If there were a word cloud for recent ecommerce reports, it would be shaped like a mushroom cloud with "over-hyped" "implosion," "froth," "down rounds," and "suck it, America, Europe does it better," all in extra large font.

So we weren't expecting to hear that JackThreads, the men's ecommerce site acquired by Thrillist in 2010, had its best revenue month ever in February, even bigger than typically high-selling holiday months. Growth in new members was up 366 percent year-over-year and double the growth in number of new users joining in November and December of 2012.

The company also boasted the highest number of app downloads in February. Mobile revenues were triple from November, with sales from the app counting for 40 percent of JackThreads February revenue. But the most important metric--as that imaginary word cloud can attest--was the fact that JackThreads did it while maintaining its highest gross margin month ever as well.

"I can feel the heat," heat-seeking CEO Ben Lerer told us by phone, "Frankly, for a company that's seven years old, it's a little unexpected." Mr. Lerer raised a $13 million Series A last year (after growing Thrillist to 150 people on just $1.7 million). He attributed the surprising success to a number of little tweaks and improvements, rather than one magic bullet.

"You figure out make a bet and you win one, you lose one. But they all harmonically came together," he said, adding, "I don’t know if that’s English." Improvements were made on the website (adding a search function and boosting speed) as well as in mobile development, SEO, speed of order fulfillment, greeting customers the right merchandise when they arrive on the site, better photography, and buying deeper into certain categories.

One popular item seen around the upwardly mobile men of Soho? A seasonally appropriate "ninja hoodie." Rebrand it as a snuggie for your neck and Betabeat might consider throwing down for a few.

Of course, if there's any niche that's getting beat up worse than ecommerce, it's digital media, i.e. the Thrillist side of Mr. Lerer's business. But he brushed off concerns that Jackthreads gains means that he'll eventually be running an ecommerce company, rather than a "media group."

"The lifetime value of a user," he said, "is monetized through both media and ecommerce. Ultimately, it's going to mean a larger audience for our advertisers to reach as well, but that doesn’t work in real time." They're sure trying. Register for JackThreads and you'll get a pop-up noting the city you're in and wondering if you'd like to sign up for relevant recommendations from Thrillist.

We asked the ever-amiable Mr. Lerer why he thought there was so much skepticism about ecommerce recently. "There has been a tendency online for ecommerce companies to buy revenue," he replied. Companies like Gilt Groupe and Fab.com, he said, have spent a lot on marketing. The idea is, "I can make no money on my users, but they can buy a whole lot of stuff from me," he said, noting, "You don’t raise $150 million to put it in the bank. You raise it to spend it." Only after they scale does the focus turn to making money. "Gilt is an example of that. I think Gilt will pull it off, but not without some pain to get there. And Fab is on a similar trajectory."

Mr. Lerer opted against that route. "Maybe we were wusses," to try growing a more comfortable clip rather than aim to be an industry leader, he said, but, "our margins feel a lot more like businesses that are private label than companies that are also selling large quanitifes of third party goods." Despite unintentional misses, like early foibles running a shipping promotion without understanding how it might impact margin, "We don’t give the store away."

JackThreads has evolved over the years from its target 18-to-24-year-old demo, he said, and been able to sell at a higher price point, incorporating more athletic brands and tailored items. "Our users are a little bit less price sensitive and a lot more focused on curation and brand discovery," he said. "If you’re gonna be known for being super cheap, you better stay super cheap." You can find Self-Edge denim on JackThreads, but at the same time, they're not selling $250 pairs of jeans.

Mr. Lerer said JackThreads recently did a sale on vintage Patagonia items and is incorporating more home goods. "But without the Gilt approach of: JackThreads Home! JackThreads Taste!"

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

So last week I did this blog post highlighting The 16 SXSW Parties You Really, Really Don’t Want to Miss. And I got a ton of email from you guys & gals saying a) “Thank you, you’re a life saver!” and b) “We want more, more, MOARRR!”

For the hardcore partier, I’ve put together the ULTIMATE Guide to all the SXSW Parties (a whopping 300+ and counting!). Print this out before your trip and you’re golden, my friend. And as you can see, there’re a ton of events that don’t even require a SXSW badge. 

For the rest of you, here are 16 More SXSW Parties that have the Gary Stamp of Approval. You’re welcome, my little tech monsters! Now go forth and RSVP away. Oh and next week when you're walking around in downtown Austin, if you notice a guy with a big 'fro in a black suit, white shirt and a Red Tie (with ads all over it), come over and say hello!

