overwhelming.

"As the music emanates from his frame, the robot dances his heart out in a demonstration that’s sure to put a smile on your face," he writes. "And hopefully get you dancing".

He built his first prototype "several months ago" and is now looking for pledges on the crowd-source funding website Kickstarter to take it to "the next level".

He has dreams of lights timed to flash with the music, an upgraded sound-system and a tablet mounted on the side to let dancers choose their own tunes. He also wants to build in a cooling system ("it gets rather hot in there") and maybe add some solar batteries. For this he needs $1,500 - not a small chunk of change, to be sure - but not impossible.

If Chris can get the money together, it's possible he can turn the Robot Dance Party into a living as well as a vocation.

But mostly he just wants to dance.

"I started this project because I love music and I love to dance," he says on his Kickstarter page.

"My goal is to amuse and entertain, but also to get people dancing. The Dance Party Robot creates a friendly and carefree environment that puts inhibitions at ease and helps people let themselves have fun.

"You could say he brings out the inner dancer in people through his charming smile and contagious dance moves. In a few of the robot videos that have been posted by fans on youtube you can see that even the camera operator can’t help grooving along to the beat."

So far Chris is doing okay - he has 23 backers and just over $400 of funding.

But if you want to see a little bit more robot boogie in the world and you have some spare change, consider sending it his way.

"I’ve been having the time of my life with this project," he says. "With your help I can take it to the next level."

Man Seeks Funding To Transform Himself Into A Robot Dance Party

For some, their goal in life is to reach the stars. For others it's to jump the farthest or run the quickest, or find fame, riches and glory.

For one man in California, it's to transform himself into a giant robot and teach the world to dance.

Chris Hirst has a destiny to become a one-man Robot Dance Party. And he's taken to an online fundraising site to make it happen.

OK - what Chris has is in mind isn't a 'real' robot, as such. It doesn't have a computer brain or gyros, or even the ability to move on its own. All it has are a giant cube head, long tube legs, clamps for hands, six speakers in the chest and a man inside the suit who loves to groove, automaton style.

Once suited up in his prototype, Chris goes to parks (or is invited to parties), walks around, waits for someone to plug in some music, and starts dancing. Soon more people are joining in. People smile. People have fun.

And... that's it. No, it isn't the most complex or world-changing Kickstarter in the world. But it might just be the sweetest.

Chris says has been testing the suit in parks in San Franscisco and Santa Cruz for months, and says that the reaction has been overwhelming.

"As the music emanates from his frame, the robot dances his heart out in a demonstration that’s sure to put a smile on your face," he writes. "And hopefully get you dancing".

He built his first prototype "several months ago" and is now looking for pledges on the crowd-source funding website Kickstarter to take it to "the next level".

He has dreams of lights timed to flash with the music, an upgraded sound-system and a tablet mounted on the side to let dancers choose their own tunes. He also wants to build in a cooling system ("it gets rather hot in there") and maybe add some solar batteries. For this he needs $1,500 - not a small chunk of change, to be sure - but not impossible.

If Chris can get the money together, it's possible he can turn the Robot Dance Party into a living as well as a vocation.

But mostly he just wants to dance.

"I started this project because I love music and I love to dance," he says on his Kickstarter page.

"My goal is to amuse and entertain, but also to get people dancing. The Dance Party Robot creates a friendly and carefree environment that puts inhibitions at ease and helps people let themselves have fun.

"You could say he brings out the inner dancer in people through his charming smile and contagious dance moves. In a few of the robot videos that have been posted by fans on youtube you can see that even the camera operator can’t help grooving along to the beat."

So far Chris is doing okay - he has 23 backers and just over $400 of funding.

But if you want to see a little bit more robot boogie in the world and you have some spare change, consider sending it his way.

"I’ve been having the time of my life with this project," he says. "With your help I can take it to the next level."

Pedro L. Rodriguez: Finding Self: Digital Storytelling

This week I returned from a much needed vacation. I visited the rural southwest of France in a town of 300 inhabitants (Préchac), then sauntered over to the pulsating island of Ibiza for Mediterranean sun mixed with dance beats before landing in nouveau Berlin, where any Brooklyn hipster worth their salt would find themselves nearing nirvana. My journey was documented on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with the occasional email to family, friends and the office. Each location teased me with sights, scents and sounds that enveloped me in each culture but I was overwhelmed by the need to share my wanderlust and therefore the very feeling of being an outsider while longing to belong.

I've made many friends throughout my travels over the years and had the pleasure of spending time with a handful of them during this trip. As millennials, we shared the desire for connectivity both within our traveling circle and with those we left behind physically (at home) or virtually (on social media).

It's official: the diary has been replaced by the image, as Pinterest, YouTube and any number of platforms can attest to. However, as a 1.5 generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic, I find that I'm in a constant state of cultural limbo from that which is indigenous to me (Caribbean) to that which I've assimilated to (North American). I'm similarly intrigued by how my generation chooses to express itself both on- and off-line. My own struggles pertain to feeling a sense of being removed from my birthplace and while I identify with it, I am riddled with a ferris wheel of experiences that mark my overall human footprint and who I am as I type these words.

