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How'd Sequoia Let Yuri Milner Grab this Sweetheart Y Combinator Deal?
Jan 29, 7:27AM
Earlier tonight, Mike posted a bombshell that must have made super angels shudder. Not content with the grenade he threw into the late-stage investing world with aggressive investments in Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, tonight Yuri Milner announced a new partnership with Ron Conway that offers similar you'd-be-crazy-not-to-take-this-deal terms for every Y Combinator company. But you know who might be even more bummed by the news than the super angels? Sequoia Capital. The top Valley firm lead Y Combinator's last funding, less than one year ago. At $8.5 million, this was a big step up for Y Combinator, dramatically allowing it to expand how many startups it could let into its incubator. And it should have been a big advantage for Sequoia too: A way to see a crop of new deals early in an increasingly competitive investing landscape, where most VCs are being shut out of early rounds by super angels. It seems Milner stole the opportunity right out from under Sequoia.
Start Fund: Yuri Milner, SV Angel Offer EVERY New Y Combinator Startup $150k
Jan 29, 5:11AM
Everything just changed in the angel investing world. Two years ago Yuri Milner, through his investment firm DST, disrupted the traditional Silicon Valley venture capital model when he began investing in the hottest startups - companies like Facebook, Zynga and Groupon - at very high valuations and extremely easy deal terms. He looks brilliant in hindsight, with all of his U.S. investments at significantly higher valuations since he invested. Most top VC firms have begun emulating DST's deal structure. Now he's partnering (as an individual, not as part of DST) with Ron Conway's angel fund, SV Angel. And they're making a bold investment move. This evening they've just made a blanket investment offer to every Y Combinator startup in the most recent batch. They're going to invest in all of them. Every single one. And this is the biggest Y Combinator class to date - some 40 new startups.
Blekko Takes Curated Search Mobile With iPhone And Android Apps
Jan 29, 3:52AM
Blekko, the search engine that is fighting the good fight against web spam with human editors, is joining biggies Google and Bing in the mobile search arena today with an Android and iPhone application double whammy. Says Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta, "In a world where people want the most relevant answers on the go, mobile search is becoming increasingly more significant."
'Angry Turds' Is Like 'Angry Birds' Except With, Yes, Turds
Jan 29, 12:54AM
Ever wish Angry Birds had more poop in it? Well look no further than the App Store today, as Apps Genius has launched Angry Turds. As a monkey in Angry Turds, you get to battle evil island explorers who have stolen your monkey babies with various projectile weapons. The concept is similar to Angry Birds as your objective is to throw stuff but the stuff here goes beyond rocks to coconuts, turds, banana bombs and grand poop-bas (I am so glad I never spent any money getting a journalism degree).
War Maneuvers: Android Event Will Battle iPad Event For Press Love On February 2
Jan 29, 12:01AM
I love asking companies if the timing of events is on purpose or purely coincidental. Not only do they almost always say that it's purely coincidental, but they often try to claim that didn't even realize a rival was also doing something when they made their plans. Sure. Next week will feature another such situation. Earlier this week, News Corp. and Apple sent out press invites for an event to unveil the new iPad-only app, The Daily. And then this evening, we've just received an invite to a Google event to show off the latest version of Android, Honeycomb. The one meant for tablets. And guess what? They're on the same day.
AnyLeaf Aggregates And Delivers Personalized Grocery Store Deals
Jan 28, 11:58PM
For decades, my mother and grandmother have both religiously scanned the weekly coupon books and circulars that arrive in the weekend newspaper. While clipping coupons can be tedious, grocery stores' weekly deals can often take out a significant chunk of change of the weekly food bill. Of course, as print couponing becomes obsolete, many consumers are looking to the web for deals at their local grocery stores. Today, Y Combinator-backed AnyLeaf is launching its intelligent grocery deal aggregator to the public. AnyLeaf scours local grocery store sites in the San Francisco Bay area and aggregates all the deals from these stores, including CVS, Lucky, Nob Hill, Raley's, Safeway, Target, and Walgreens. You simply enter your zipcode and email address, and AnyLeaf will send you a weekly email with deals from the local grocery stores near you. 
The Future of Search: Who Will Win The Spam Wars?
