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Y Combinator chief on the best startup ideas

by Matt Bowman, April 15, 2010 | Comments

The worst plans are from "young founders making things they think other people will want."

Paul Graham, founder of seed-stage venture fund Y Combinator, has seen a lot of startup ideas. Since its founding in 2005, the fund has reviewed hundreds of business plans in their very earliest stages, and helped many ideas grow into Series A-worthy investments. Its alumni include Reddit (acquired by Conde Naste), Justin.tv and Scribd. Graham is also from out East ...

Twitter Annotations opens up a can o' terms

by Matt Bowman, April 14, 2010 | Comments

Any application will soon be able to tag tweets. Enter another layer of conversation.

A mob of Twitter aficionados and software developers thronged the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on Wednesday to hear the latest plans from Twitter’s executive team. The official Twitter developer conference, Chirp, is a platform for all kinds of techy announcements that generally sound like gobbeldy gook to the average Tweeter, until weeks later when coders incorporate the ...

How much is a Facebook fan worth? (Updated)

by Matt Bowman, April 14, 2010 | Comments (3)

Probably a lot less than the $3.60 number being tossed around in the marketing press.

Update: Vitrue published a blog post explaining some of the methodology. My reactions after the original post. COO Jim Anderson responds in the comments. Brands have rushed to attract fans on Facebook in hopes of grabbing up consumer mindshare for a bargain. But when it comes to estimating the value of such efforts, they're shooting in the dark, given the embryonic ...

Google developing tablet to rival iPad

by Matt Bowman, April 13, 2010 | Comments (5)

Eric Schmidt reportedly let slip plans for an iPad rival that will run Android and allow Flash.

Bits is reporting that Google may soon be coming out with its own slate computer to rival the iPad. Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, told friends at a recent party in Los Angeles about the new device, which would exclusively run the Android operating system. People with direct knowledge of the project — who did not want to ...

ZoomSafer nabs $1M to help drivers focus

by Matt Bowman, April 12, 2010 | Comments

Mobile software detects when a user is on the road and switches the phone to safe-drive mode.

ZoomSafer, a Virginia-based developer of safe-driving software for mobile devices, has raised a $1 million Series A round from Sugar Oak Holdings, a Real-estate investment firm also based in Virginia. Sugar Oak’s CEO Daniel Baker has joined Zoomsafer’s board. No other investors were named, but the company previously raised $1.25 million in seed capital. Once downloaded to a mobile phone, ...

Justice Stevens’ legacy: porn and Amazon

by Matt Bowman, April 9, 2010 | Comments

Retiring justice blocked Congress from putting indecent material behind a paywall online.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement Friday. The oldest and most liberal member of the court had a big impact on today’s internet landscape. Most notably, he can be thanked for the ubiquity of porn, and Amazon’s competitive advantage. In 1996, Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act (CDA) which made it illegal ...

Facebook to help register voters in UK

by Matt Bowman, April 9, 2010 | Comments

UK visitors will be asked if they have registered this Saturday. Could boost youth participation.

Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes is largely credited with President Obama’s successful online presidential campaign strategy. Now his company is being enlisted by the British Electoral Commission to get out the vote for next month’s hotly contested election for U.K. Prime Minister. UK-based visitors to Facebook will be asked this Saturday if they have registered to vote. If they answer ‘no,’ ...

In search of poor customers

by Matt Bowman, April 8, 2010 | Comments

Stanford design program turns venture economics on its head. Can the trend ripple up to investors?

For the last decade, corporations have tripped over each other to establish their “eco-friendly” credentials. The idea is consumers will pay for the warm fuzzies from “conscience marketing” with pocket-book loyalty. The same concept inspires labeling like organic, free-trade and Product Red.What about investment firms? Venture capitalists have to act in the financial interest of the institutions whose money they ...

MySpace relaunch coming in the fall

by Matt Bowman, April 8, 2010 | Comments

New site will have greater emphasis on games, music and will tap China and Africa.

MySpace is planning a relaunch in the fall. According to a report in Australia’s Syndey Morning Herald, the goal is to win back users from Facebook.I’m not so sure. The report quotes the co-presidents, but never do they indicate that combatting Facebook is the goal. MySpace basically lost that game. It has flailed amid executive shuffles and dwindling significance since ...

FTC targets Google, Apple may block bullet

by Matt Bowman, April 7, 2010 | Comments

Likely unveiling of Apple's mobile ad network could help Google defend against an FTC suit.

The Federal Trade Commission may be preparing for a legal fight over Google’s planned acquisition of mobile ad company AdMob, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The deal has been held up for months as the FTC reviews it for antitrust violations. The report says the FTC has sent letters to AdMob competitors asking for sworn statements ...

Box bags $15M for cloud collaboration

by Matt Bowman, April 7, 2010 | Comments

Funding comes one week after Box launched an iPad app. Scale’s Rory O’Driscoll joins the board.

Cloud-based file-sharing service Box.net has raised a $15 million Series C round to expand its engineering, sales and marketing efforts, bringing its total venture funding to $29.5 million. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners, and Scale’s Rory O’Driscoll has joined the Box board of directors. CEO Aaron Levie told me existing investors DFJ and US Venture Partners participated ...

Venture firms crawl back, fundraising up 41%

by Matt Bowman, April 6, 2010 | Comments

After slowing to a trickle in 2009, the money flowing to venture firms is starting to pick up.

The news is about as good as an entrepreneur can hope for these days. Venture funds raised 41% more last quarter than in Q1 2009, up to $4.1 billion from $2.9 billion, according to data from Dow Jones LP Source. That’s still paltry compared to the rest of last decade, before venture funding took a 53% nosedive in 2009. But ...

Digg's one-time future

by Matt Bowman, April 6, 2010 | Comments (1)

Just before leaving the company, Jay Adelson revealed his plans for the site overhaul.

On Monday, Jay Adelson announced he is stepping down as CEO of Digg, and founder Kevin Rose will take up the reins. TechCrunch suggested the change was less amicable than the cofounders made it seem.On March 24, I interviewed Adelson about his plans for the upcoming site redesign. Now all of those plans are up in the air, and Rose, ...

Brightcove stockpiles $12M

by Matt Bowman, April 5, 2010 | Comments

Funding brings online video company's total funding to $99M. IPO possible in 2011.

Online video management company Brightcove just raised a $12 million Series E round of funding led by original Series A investors Accel Partners and General Catalyst partners. The company is a leader in a very crowded sector. Like competitors Ooyala, Kaltura and Delve Networks, Brightcove was founded in the good times of 2006-2007 when online advertising was thought to be ...

iPad day 1 sales beat the iPhone

by Matt Bowman, April 5, 2010 | Comments

300,000 units sold on Saturday. For a device no one needed a few months ago, that's impressive.

Apple just announced it sold over 300,000 iPads on Saturday, lower than analyst estimates of 700,000 (that was for the whole weekend, but the bulk undoubtedly came on Saturday), but more than the estimated 270,00 iPhones sold in the first weekend in 2007. Some think the comparison to iPhone sales is unhelpful. I disagree. The iPhone fell into a device ...

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