In speaking with my colleague Francesco Paciocco about my travels, we discussed the very idea of immersion and voyeurism that we experience when visiting a familiar or new destination. His family comes from the Chieti area in Abruzzo. Unlike me, he's first-generation Italian-American, but he speaks Italian at home and visits his family in Italy often. His journeying has brought him to study his roots resulting in a documentary, Birthplace. In millennial fashion he's flocked to Kickstarter where there are currently 941 film and video projects awaiting crowdfunding. Francesco launched his post-production campaign with a modest goal that must be reached by Aug. 23, 2012 or the film doesn't receive funding (one of the rules of the platform). Visit his campaign page to see how the documentary's visuals question, respect and ultimately accept the concept of belonging.

Recently I came across the film project from the partner of a former Vassar College acquaintance of mine, Tom Bridegroom, which fully impressed on me the desire for visual storytelling that my generation oozes. There's an underpinning need to share our experiences, good and bad, thanks in part to the popularity of social media. While sales of physical books are declining (2.5 percent decline in U.S. last year), eBooks are thriving and visual storytelling and storytellers, specifically in film are turning to alternative sources of funding like IndieGoGo for their opportunity.

As consumers rally around storytellers and their narratives thanks to these types of platforms, it will be interesting to see what continued effect this will have on media producers and brands. We've already seen the lukewarm waves of brands co-opting user-generated content but as consumers select the narratives rather than supporting brand-selected narratives, the question becomes how much is any given brand willing to indulge their consumer?

Marissa Mayer And Menlo Ventures Invest $13.9M In Getaround

Getaround, the car-sharing marketplace that makes it dead easy to take a spin in a stranger's car, has pulled in $13.9 million in first round funding from an all-star cast of investors: Menlo Ventures' Shervin Pishevar, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, actor Ashton Kutcher, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

"Our investors want to disrupt transportation as much as we do," said company co-founder Jessica Scorpio (pictured above). "There are way too many cars on the planet."

Scorpio told me she was first approached by Mayer, who invests in about five or six companies a year, at TechCrunch Disrupt, where the company launched last year. This is Mayer's first investment since joining Yahoo as CEO and follows recent investments in Airtime and Square.

Marissa Mayer And Menlo Ventures Invest $13.9M In Getaround

Getaround, the car-sharing marketplace that makes it dead easy to take a spin in a stranger's car, has pulled in $13.9 million in first round funding from an all-star cast of investors: Menlo Ventures' Shervin Pishevar, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, actor Ashton Kutcher, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

"Our investors want to disrupt transportation as much as we do," said company co-founder Jessica Scorpio (pictured above). "There are way too many cars on the planet."

Scorpio told me she was first approached by Mayer, who invests in about five or six companies a year, at TechCrunch Disrupt, where the company launched last year. This is Mayer's first investment since joining Yahoo as CEO and follows recent investments in Airtime and Square.

Marissa Mayer And Menlo Ventures Invest $13.9M In Getaround

Getaround, the car-sharing marketplace that makes it dead easy to take a spin in a stranger's car, has pulled in $13.9 million in first round funding from an all-star cast of investors: Menlo Ventures' Shervin Pishevar, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, actor Ashton Kutcher, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

"Our investors want to disrupt transportation as much as we do," said company co-founder Jessica Scorpio (pictured above). "There are way too many cars on the planet."

Scorpio told me she was first approached by Mayer, who invests in about five or six companies a year, at TechCrunch Disrupt, where the company launched last year. This is Mayer's first investment since joining Yahoo as CEO and follows recent investments in Airtime and Square.

Brad Spirrison: New Partners Foodspotting and GrubHub Have Different Recipes for Growth

Like a burger and fries or apple pie à la mode, Foodspotting and GrubHub are two mobile apps that go really well together.

Foodspotting, which has more than three million downloads across multiple platforms including iOS and Android applications, is a visual guide for unique food dishes. For the uninitiated, the pioneering app locates interesting meals near you, and invites users to snap pictures and share their favorite "food porn" experiences with others. GrubHub, however, provides digital food delivery and takeout services to more than 15,000 restaurants across the United States. More than 30 percent of GrubHub's orders come from mobile platforms, including iPhone and Android applications.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Foodspotting rolled out an update that enables users to order food from GrubHub within the application. Currently about one-third of GrubHub's restaurants are linked to the app, said Foodspotting CEO Alexa Andrzejewski. When looking at Foodspotting locations in Chicago, where GrubHub is based, I was not able to find any participating restaurants at first check. Andrzejewski said a future update will make GrubHub's offering more visible.

Even with a partnership that is not yet fully baked, it's easy to see how the integration will provide Foodspotting with more engagement. It will also increase transaction volume for GrubHub, which contemplated building its own Foodspotting-like service before going in on a partnership.

