Y Combinator, the incubator with buzz
updated
Y Combinator has nailed the start-up incubator model, most likely because of its visionary leader.
Many famous incubators, from Idealab to CMGI, have come and gone over the years, and there are predictable autopsies suggesting the incubator model is flawed (see a list of articles about incubators here). Without doubt, the incubator flavor of the year is Y Combinator. Few of its companies have matured enough to judge its success, but we’re seeing promising ideas emerge…. Continue Reading
Xobni raises $4.26M to let you improve your email habits
Xobni, a San Francisco company that seeks to improve your productivity in email usage, has raised $4.26 million in a first round of funding from Khosla Ventures, according to PE Wire, citing regulatory filings.
Xobni is yet to launch. Its name is “inbox” spelled backwards, referring to the company’s mission of letting users take control of their inbox — it provides data on things like how much time spend on email, how long it takes for… Continue Reading
Founders should live on Ramen noodles, and $2,000 a month
The Less-Is-More theme continues:
Ram Shriram, the founding investor in Google who backed Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were still at Stanford, remembers those frugal days. Page and Brin insisted on taking public transportation when they first visited Europe, refusing to fork out money for cabs.
Few companies will get a YouTube-style buyout offer of $1 Billion plus, so they’ll have to tighten their belts early, he said: “I’d rather see start-ups scrappy and frugal… Continue Reading
Roundup: Digg, MyBlogLog, Sling, Trumba, Kongregate & more
Silicon Valley never sleeps. Here’s the latest tech stuff:
Digg subverted — The news site that ranks stories based on how many users submit them, is being subverted by a group called Spike the Vote. It lets its members conspire to submit certain URLs of stories — thereby lifting the odds those stories will get front-page coverage.
MyBlogLog goes live — This is a site we’ve mentioned before, while it was in testing mode. It hasn’t changed its basic… Continue Reading
The thief’s Chihuahua, loopt, Snocap & more
Here’s a roundup of relevant Silicon Valley action, after the long weekend:
Yahoo employee sets up Flickr on his phone, and “captures” thief — Yahoo Web designer Ben Clemens, of Berkeley, said his phone was stolen, but that a program he’d installed made the phone automatically take pictures and upload them to Flickr. And so the phone took photos of the thief, and their Chihuahua. Here is an example (see photo). This is a pretty amazing story,… Continue Reading
Google’s blind-spot: wild ideas
Google’s badly named Google Image Labeler made us scratch our head this weekend. The clunky title is one more reminder that Google remains vulnerable despite its invincible image — something that start-up expert Paul Graham also points out in a recent interview.
One advantage that big companies have is leverage. Google, with its many millions of users, is now attempting an end-run around other Web 2.0 photo search sites, by launching a game (Image Labeler) that… Continue Reading