Jan 28, 11:52PM
Sometimes, all it takes is a little spark to set off a major forest fire. That is what seems to have happened with my New Year's Day post on Why We Desperately Need a New (and Better) Google. Over the last two months, there has been an avalanche of articles echoing my post, including New York Magazine, Business Insider, GigaOm, TechCrunch, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal. I had a feeling that this would get Google's attention. And I had the same concern as when I challenged the Russian government, once, in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article about Skolkovo (a new tech park). I feared that Google would either blacklist me or do its equivalent of putting me in a Gulag—deliver even more spam when I search websites.
Meetup Feels The Wrath Of The Crowd After Radical Changes
Jan 28, 11:35PM
Meetup, a long time go-to place to create local online groups, has undergone a major re-launch in the past day. However, it may have missed a trick: not consulting the meetup organizers who pay through the nose for the service. There now appears to be something of a revolt going on amongst some organisers, who are vociferously protesting about the changes. The reaction of annoyed organisers and members has turned into two, count-em, Twitter hashtags: #newmeetup and #meetuporganizersunite. Alternatives to Meetup like BigTent are being touted, as is GroupSpaces – a startup which last year raised $1.3 million from the likes of Index Ventures and Angels like Dave McClure and Chris Sacca. It is is already gunning for "FormerMeetupOrganizers" with its own group and a blog post on the subject.
Ask a VC: John O'Farrell Gives Tips on Deal Making, Advice to Would-Be VCs (TCTV)
Jan 28, 11:18PM
This week's Ask a VC has a different twist, since we had a different kind of VC on the show, John O'Farrell Andressen Horowitz's guru on business development and deal-making. The questions you asked O'Farrell are below. As usual, feel free to watch the whole show or use the links to skip ahead to your question. "Have you ever invested in a single employee startup? Would this be a situation in which you guys would make a deal?"
Google To Give A Better Taste Of Honeycomb Next Week At Press Event And On YouTube
Jan 28, 11:18PM
About an hour ago, Ina Fried over at Mobilized posted that Google would be hosting an event next week to show off the latest version of Android, codenamed "Honeycomb" a bit more. Sure enough, an invite has just landed in our inbox. The invite reads:
Twitter Alludes To WikiLeaks And #Egypt In Call For Freedom Of Expression
Jan 28, 10:39PM
Probably sick of countless press emails asking for an official stance on the countless controversial hyper-mediated events like WikiLeaks and the Tunisan and Egyptian uprisings now being amplified through Twitter, co-founder Biz Stone and Twitter General Council Alexander Macgillivray have co-written the polemic "The Tweets Must Flow" essentially arguing that freedom of expression is a human right. 
Video: Experiment Shows Cord-Cutting Simply Too Difficult For Average Families To Grasp
Jan 28, 9:59PM
Here's more evidence that regular people have zero time for things like Google TV, Boxee, and Roku, if only because they're too complicated for their own good. Hill Holiday, a "caffeine-fueled ad agency," asked five Boston-area families to participate in a cord-cutting experiment. For one week each family was asked to forgo traditional cable TV in favor of one of the following devices: Apple TV, Google TV, Boxee Box, Xbox 360, and Roku. These devices, of course, are the premier devices for people looking to break free of their cable company while still being able to enjoy television. And how did it turn out for these five families?
All Electric Bike Makers, Zero Motorcycles, Raise Another $2.4 Million
Jan 28, 9:36PM
A Santa Cruz-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, Zero Motorcycles, raised another $2.4 million in private equity, according to a new SEC filing. Earlier this month, California's Scotts Valley Police Department started using the company's Zero DS bikes in urban patrols. According to a company press statement, its Zero DS has a range of up to 50 miles (80 km) and is highway legal, safe for off-road bike paths, and drives quietly due to its all-electric drivetrain, making it potentially advantageous for urban law enforcement. In late 2010, Zero Motorcycles expanded sales of its all-electric bikes to Australia. The company is selling its products in 32 countries today, including...
Reserve Bank Of India Restricts PayPal Payments To Merchants To Under $500
Jan 28, 8:52PM
This is sure to cause a backlash among Indian online merchants. Due to restrictions from the Reserve Bank of India, PayPal has amended its user agreement for Indian merchants, imposing a number of restrictions on merchants using PayPal as an online payments mechanism. Now Indian merchants will not be able to accept payments via PayPal that are above $500 per transaction. As stated in PayPal's blog post announcing the change, "For purchases or payments above this transaction value, you will have to use an alternative payment method." The fact that Indian merchants won't be able to receive payments above $500 per transaction is a big blow to entrepreneurs in the country. As one anonymous developer tells us, "we're fucked."