Btw, I have 2 FREE Passes to the much anticipated Rovio (Angry Birds) Pool Party! :) Its on Mar 11 @ Ashton Austin. The Mighty Eagle will be there (of course). There will be music and BBQ! I hear Rovio may be showcasing something new. Each Pass is good for 1 person + 1 guest. Interested? Apply Here.

I've also been told that there will be #BrilliantBrew Coffee Trucks from-the-future driving around, housing GE's Barista Bots that will print portraits of coffee drinkers into the foam of their latte using face-detection software! Craazzzy huh? You can find them parked on the corner of Trinity & 3rd (Mar 8), outside the Made in NY event (Mar 9), 101 Red River (Mar 10) and 301 E Cesar Chavez (Mar 11).

If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to become a performer on Cirque du Soleil (sure, why not), then check out their party on the 15th where their talent scouts will be present. Also, Livefyre's SXSW NewsHub will be curating tweets & photos in real-time from the hottest panels and parties.

And now--drumroll please--16 *MORE* SXSW Parties that you really, really, reeeaally don’t wanna miss… ;)

Mobi + Verizon SXSW Kickoff Party
Lots of food and refreshments, including authentic Austin BBQ, as well as live music with a scenic view!
Thursday (Mar 07), 4 p.m. @ One American Center, 600 Congress Ave, Ste 1600

Sake Bomb Party!
Sake Shot Bar, Ty Ku Premium Sake Tastings, Free Kenichi Appetizers, Beer & Cocktails and Live D.J.
Friday (Mar 08), 10 p.m. @ Kenichi, 419 Colorado St

Happy Hour at the Hackers Hostel, Presented by WeHostels
Happy Hour of handcrafted cocktails and a live jazz band!
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ Firehouse Hostel & Lounge, 605 Brazos St, Ste 100

Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.
Featuring awesome Texas food, awesome Texas beer and an awesome photobooth from SnapFiesta
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ The Palm Door, 401 Sabine St

ff Massive Party
Come meet ff Venture's portfolio companies, founders, & execs. Featuring: live music & an open bar.
Saturday (Mar 09), 6 p.m. @ Empire Automotive, 604 E 7th St

TechStars Conquers SXSW 2013
DJs Fubari (TechStars' own Ari Newman), [Whoop Whoop/Cabin Fever], Part Time Chiller [CHNL - LA], and John Wander [CHNL, Roam Music LA] will be dropping beats all night long!
Saturday (Mar 09), 8 p.m. @ Cedar St Courtyard, 208 West 4th St

House Party!
Featuring DJ Sets by Viceroy with Sean Glass. Sponsored by Dos Equis and Patron XO Cafe. In partnership with Thrillist, Wired, Track, Cameo and small Girls PR!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ CTC House & Garden, 1102 E Cesar Chavez St

Pop! In & Party with PayPal
Performances by Man Man, The Octopus Project and Belaire. Plus an epic Superhero surprise!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

MRY SXSW Launch Party
2 DJ's, including LA Riots, Food by one of Austin's best, East Side King, Fire Troupe, Ice Louge, Go-Go Dancers, and a few more surprises!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9:30 p.m. @ The Belmont, 305 West 6th St

Gannett Media Lounge #GANNETTLOUNGE
Houndstooth Coffee, Peached Tortilla Breakfast Tacos, Salt Lick BBQ Lunch
Sunday (Mar 10), 9 a.m. @ Hangar Lounge, 318 Colorado St

Livefyre Presents: SXSW13 Fyrebash
3 live acts - Vacationer, (Brooklyn-based) Body Language and The Hood Internet. Open Bar.
Sunday (Mar 10), 8 p.m. @ TenOak, 409 Colorado St

The Crowdtap VIP Party III - The Legendary Cant Miss Party of SXSWi
With White Panda, Radical Something, Little Daylight, VJ Culture and NYC's top DJ Vikas. Open bar and year two of the Battle of Austin's Best Food Trucks!
Sunday (Mar 10), 8:30 p.m. @ Haven, 409 Colorado St

Spotify House
Daily live performances, artist DJ sets, local food truck flavors, ping-pong, photobooth, giveaways and more!
Monday (Mar 11), 12 p.m. @ Spotify House, 1010 E Cesar Chavez

