Timeline: A chronology of the life of Zynga
Zynga is expected to go public any day now. The social game maker could raise more than $1 billion at a valuation of $8.9 billion as it seeks to spread its social games to all platforms where gamers congregate.
Founded by Mark Pincus (pictured right) in 2007, Zynga has has packed an interesting and colorful history into its four and a half years. Here’s our chronology of the life of Zynga.
Dec. 12, 2011 — … Continue Reading
Netflix chief’s DreamBox Learning startup raises $11M for adaptive learning
Educational game company DreamBox Learning, which was acquired in part by Netflix chief Reed Hastings, has raised a new $11 million round.
DreamBox has created math software that is “adaptive.” That is, a child can log into an online game, start playing, and the game will react to the skill level of the child. If the child does well, the game adapts the lessons so that they are harder. If the child needs more help, … Continue Reading
Vinod Khosla: Freedom to fail is key ingredient in success
The willingness to fail is the key ingredient in success, billionaire investor Vinod Khosla told the audience at the Failcon conference in San Francisco today.
Failcon is an annual event where people gather to talk about failing their way to success, a unique forum that celebrates mistakes.
Khosla (pictured) has had may successes, but he also knows about failure first hand. He was one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, as well as a partner … Continue Reading
Tech news owes a lot to Arrington, conflicts and all
A lot has changed since I first made it to Silicon Valley a little more than a year ago.
But one thing has remained constant: the ruthless competition for discovering and reporting the best news stories. Among those competitors is TechCrunch, one of the most efficient and tenacious tech news publications in the valley.
Michael Arrington stands — or, stood, rather — at the center of that team. His personality and potential conflicts of interest … Continue Reading
John Doerr: Cleantech will suffer unless U.S. can “put partisan bulls–t behind us”
A wave of anti-science sentiment in the U.S. government — through the lens of ignoring global warming and a reliance on fossil fuels — could hamper innovation in the clean technology space, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr (pictured right) said.
“We have to put this partisan bulls–t behind us,” Doerr said at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 conference on Wednesday. “We need new leadership and public pressure, it will not happen with business … Continue Reading