OPENMESH Is Seeking Alternatives To Egypt-Style Internet Blackouts
Jan 28, 8:47PM
Galvanized by the unprecedented Internet shutdown in Egypt, angel investor Shervin Pishevar has launched OPENMESH a forum for people who want to discuss ways of preventing governments from blocking communications networks. The site (which is admittedly sparse at the moment) was up within hours of Pishevar tweeting out his ideas, designed and built by followers @Laksman and @garyjaybrooks.
David Karp: "Tumblr Is Growing By A Quarter Billion Impressions Every Week"
Jan 28, 8:42PM
Tumblr is growing like a weed, but "the last four or five months totally overshadow everything that came before it," founder David Karp tells Chris Dixon in a taping today for TCTV (watch the video above). "We are growing by a quarter billion impressions every week," he revealed. Last week Tumblr did 1.2 billion impressions, or pageviews, and it is adding 250 million every week. Just think about that for a second. Over the last 30 days, that came to 4.2 billion pageviews. If you are wondering why Tumblr's been having so much downtime lately, just take a look at the comScore chart below, which shows its own estimate of 2.5 billion pageviews for the month of December, up from 335 million from the year before. All of that is coming from 19 million unique visitors per month globally, according to comScore. (Karp's numbers are based on his own internal Google Analytics and they are for a slightly different time period). 
Gowalla Begins Connecting The Dots On Travel
Jan 28, 7:27PM
Now that Facebook has entered the space, Google appears to be ready to take it more seriously, and Foursquare is gaining some real traction, the other players in the location field need to start defining their roles. Of the other players, Gowalla has been doing some interesting stuff around check-in aggregation. But their more interesting play may be around travel. And a small change today points to that. As you can see on place pages for various airports, Gowalla has begun connecting your travels from destination to destination. So if you check it at SFO then five hours later check in at JFK, they know that you were on a cross-country flight and create a new graphic to showcase that, complete with your miles traveled. Below that they tell your friends about your journey. And they're even able to see if you had a layover at another airport.
YouTube New Ideas Week, 'YouTube For Kids', & The Quest For The Awesome Cup
Jan 28, 7:27PM
Talk to any large company in Silicon Valley and they'll be the first to tell you that they foster a culture where innovation is everywhere and engineer imaginations can run wild. Unfortunately, that's often just a complete fabrication from the company's marketing department. But even at companies that really do try to encourage innovation, it's often tough for engineers to pull themselves away from their workload so that they can tinker on a side project. That's an issue that faced YouTube several years ago. No, YouTube doesn't just pay lip-service to innovation — the company, like its parent Google, allocates a good chunk of time for developers to work on their own projects. But oftentimes engineers simply didn't take advantage of their 20% time, so YouTube came up with an answer: instead of trying to get its engineers to spend one day a week on side projects, it decided to launch a biannual event where they spend a whole week crafting whatever they can think up. Earlier this month, YouTube invited me to talk with a few team members about this so-called New Ideas Week and how it got started. They also shared some projects that are currently in the works and got their start during the Week — things like a new version of YouTube built from the ground up for children, and a new Qik-like mobile service for live streaming. 
BlueTunes Finds A Savior In Online Storage Provider MiMedia
Jan 28, 5:44PM
Earlier this month, I reported on the imminent shutdown of BlueTunes, which provided a solution to upload locally stored music to the cloud. Turns out someone sorta kinda threw BlueTunes a lifeline right before it hit the deadpool. Online storage startup MiMedia has reached an agreement with BlueTunes for its users to become subscribers of its online music storage offering, and more.