The Barbarian Group + Vimeo present No Way Back
3 stages featuring no less than 15 illustrious band performances, over the top DJ sets + mind melting visuals!
Monday (Mar 11), 6 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

Geeks from Gangnam
Seven startups from Korea will be there. Live musical performances by popular Korean bands Galaxy Express and Goonam. Free drinks and delicious appetizers!
Monday (Mar 11), 6:30 p.m. @ Moonshine Bar & Grill, 303 Red River St

GroupMe Major Rager 3D
Performances by RAC, Tim Sweeney & Viceroy.
Monday (Mar 11), 8 p.m. @ Cedar Street Courtyard, 208 W 4th St

BONUS #1
#Secret_Wine_Party with Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library, Vayner Media and Author of Thank You Economy)
I can’t say when. I can’t say where. But if you follow @garyvee, All shall be clear!

BONUS #2
Conduit Corner will be playing host to a bunch of happy hours (There'll be drinks, backrubs, munchies & much more)! With Internet Week NY & StartOut (Mar 8), Tracx (Mar 9), SF Music Tech (Mar 10), Warner Brothers (Mar 12), BandPage (Mar 13) and Sweet Relief (Mar 13).
Friday (Mar 8) to Wednesday (Mar 13) @ Conduit Corner, E 7th St and N Congress Avenue

BONUS #3
#FEED Flavorpill Sanctuary Pwd By Windows 8
Yoga, cycling, bootcamp, massage, juice w/ CRUNCH, CYC Fitness, BLUEPRINT, KIND Breakfast.
Friday (Mar 9) to Tuesday (Mar 12), 9 a.m. @ AMOA Arthouse @ Jones Center, 700 Congress Ave

BONUS #4
Cats Live Here Happy Hour
And if you like watching cat videos online (and srsly who doesn't), you're gonna like this one.
Animal Planet & the Walker Art Center bring you cat-themed cocktails, live music
 and a first look at the upcoming season of "My Cat From Hell." Plus, catch a sneak peek of the all-new "Henri" video!

Don’t forget – What Happens At SXSW… Is Gonna Be All Over Twitter ;)

Meanwhile, in the near future... (Photo: Delicious Baby)

Journalism 101 It looks like somebody is gunning for a spot at Nick Denton's soon-to-relaunch Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag. TechCrunch co-editor Alexia Tsotsis wrote an impassioned post about why tech journalism needs another Valleywag, "a watchdog with enough independence and daring to call it as it is." Writers at blogs like her own, Ms. Tsotsis argues, are simply too embedded in the ecosystem to properly perform their jobs, unwilling to report on certain unseemly aspects of Valley business and culture for fear of having to, get this, sit next to those she's written about at a demo day.

We're still not sure if it was a cover letter or a cry for help. But while we appreciate her willingness to admit that TechCrunch is not that far off from a press-release-factory, it's still shocking that someone sat down and wrote a piece about how tech journalists can't be real journalists because of San Francisco Society . . . or something.

Meanwhile, we've never known Ms. Tsotsis to shy away from a good troll, so it's hard to say who will have the last laugh here. We'll leave it to TechCrunch's clever commenting cabal to speculate.

Your Face Here Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer got a special present for his office: a chair emblazoned with the handsome visage of actor Ryan Reynolds. There's gotta be a joke here that we're not getting.

(Photo: Instagram)

They Got Jokes SpaceX engineers took to Reddit today to answer burning questions such as, "Would you rather fight one spacecraft-sized duck or 1000 duck-sized spacecrafts?" Though writing software for rockets is a job generally reserved for the brilliant, we had no idea SpaceX was such a team of jokesters. When some mannerless Redditor asked the group what their salary is, they coyly replied, "It's astronomical!" Zing.

2 Fast 2 Furious Is there anyone in the whole wide world more excited about the premiere of the sixth movie in the Fast and the Furious franchise than Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley? It seems the trailer aired during the Super Bowl spurred his enthusiasm to new heights: "CLEARING MY CALENDAR FOR MAY 24!!" he tweeted. You and us both, Mr. Crowley. 

Super Bowl Subs Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Brew PR honcho Brooke Hammerling was hosting her own shindig. But her crew got excited about a slightly different commercial: "At @brooke's secret Super Bowl party, we all applauded when Jared came on the screen," tweeted the New York Times' Brian Stelter, referring to a Subway commercial featuring mascot Jared Fogle. We wonder: What sorts of snacks were available at this get-together?

