With $ZNGA raking it in and SNAP Interactive’s booming stock price, why anyone would ever do a startup for something other than social gaming is beyond us. Soho-based OMGPOP just had another hit with “Draw Something,” an app that hit a million iPhone and Android downloads in only 10 days, as the company told TechCrunch.
The game has at least $10,000 in revenue per day, CEO Dan Porter told the blog, due to ads and premium upgrades. Read More
KNOWLEDGE. Max Stoller, the developer of Don’t Eat At, an app that uses city data to warn Foursquare users when they’ve checked into a restaurant that’s run afoul of city health inspectors, has found another cool way to use that same data set. Mr. Stoller and fellow crafty hacker Tal Safran created freshplac.es, a bi-weekly email of new drinking and dining sports near you. “We found that by analyzing the restaurant inspections data set for new records, we can identify brand new bars/restaurants, often before news publications get to them.” (Techies! Stop scooping us newsies!) Sign up but please, don’t forget about us! Read More
When it comes to self-promotion, New York’s startup scene is masterful. There was TechStars, the reality TV show. There was New York by Southwest, the RSVP list for New York tech’s collective spring break. You’ve got Made in NYC, the digital equivalent of a “Made in China” sticker. And does any other startup scene have anything like We Are NY Tech, a blog highlighting people working in New York tech? (“We thought about staying in Silicon Valley and we were a little tempted, but we think there’s something exciting going on in the startup scene here in New York and we wanted to be a part of it,” Ryan Bednar of Y Combinator startup Tutorspree, said in his WANY interview today). Now New York tech will have its own calendar.
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There is a conventional wisdom among web startups building social services for consumers. Build the product first, focus on perfecting it for your users, get as big as possible, then figure out how to monetize. It’s the story behind Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare.
But what if you went about things from the opposite direction. Snap Interactive has their holiday party last night at their offices in the west 30s. There flagship product is Are You Interested, a dating app that began life as one of the first apps on the new Facebook platform back in 2007.
“I won’t lie to you, user experience, design, those have not been our focus. We optimized for revenue and growth. Now we have those thing on cruise control, we can start to work backwards on building a great product.” said Cliff Lerner, Snap’s CEO. Read More
HIP LIKE HP. New Work City just signed its newest sponsor: HP. “This is really great for us, as their support will play a huge part in helping us make ongoing improvements to the space and community. To consummate the relationship, we’re hosting an event on December 5th. I’ll have more details next week. In the meantime, come play with some new gadgets and help us help HP make printing suck less!“
FITOCRACY PUSH. “Fitness is something that people tend to take very seriously so it should be no surprise that when they embark on the quest to better bodies, they want their chosen tools to be the best they can be. Since the beginning, one of the most often requested features for Fitocracy has been a way to visualize your workout progress over time. And so it is with incredible excitement that we announce the official release of Graphs on Fitocracy.” Read More
STARTUP WEEKEND. Startup Weekend is now an affiliate of the Kauffman Foundation, the same entity that funds AngelList. ”While Startup Weekend will continue to operate autonomously, becoming a Kauffman affiliate will allow the organization to increase its geographical reach, conduct more frequent events, and build long-term sustainability. Startup Weekend events bring entrepreneurs and supporters together and teaches Read More
FITOCRACY GOES FREEMIUM. Fitocracy, now a year old, just announced a subscription plan for $4.99 a month. Subscribers get unlockable titles, the ability to copy workouts, greater visibility in the stream and early access to new features.
YOUNG NYTM. Tonight’s New York Tech Meetup will feature the annual spotlight on demos from college students and faculty. Here’s the lineup: BodyJam, Commons, Grafighters, Codecademy, Lewis Dots, PlayPower, Hacker League, LoCreep, AdRunner, MidiPHON, Bluefin Labs, Upod, Imaginary Marching Band. At the 92nd Street Y. But if you go you will miss Ben Lerer talking about the story of Thrillist at General Assembly. Read More
YEAH, YEAH. The metal label Century Media, which represents such artists as 3 Inches of Blood and Aborted, is ditching Spotify. ”While everyone at the label group believes in the ever changing possibilities of new technology and new ways of bringing music to the fans, Century Media is also of the opinion that Spotify in its present shape and form isn’t the way forward,” a press release informs us. “The income streams to the artists are affected massively and therefore that accelerates the downward spiral, which eventually will lead to artists not being able to record music the way it should be recorded. Ultimately, in some cases, it will completely kill a lot of smaller bands that are already struggling to make ends meet.”
But the label waffled a little: Read More
Snap Interactive, creator of the popular Facebook dating app AreYouInterested, is not like most New York startups. For one thing, the firm has never raised a dime from venture capital firms or angel investors. Secondly, it’s a public company, traded as a penny stock on the OTC BB. And last but certainly not least, the Read More
In the wake of Goldman Sachs monster investment in Facebook, shares of New York startup Snap Interactive rose an astonishing 1000%.
The company is capitalizing by raising funds, selling $8.5 million in securities to institutional investors through a private placement.
Snap Interactive is tied to Facebook through AreYouInterested, one of the top dating apps on Read More