Announcing TechCrunch Disrupt 2011: New York, San Francisco & Beijing
Jan 28, 5:13PM
Disruptions can happen to any industry anywhere in the world, which is why this year TechCrunch Disrupt is going global. The conference we launched last year in New York and San Francisco is coming back to both cities, but we are also adding a third Disrupt in Beijing. All three conferences will be filled with all-star speakers, the best new startups that launch on our stages, and the coup of working WiFi. The first Disrupt will once again take place in New York City on May 23-25, preceded by our ever popular Hackathon on May 21-22 in which pizza-fueled developers gather to hack together a product in 24 hours. Anything can happen at these events. Last year, Charlie Rose kicked off the event by interviewing legendary VC John Doerr, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz told Michael Arrington to "#@*k off," and a real company emerged from the Hackathon—GroupMe, which later raised $10.6 million. During the main event, we launched two dozen startups, and the winner was an international startup, Soluto. Today, we will begin taking submissions for Disrupt NY. If you are a founder building a company that is going to change the world, we want you to launch at Disrupt. Nowhere else offers the audience, investors, or media spotlight that Disrupt offers. Please submit your application HERE on our Disrupt application site powered by Producteev. We will be accepting submissions starting today and for the next eight weeks through Sunday, April 3, 2011 at midnight PT. We accept companies on a rolling basis, so please submit as soon as you're ready for consideration.
TV Tune-In Lets Big Media Jump On The Audience Interactivity Bandwagon
Jan 28, 5:11PM
There is a growing trend of companion applications to television shows that bring a second screen to interactivity with TV shows and movies. Apps like GetGlue, Miso, and Tunerfish all add a second platform where users can check-in to a show, earn points and rewards for participation, and interact with social networks. A new player is about to launch in the space that adds a white-label platform for audience engagement for television shows. TV Tune-In, developed by Rogue Paper, is a real-time, companion viewing and mobile app development platform for media companies to help drive viewership, conversation and interactions for television shows and content. TV Tune-In's CMS allows media companies to develop branded iPhone and iPad apps for television shows and channels. The apps aims to attract fans around live viewing of their favorite show, event, or sports team. Users can actively comment, Tweet and Like their favorite show, chat with friends, play trivia games, watch exclusive video content, photos and more. As users interact with the application, they can earn rewards like virtual badges. One compelling feature for TV Tune-In is the ability to time-shift interactions and commentary in case you aren't watching a show live.
Rapper T-Pain Gets A 'Facebook Like' Tattoo
Jan 28, 4:43PM
Whatever, it's Friday: looks like American singer/rapper T-Pain (real name: Faheem Rasheed Najm) got himself a tattoo while in Hawaii. He eloquently tweeted about the event thusly: "I get a tatt every time I come to Hawaii. I think this ones pretty sweet, unless facebook shuts down soon 0_o" There's really not much I can add to this, except that I'm not really impressed with his new tattoo. Lucky for me, I DON'T HAVE TO [Like] IT.
Don't Overestimate The Role Of Role Models
Jan 28, 4:16PM
In the seemingly never-ending discussions about Europe vs. Silicon Valley - how much digital ink can be spilled on 'why Europe will never be the next Silicon Valley', 'why Europe will definitely become the next Silicon Valley' and 'Silicon Valley and Europe: a comparative look at fauna and flora' anyway? - I'm quite amazed by how often pundits point out we could use more role models in Europe's tech industry. The idea seems to be that, inspired by their story of how their startup became the next Google, aspiring entrepreneurs need only look at people who've built or even exited companies and became fabulously famous and wealthy in the process. I disagree.
Kickstarter: The Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3 Is A Handmade Must-Have
Jan 28, 4:05PM
Show me a handmade device case like this one from Kickstarter, and I'll show you the money. I love 'em. The DODOcase is a prime example. High-quality material, a SanFran-based labor force, and honest marketing. Btw, we have a big DODOcase giveaway coming next week for Valentine's Day. You're going to love it. The Rustic Case for iPad and Kindle 3 is from the same thread. This mostly wool sleeve is just that, a sleeve to hold your precious slate. But the handsome look, top-shelf materials and fair price ultimately sells the case. But there's a catch. They need help. That's where you and Kickstarter comes in.
Tawkon Debuts Limited Edition Of Cellphone Radiation App For Nexus S
Jan 28, 3:34PM
When you buy a new smartphone, is the first thing you look at what the specific absorption rate (SAR) is of the device you're interesting in spending cash on? Me neither, but according to some health organizations, we should be paying attention to mobile phone radiation. Rather than try and convince people to stop using their smartphones for phone calls (ain't gonna happen), Israeli startup tawkon has developed applications that let people minimize exposure to cellular radiation while they continue using their mobile phones.
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