Jack Dorsey Update Still picking up trash with fellow members of the Square crew. This time they hauled in 127 pounds of garbage, plus nine (nine!) syringes.

Duck Hunt You need all the security you can get when you have a multimillion dollar mansion and you're an entrepreneur who's continually hassled by the FBI for your ties to file-sharing services. So Kim Dotcom got the best possible security he could: swans and geese. "Watch out FBI," he warned on Instagram. "My specially trained counter-raid Swan & Geese will protect #Mega." What? Those beaks are sharp!

(Photo: Instagram)

Mash Note  At the end of last month, Forbes published an interview with Mashable chief operating officer, Sharon Feder, in which the magazine heralded the rise of the female COO. An anonymous tipster who "aspires to be a leader in media" took issue with the piece, emailing Betabeat to rag on Ms. Feder for following her husband—former Mashable COO Adam Hirsch—into the executive ranks:

"Reading 'Feder’s' answer to the question of “how she got her foot in the door” in Forbes you would think she’s some sort of selfmade Sheryl Sandberg (it will become clear why that’s in quotes momentarily). But what’s gone completely unreported in her ascent is that she’s actually ridden the coattails of her husband all the way to the 'c-suite' at Mashable."

What's more, the tipster complained, Ms. Feder has a reputation as a bad woman to cross. "With Feder in control of the pocketbooks and promotions, Cashmore concerned with little more than his next John Varvatos photo shoot (or CNN exit?), and a long line of “departed” employees on the outside looking in, there’s a tremendous amount of fear that going against Feder means a short career at the company."

Want to guess who wrote it?

Secretly seething? (Photo: rosiesays.com)

While browsing our Google Reader this morning, we came across this list of wacky interview questions compiled by Glassdoor.com. You know the drill: "How many cows are in Canada?" (Correct answer: Who cares?) However, we were reminded of our favorite party game, which we haven't played in quite some time, wherein we investigate God-only-knows-how-reliable Glassdoor reviews of our favorite startups.

Let's just say there are some very unhappy underlings running around Silicon Alley.

Cash-rich Buzzfeed has just one review dating from May, written by a former senior developer who called it an "overall good place to work" and said his boss had "an insanely good sense of humor." But he adds,

Cons – Technology stack is kind of old. I left to work with newer shinier toys.

Advice to Senior Management – Encourage more of a hacker culture. Consider internal hack days.

We imagine $19 million will go a long way to upgrading software.

Tumblr, despite its gazillion page views, also has just one tremendously laconic review. The anonymous currently employee summed the place up as "addictive." Pros: "a lot of nice people." Cons: "when the site go's down." Let's assume this wasn't someone working within the company's editorial operation.

There are only three Foursquare reviews, all by folks who seem pretty happy, though there is a complaint that it's "Not as trendy as other startups. The backlash and snark have already begun." And that was before PrivCo released that damning forecast.

One former Thrillist employee seems a mite put out. Under pros, he/she wrote: "If you like to get drunk all the time this is the place for you. The JackThreads part of the company is doing wonderful." Yowzers! Some of us might call that a "perk." The griper also complains about a lack of office supplies (really, dude? try working in media) and poor work/life balance, and ends on a note that smells faintly of sour grapes, suggesting senior management should "Realize the talents in their employees and acknowledge it." U mad, bro?  

A former intern seems a bit more pleased with the experience, though: “Not once was there a day I wasn't ecstatic to go to work at Thrillist.” Okay kid, you don't have to impress the boss anymore.

ZocDoc has a whopping 62 reviews, almost half of which gave the place five stars. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few malcontents: eight reviews fall under "very dissatisfied."  The most recent unhappy review, posted five weeks ago by someone calling himself a current employee, complained of a "Sketchy and offensive office enviroment [sic]." Details, please! Another review, dating from October, advises the higher-ups:

Sell to a big firm. None of you know what you are doing. Maybe it is time to get grown ups in the door.

Of course, we've already made mention of complaints regarding Gilt Groupe. The bulk of the total reviews are either satisfied or at least neutral, but here's a very unhappy operations employee writing in August:

Management is cliquey and condescending. They push you too hard. Your job is below them and they don't offer to help with what you do when you are overwhelmed. Instead, they try to figure out better 'processes' and point the finger. Never been so unhappy with a department in my years experience in the job force and I'm not the first one of my co-workers to say that.

Our personal favorite, however, is the March 2012 review that lists the pros as "free granola and advice and a computer" and the cons as "unstable and strange and weird."

