Longreads Pick
A startup founder struggles with what’s next after a period of slow growth:
“It was late on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in Mountain View, and we were doing a walk’n’talk ‘office hours’ session with Paul Graham – ‘PG’ – on the street outside the Y Combinator office.
“‘What do you have to show for the funding you’ve taken so far?’
“I tried to explain. ‘We felt we needed to build our own technology platform for flight search, because nothing already existed to support the product we were trying to build. So, basically we spent it on back-end engineering.’
“‘Well that sure was a mistake,’ he huffed.
“‘How do you know your product is something people want?’ The pg-bot had engaged.
“It was hard to explain.”
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Published: May 11, 2012
Length: 20 minutes (5,235 words)
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The complicated relationship between founders of a startup. Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein lead Turntable.fm, but with very different viewpoints on how to succeed:
Then traffic started falling. By autumn, it dwindled to less than half its peak, and the very same tech watchers started wondering whether it was all over. Goldstein says he can hear the doubt in the voices of his Silicon Valley friends. ‘I can tell now when people say, “How’s it going?” they mean, “You’re flattening, aren’t you?” ‘
Chasen and Goldstein agree the music fans are still out there (music site Pandora has 49 million active users, Spotify 17 million). Their disagreement over the answer to the obvious question—how to get them back—has created a rift between them that has influenced both their partnership and the direction of the company. In some ways, it’s a classic split between product and marketing. But their predicament highlights what’s so weird about the social-media business: Nobody understands why certain sites grow, exactly. Yet whether or not Turntable takes off again will determine whether it is worth billions or practically nothing. And with no causal data, all that remains is buzz, conjecture, and gossip—the How’s it going?
“Turntable.fm: Where Did Our Love Go?” — Burt Helm, Inc.
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Longreads Pick
The complicated relationship between founders of a startup. Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein lead Turntable.fm, but with very different viewpoints on how to succeed:
“Then traffic started falling. By autumn, it dwindled to less than half its peak, and the very same tech watchers started wondering whether it was all over. Goldstein says he can hear the doubt in the voices of his Silicon Valley friends. ‘I can tell now when people say, “How’s it going?” they mean, “You’re flattening, aren’t you?” ‘
“Chasen and Goldstein agree the music fans are still out there (music site Pandora has 49 million active users, Spotify 17 million). Their disagreement over the answer to the obvious question—how to get them back—has created a rift between them that has influenced both their partnership and the direction of the company. In some ways, it’s a classic split between product and marketing. But their predicament highlights what’s so weird about the social-media business: Nobody understands why certain sites grow, exactly. Yet whether or not Turntable takes off again will determine whether it is worth billions or practically nothing. And with no causal data, all that remains is buzz, conjecture, and gossip—the How’s it going?“
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Published: Apr 30, 2012
Length: 17 minutes (4,264 words)
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What does it take to get a tech startup funded? Inside the competitive selection process for one incubator in New York City:
The date is January 24, one day after applications were due for TechStars, a three-month mentorship program that is part boot camp, part investment fund. Some 1,480 young companies have filled out a questionnaire and recorded two short videos for the chance to compete for just 14 spots. That works out to an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent. ‘Look to your right; look to your left,’ Tisch said at a recruiting event in early January, modifying the Harvard Law School warning to first-year students. ‘Probably none of you will get in here.’
“Future TechStars, Step Forward.” — Max Chafkin, Inc. magazine
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Longreads Pick
What does it take to get a tech startup funded? Inside the competitive selection process for one incubator in New York City:
“The date is January 24, one day after applications were due for TechStars, a three-month mentorship program that is part boot camp, part investment fund. Some 1,480 young companies have filled out a questionnaire and recorded two short videos for the chance to compete for just 14 spots. That works out to an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent. ‘Look to your right; look to your left,’ Tisch said at a recruiting event in early January, modifying the Harvard Law School warning to first-year students. ‘Probably none of you will get in here.'”