"While this is something that is not technically that hard to do," explained GrubHub co-founder and CEO Matt Maloney, "it makes a lot more sense to work with a partner who has been doing it a while. They are a good group that is very passionate about what they're doing."

Choosing different entrepreneurial ingredients

Just as Foodspotting and GrubHub offer distinct services in food discovery and meal ordering, the two companies also have dramatically different approaches to how they do business.

GrubHub, founded in 2004, achieved profitability before going through a $7,000 seed investment from its co-founders. While the company has since raised more than $50 million in venture capital funding from the likes of Benchmark and others, GrubHub still has somewhat of a meat and potatoes approach to building a business with an intense focus on the bottom line. Conversely, Foodspotting, which raised nearly $4 million in funding from high-profile investors in late 2010 and early 2011, is still in no rush to make money.

"We are still in the exploration and prototyping phase," said Andrzejewski, adding that it would be impossible to generate significant revenue in her end of the restaurant sector without having a great product first.

"VC financing is important to get that experience off the ground," she said. "You get it to a scale and you can then turn that into meaningful sources of revenue."

Nearly a decade ago in Chicago, before Groupon and FeedBurner, it was nearly impossible for an upstart like GrubHub with first-time entrepreneurs to raise significant financing without revenue (much less a revenue model).

"It was a different time and different location," explains Maloney, who worked alongside GrubHub co-founder Mike Evans at Apartments.com before they started their company. "We had restaurants that were willing to pay us for a transactional service."

Maloney pointed out that industry game-changers like Instagram and Twitter "raised gobs of money before ever figuring out a revenue model", and that there are many paths for startup success.

"If you think about a brand conceptually as real estate in a person's brain that they are giving you a few minutes a day," he said, "that is a very valuable asset to some companies. It's a great business model if you can nail it... I have no idea how Foodspotting will make money, but it's a cool service and people like it."

Brad Spirrison: New Partners Foodspotting and GrubHub Have Different Recipes for Growth

Like a burger and fries or apple pie à la mode, Foodspotting and GrubHub are two mobile apps that go really well together.

Foodspotting, which has more than three million downloads across multiple platforms including iOS and Android applications, is a visual guide for unique food dishes. For the uninitiated, the pioneering app locates interesting meals near you, and invites users to snap pictures and share their favorite "food porn" experiences with others. GrubHub, however, provides digital food delivery and takeout services to more than 15,000 restaurants across the United States. More than 30 percent of GrubHub's orders come from mobile platforms, including iPhone and Android applications.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Foodspotting rolled out an update that enables users to order food from GrubHub within the application. Currently about one-third of GrubHub's restaurants are linked to the app, said Foodspotting CEO Alexa Andrzejewski. When looking at Foodspotting locations in Chicago, where GrubHub is based, I was not able to find any participating restaurants at first check. Andrzejewski said a future update will make GrubHub's offering more visible.

Even with a partnership that is not yet fully baked, it's easy to see how the integration will provide Foodspotting with more engagement. It will also increase transaction volume for GrubHub, which contemplated building its own Foodspotting-like service before going in on a partnership.

"While this is something that is not technically that hard to do," explained GrubHub co-founder and CEO Matt Maloney, "it makes a lot more sense to work with a partner who has been doing it a while. They are a good group that is very passionate about what they're doing."

Choosing different entrepreneurial ingredients

Just as Foodspotting and GrubHub offer distinct services in food discovery and meal ordering, the two companies also have dramatically different approaches to how they do business.

GrubHub, founded in 2004, achieved profitability before going through a $7,000 seed investment from its co-founders. While the company has since raised more than $50 million in venture capital funding from the likes of Benchmark and others, GrubHub still has somewhat of a meat and potatoes approach to building a business with an intense focus on the bottom line. Conversely, Foodspotting, which raised nearly $4 million in funding from high-profile investors in late 2010 and early 2011, is still in no rush to make money.

"We are still in the exploration and prototyping phase," said Andrzejewski, adding that it would be impossible to generate significant revenue in her end of the restaurant sector without having a great product first.

"VC financing is important to get that experience off the ground," she said. "You get it to a scale and you can then turn that into meaningful sources of revenue."

Nearly a decade ago in Chicago, before Groupon and FeedBurner, it was nearly impossible for an upstart like GrubHub with first-time entrepreneurs to raise significant financing without revenue (much less a revenue model).

"It was a different time and different location," explains Maloney, who worked alongside GrubHub co-founder Mike Evans at Apartments.com before they started their company. "We had restaurants that were willing to pay us for a transactional service."

Maloney pointed out that industry game-changers like Instagram and Twitter "raised gobs of money before ever figuring out a revenue model", and that there are many paths for startup success.

"If you think about a brand conceptually as real estate in a person's brain that they are giving you a few minutes a day," he said, "that is a very valuable asset to some companies. It's a great business model if you can nail it... I have no idea how Foodspotting will make money, but it's a cool service and people like it."

Featuring YD Feedwordpress Content Filter Plugin