If there's one thing we've learned covering Silicon Alley, it's that a little free food goes a long way toward pacifying employees.

We'll use this as an artist's rendering. (Photo: flickr.com/lac-bac)

Silicon Alley Smackdown One of the many tech events on rain delay because of Hurricane Sandy was the Big Apple Smackdown ping pong tournament, whose guest list included an impressive number of familiar names from the New York tech scene. (Betabeat is one of the media sponsors, so we may be a little biased.) Among the techno-athletes scheduled to play was Gilt Groupe CEO--and soon-to-be Gilt Groupe chairman--Kevin Ryan. Apparently, we missed quite a show.

The tournament was scheduled for Sunday, "and I played on Friday and on Sunday just to get ready for it!" Mr. Ryan told Betabeat. Really? "Oh yeah, because I won a tournament about a month ago." That was an invitation-only affair for ping pong ringers at the Hamptons manse of ABC Carpet & Home's Ken Pilot. "You had to put $100 into the pot and the winner got two-thirds of the pot, so I was pretty excited about that," Mr. Ryan enthused.

Mad that Sandy ruined your chance to see him action? You can drown your sorrows at Appular's F#@K SANDY event this coming Thursday and throw one back for a good cause.

Make It or Break It Start-Ups: Silicon Valley glamazon Kim Taylor finally has a name for her soon-to-launch startup, and being the gymnast that she is, she's named it after a move from Yelena Shushunova’s floor routine. The former NBA dancer will launch Shonova this winter, targeting the "millennial luxury fashion market," because you can never have too many websites dedicated to selling expensive clothes to young professional women.

LOLfamous Speaking of Bravo, it appears that I Can Has Cheezburger founder Ben Huh is starstruck by himself. Following the premiere of his new Bravo show, LOLwork, Mr. Huh tweeted a link to his freshly-minted IMDB profile with the caption "So...this happened." Don't let the fame get to your head!

And the techno's so loud USV ringleader and hometown hero Fred Wilson is wheels up and L.A.-bound today. However, his wife--Gotham Gal and investor-in-her-own-right Joanne Wilson--booked the tickets, and so he's not flying his preferred airline. Instead, he's flying Virgin, which is not his preferred airline and for a very specific reason: "I find flying on Virgin like going to a nightclub because of the lighting and I avoid it as a result." We always suspected Mr. Wilson was more of an indie music club kinda guy, and this cinches it.

"Executive scent" It seems that, after several years of "sifting through the crap," Team Thrillist has finally found the platonic ideal of brochandising. Behold:

Via Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer's Instagram.

So saucy Betabeat hates to clutch her collective pearls, but my goodness! Who knew the crowd at AllThingsD were quite so naughty? (Okay, we had an inkling.) Earlier this week, ATD doyenne Kara Swisher tweeted out the link to a colleague's story, which had the headline, "Meet the Man Behind Those Hot Pink Mustache Rides." Catalyst Group CEO Nick Gould immediately gave that the side-eye, noting that he "Can't help wondering if @lizgannes is aware of the off-color meaning of the term "mustache ride." Ms. Swisher didn't miss a beat: "i mean I ASSUME she is. I am." Duly noted.

Digging up history The Computer History Museum, located in Mountain View, California, is kind of like mecca for tech geeks. Contained within its hallowed walls are artifacts that tell the history of computers and videogames. Among those artifacts, apparently, is a copy of Windows 1.0, originally owned by Digg founder Kevin Rose. "My copy of Windows 1.0 on display!" Mr. Rose wrote in a caption for the below photo. A nerd's dream come true.

(Photo: Instagram)

(Screencap: Thrillist)

Last week, startups across New York City galvanized to help support the victims of Hurricane Sandy, establishing coworking spaces, volunteer groups and easy ways for users to donate to recovery efforts. But it's a new week, one where the subways are mostly running normally and many across the city have their electricity back. As the sense of helplessness brought by Sandy fades, the internet's penchant for irony and offensive jokes has come roaring back. The first (and undoubtedly not the last) company to fall into this tasteless trap? New York-based daily email service Thrillist.

In a recommendation for Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbeque sent out via email to its New York subscribers today, Thrillist included this delightful description:

Homeless thanks to the hurricane? Want to get away from the unshowered people staying at your apartment, because they're homeless thanks to the hurricane? Been without St. Louis ribs for four long days, thanks to the hurricane? Then get yourself over to Fletcher's, the brisket-y baby of a guy who goes by BBQ Billy, and is currently smoking meats in a 2,600lb pit.