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Published: Apr 2, 2012
Length: 16 minutes (4,010 words)
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[Not single-page] Sara Blakely went from auditioning to play Goofy at Disney World to founding an undergarment empire: Spanx. She still owns 100% equity in the company, making her the youngest female billionaire at age 41:
Like many startups, Spanx began life as an answer to an irritating problem. The panty hose Blakely was forced to wear at both Disney and Danka were uncomfortable and old-fashioned. “It’s Florida, it’s hot, I was carrying fax machines,” she says. She hated the way the seamed foot stuck out of an open-toe sandal or kitten heel. But she noticed that the control-top eliminated panty lines and made her tiny body look even firmer. She’d bought a new pair of cream slacks for $78 at Arden B and was keen to wear them to a party. “I cut the feet off my pantyhose and wore them underneath,” she says. “But they rolled up my legs all night. I remember thinking, ‘I’ve got to figure out how to make this.’ I’d never worked in fashion or retail. I just needed an undergarment that didn’t exist.”
“Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx.” — Clare O’Connor, Forbes
See also: “The Billionaire King of Techtopia.” — Jonathan Miles, Details, Aug. 23, 2011
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Longreads Pick
[Not single-page] Sara Blakely went from auditioning to play Goofy at Disney World to founding an undergarment empire: Spanx. She still owns 100% equity in the company, making her the youngest female billionaire at age 41:
“Like many startups, Spanx began life as an answer to an irritating problem. The panty hose Blakely was forced to wear at both Disney and Danka were uncomfortable and old-fashioned. ‘It’s Florida, it’s hot, I was carrying fax machines,’ she says. She hated the way the seamed foot stuck out of an open-toe sandal or kitten heel. But she noticed that the control-top eliminated panty lines and made her tiny body look even firmer. She’d bought a new pair of cream slacks for $78 at Arden B and was keen to wear them to a party. ‘I cut the feet off my pantyhose and wore them underneath,’ she says. ‘But they rolled up my legs all night. I remember thinking, “I’ve got to figure out how to make this.” I’d never worked in fashion or retail. I just needed an undergarment that didn’t exist.'”
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Published: Mar 7, 2012
Length: 14 minutes (3,708 words)
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Inside the making of the social network for programmers—which now has 1.3 million users and more than 2 million source code repositories:
At first, GitHub was a side project. Wanstrath and Preston-Werner would meet on Saturdays to brainstorm, while coding during their free time and working their day jobs. “GitHub wasn’t supposed to be a startup or a company. GitHub was just a tool that we needed,” Wanstrath says. But — inspired by Gmail — they made the project a private beta and opened it up to others. Soon it caught on with the outside world.
By January of 2008, Hyett was on board. And three months after that night in the sports bar, Wanstrath got a message from Geoffrey Grosenbach, the founder of PeepCode, a online learning site that had started using GitHub. “I’m hosting my company’s code here,” Grosenbach said. “I don’t feel comfortable not-paying you guys. Can I just send a check?”
“Lord of the Files: How GitHub Tamed Free Software.” — Robert McMillan, Wired
See also: “Why Software is Eating the World.” — Marc Andreessen, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20, 2011
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Longreads Pick
Inside the making of the social network for programmers—which now has 1.3 million users and more than 2 million source code repositories:
“At first, GitHub was a side project. Wanstrath and Preston-Werner would meet on Saturdays to brainstorm, while coding during their free time and working their day jobs. ‘GitHub wasn’t supposed to be a startup or a company. GitHub was just a tool that we needed,’ Wanstrath says. But — inspired by Gmail — they made the project a private beta and opened it up to others. Soon it caught on with the outside world.
“By January of 2008, Hyett was on board. And three months after that night in the sports bar, Wanstrath got a message from Geoffrey Grosenbach, the founder of PeepCode, a online learning site that had started using GitHub. ‘I’m hosting my company’s code here,’ Grosenbach said. ‘I don’t feel comfortable not-paying you guys. Can I just send a check?'”
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Published: Feb 22, 2012
Length: 9 minutes (2,427 words)
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