The latest from TechCrunch
- How To Get Our Attention, A Case Study
- Feeding Frenzy As Delicious Founder Joshua Schachter Raises Round For New Startup
| How To Get Our Attention, A Case Study | Top |
| Many a post has come before this one on the special adventure that is pitching TechCrunch. And while most of our writers have their own preferences (Please don’t call my cell before 7 a.m. unless you’re Google, and you’re buying Twitter. And you’ve made breakfast in bed.) there’s definitely a right and wrong way to ping tips@techcrunch if you’re a startup hungry for coverage. The following email thankfully fit into the former category. On Jul 29, 2010, at 11:00 PM, Mark Nielsen wrote: TechCruch Team, Another late night, we're tired, hopped up on caffeine, malnourished and could probably use a shower…but man do we love this startup S#!T. We are sitting here with the launch of our productivity tool rule.fm ( http://rule.fm – screenshots attached) around the corner and we figured hey, we dig a good read on the CRUNCH, wonder if they'd be interested in what's been brewing in a garage somewhere in So-Cal. 6 months ago we were code heavy, experience freaks that just weren't satisfied having to use Basecamp (or any other productivity tool) to manage our client projects. We decided we'd rather not see the light of day for awhile than have to live with knowing that with just a little bit of creative (ok, maybe a lot), a pinch of logic (more like a boat-load) and a dash of sexy (we'll leave that one to your imagination), we could revive the productivity software world with a tool that would even make Apple cry. What's happening — people, projects, documents, and more…under one rule. What's brewing — wikis, CRM/opportunities and Money (intense accounting with style). We are not * Funded * Backed by a PR firm We are * Virtually completely unknown to the blogosphere * Literally in a garage right now (see attached picture) * Underpaid * Overworked * Chomping at the bit to show the world what RULE is made of What we want * To give you the first taste. The only thing out there is our splash page and we want you to have the first peak at our product before we release the tour this week just prior to going live on Aug 3rd. This is last minute, so you guys may not be able to move on this before the tour, but we wanted you to have it anyways. * To be notified before you release anything to the public What's on tap * Friday July 30th, our tour goes live on our website still able to request an invite * Tuesday August 3rd, we would like to give the public access to RULE unless someone gives us a better idea Thank you for your time and dedication. Cheers, Mark Nielsen and Patrick Carmitchel – Step # 1. BE INTERESTING. You know, just like with almost everything else in life, once you’ve the “be interesting” thing down, that’s pretty much it. Hell, you don’t even have to spell the name of our blog right (Hint, it’s not “Techcruch”). Sure it helps if you do part of our job for us by providing screencaps, funding info, possible competitors, current functionality, future plans and launch dates, etc … but first and foremost don’t bore us. We’re business reporters, not robots. Yes, sometimes there’s a fine line between “being creative” and “being a stalker” but the truth is that if you’ve done more than just copy and paste a press release, you’ve already surpassed about 70% of our inbox. So we want to hear that you’re hopped up on caffeine, malnourished and could probably use a shower… (So could we, actually). Despite the fact that our imaginations might be too vivid for your “dash of sexy,” anyone, I repeat ANYONE who thinks the words “work productivity” and “sexy” even remotely belong in the same sentence deserves some consideration. We’re looking for stories, so have one. On Jul 29, 2010, at 11:47 PM, Michael Arrington wrote: Ok. First off I fucking love your attitude. No funding, just a lot of brains and stimulants and tackling a real problem. Do you solve the problem? I have no idea because the video got skipped through and I wasn’t fully paying attention. But the story up to the product is killer. Alexia, will you take control of this and do it justice? Note that Dustin Moscowitz’s new startup is presuambly in this space as well. Guys, we’ll need your bios and pictures as well for crunchbase. Mike Extra credit: Make sure to read this post and use spellcheck. Also, it’s totally cool if you send us a picture of yourself in your garage, as long as you are fully clothed. Garage photo, courtesy Mark Nielsen and Patrick Carmitchel. You can read our RULE.fm coverage here. CrunchBase Information RULE.fm Mark Nielsen Patrick Carmitchel Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Feeding Frenzy As Delicious Founder Joshua Schachter Raises Round For New Startup | Top |
| I’ve spoken to four different investors over the last two weeks trying to get at least a small piece of an angel financing round being quietly pitched by Delicous founder Joshua Schachter . He’s raising just $1 – $2 million, we’ve heard, at a valuation that may be as high as $15 million. Schachter sold Delicious, one of the definitive startups that re-energized the consumer Internet sector in 2004-2005, to Yahoo in 2005. He left Yahoo in 2008, and joined Google in 2009. He left Google earlier this year. Entrepreneurs like Schachter are highly valued by investors. The success rate of repeat entrepreneurs higher than first timers. And one potential investor put it succinctly – “Even if the company fails, someone will buy it just to get Schachter. There’s no way we lose our money.” So what’s the name of the new startup? That seems to still be up in the air . I contacted Schachter to get confirmation of the funding raise and to ask what the new startup will do. He won’t comment on the funding. But he did say he was tossing around a few ideas for the startup. His response: I’m either going to launch an open source operating system for unmanned aerial vehicles, or build a first person shooter to teach non-violent solutions based on buddhist principles. Or a pet food review site. Which one do you like best? We’re going to take that as a “no comment,” too. Although I think the U.S. government would just love to use an open source OS for its UAVs. I’d go with that one, Joshua. CrunchBase Information Joshua Schachter Information provided by CrunchBase | |
CREATE MORE ALERTS:
Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted
Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope
Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more
News - Only the news you want, delivered!
Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more
Weather - Get today's weather conditions
| You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. |
No comments:
Post a Comment