Considering that Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday that 40,000 New Yorkers were rendered homeless by Sandy, the joke falls a little flat.

Some Twitter users were upset with Thrillist's choice of language:

The offending copy appears to have been replaced on Thrillist's website with something a little more PC.

"Yeah, we're a little embarrassed by that actually -- we're always trying to toe the line of edgy humor and we pretty quickly realized we'd actually gone over the cliff with those jokes," Thrillist cofounder and editor in chief Adam Rich told Betabeat. "Contrary to what our tone might have suggested, we are taking this storm very seriously (most of our own employees have been impacted in one way or another) and we're actually in the process of planning a clothing drive through JackThreads to do our part in helping out the relief effort."

(Photo: flickr.com/classicchanelhandbags)

Healthy Hills? Everyday Health, the SoHo-based and more successful version of WebMd, has acquired EQAL, the creators of Lonelygirl15 and the owners of LaurenConrad.com. Everyday Health's ad revenue grew 40 percent in the first quarter, compared to WebMD’s decline of 20 percent. This coincides with Everyday Health's announcement that they're moving beyond YouTube and launching a version of it's web show "Recipe Rehab" for ABC stations around the country.

Diller Brings Back Dog Ben Silverman's multimedia entertainment studio Electus, part of Barry Diller's IAC, just sold ten episodes of a new show starring Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth to CMT. "Dog and Beth are not only great television characters," said Electus CEO Chris Grant, "They are the best bounty hunters in the world, and this show is a natural evolution of their life story.”

Exit This Way Indeed, which describes itself as "the #1 job search engine worldwide," has been acquired (for a rumored $750 million to $1 billion price tag) by Recruit Co. Ltd, a large-scale Japanese HR company with over $10 billion in revenue. Rony Kahan, co-founder of Indeed, says that half of the site's traffic comes from outside the U.S and that they see this buyout to further that.

Thrillist on the LES Jackthreads, owned by Thrillist, just launched Goodale's Fall 2012 collection. Swedish singer/songwriter Sebastian Mikael modeled the clothes at the Lower East Side's Hotel Chantelle. There are a few days left of the heavily discounted sale. What, no Asher Roth seasonal playlist to shop by this time?

Shop Local Smallknot, the site that lets backers help small businesses get off the ground in exchange for rewards, had a pretty busy couple of weeks. They launched their first three Los Angeles businesses this week. The company partnered with Accion USA, a microlending company, to help fully fund A7, a Brooklyn-based shop that makes handcrafted leather camera straps. The team at Smallknot is also hard at work at a new product that will help small business owners get the word out about their products.

But It's So Dead At Night The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) launched a competition called “Take the H.E.L.M.: Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan." The contest invites all companies that plan to either open or expand office space in Lower Manhattan in the next 12 months to apply for the opportunity to win a grand prize of $250,000. Twenty finalists will also will also receive $20,000 each. David Tisch and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt will join Reddit's Alexis Ohanian as judges to pick the winner.

Will Hack For Food NYU's Courant Institute will be holding a hackathon this weekend with over 300 hackers already planning to attend. It starts this Saturday at 2 p.m. and goes until Sunday at 2 p.m. Appetude will be providing free food at the event for sleep-starved participants.

Mongo Matriculation 10gen announced today that it will offer free online training courses for its parent company's key product, MongoDB. The courses are open for registration now--there's one for developers and one for administrators. Lead MongoDB developer Dwight Merriman will teach the first class that starts in early October. Learning MongoDB is apparently the second most wanted skill companies are looking for right now.

Très Fab Custom design shop, Fab, just expanded the site's European version, which already has 2 million members. These updates essentially make the site just as fully functional as the U.S. version. There are already 200 million Fab employees overseas. The company says that Fab Europe is on pace to represent about 30 percent of the company's 2012 sales.

Changing That Ratio Women 2.0, a media company that offers resources for aspiring women in tech, just announced its partnership with Google. Their first effort together will be pumping up Women 2.0's signature event, Founder Friday, a monthly networking meetup. Detroit and Mexico City will host the event on November 16th, followed by Sao Paulo, New Orleans, and Moscow later on. Mary Grove, head of entrepreneurship outreach at Google, said, "We're looking forward to hosting these important gatherings in Google offices around the world and working together to help female entrepreneurs turn their ideas into innovative, sustainable businesses." No word yet on whether the gift bag includes What Would Marissa Mayer Do? bracelets.

Mr. Lerer (Photo: Crunchbase)

Fresh off the heels of the news that Thrillist had raised a $13 million Series A, its men's clothing retailer, JackThreads, announced exclusively to Betabeat today that it has hit one million orders.

"Our growth has been insane," said Devon Giddon, Thrillist's director of communications. "In 2010, we were processing approximately 8,000 orders a month and now we're doing around 13,000 orders a week! And 60 percent of those orders are from repeat buyers."

Back in August when Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer and team announced that they'd raised $13 million after seven straight years of solid bootstrapping, Mr. Lerer told Betabeat that a significant chunk of the funding would be used to build out Thrillist's ecommerce arm, JackThreads.

"It's sort of unbelievable how quickly this thing is scaling," Mr. Lerer told us by email this morning. "JackThreads brand has clearly struck a chord and this milestone is proof that media companies can sell products to readers with an honest and focused approach. I'm pretty sure JackThreads will be the largest company on earth soon."

Mr. Lerer intends to hit that sweet spot between media and ecommerce, and JackThreads is integral to realizing that vision. Acquired by Thrillist in 2010, the members-only men's online clothing retailer has since spawned two in-house labels, including Goodale, launched in April.

The two in-house brands are the highest sellers on JackThreads, Mr. Lerer told us back in August. “We’ll continue to lean into private label," he said, just after the Series A announcement. "We’re seeing that we’re really good at creating merch and we understand what our guys want. I don’t see any reason why next year we couldn’t have 10 to 20 private label brands that we own and operate in 20 different categories. It differentiates us from other people in the marketplace.”

With an impressive growth trajectory and one million orders on the books, expect a few more private labels to roll out in the coming months. We just have one question: how are the Jills handling all this success?

(Photo: Crunchbase)

It was a very busy morning for Ben Lerer, the 30-year-old Lerer Ventures scion and CEO of men's lifestyle brand Thrillist. The company announced yesterday that it had closed a $13 million series A, the first outside financing since Thrillist raised a $2 million seed round way back in 2005. Growing Thrillist from a Daily Candy-like daily newsletter to a men's lifestyle empire with little venture capital in just seven years is no small feat.

"That’s the cool thing for me," Mr. Lerer told Betabeat by phone this morning, his voice still colored with the excitement of closing a solid round. "That we were able to legit boostrap a business to 200+ people and $60 million in revenue without the money. It really gives me confidence that we have the right habits and the right discipline so that now that we have this money, we're going to know how to spend it the right way rather than spastically run around spending it."

The new round was led by Oak Investment Partners and included a follow-on investment from Bob Pittman's Pilot Group. ("I have such a close and trusting relationship with Bob and the team over there.") Oak managing partner Fred Harman has known Mr. Lerer for quite some time, so he's not afraid of the new cash infusion crippling the business's ability to stick to its guns. "We have a close relationship through everything he did with my father at HuffPo," said Mr. Lerer. "This isn’t the big bad wolf. This isn’t some scary financial institution. These are people who we trust. I've seen how Fred and Bob work with companies in good times and bad."

Thrillist plans to use the money to build out both its ecommerce platform in JackThreads as well as its media vertical. "I intend to remain profitable," stressed Mr. Lerer. "The strategy here is, 'Let’s continue to invest in really high quality content and consumer facing products that bring people happiness.'" This includes identifying some potential acquisition targets to build out verticals where Thrillist hasn't quite gained traction: travel, gadgets and sports, for example. ("We may be having some conversations, so I can’t spill too much," teased Mr. Lerer)

Thrillist will also continue to build out its private labels. The two in-house brands are the highest sellers on JackThreads, said Mr. Lerer. "We’ll continue to lean into private label. We’re seeing that we’re really good at creating merch and we understand what our guys want. I don’t see any reason why next year we couldn’t have 10 to 20 private label brands that we own and operate in 20 different categories. It differentiates us from other people in the marketplace."

With $13 million in hand, Mr. Lerer said, "I see no reason why we would ever need to go raise again, except in the case where we have extreme success where we invest incredibly hard or if we see an acquisition that we’re really jazzed about." An investor who hates raising? Oh, the irony.

For now, Mr. Lerer is looking forward to executing on his fresh Thrillist strategy and enjoying not worrying about money for a little while. "This is the fun part," he added.