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Tuesday, December 3, 2013
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ptch-logoPtch, the Dreamworks Animation-incubated mobile video startup, has been acquired by Yahoo. The app was launched just over a year ago and will shut down on January 2, 2014. Until then, you'll be able to download your ‘ptches' if you're a user, or save them out to your camera roll. The announcement was made on the Ptch blog this afternoon. “As part of the Yahoo team,” the announcement reads, “we'll be able to focus our efforts and leverage our technology to make Yahoo's photo and video platforms the best in the world.” Due to the text of the announcement and the fact that the product will be shuttered, we're calling this one an acqui-hire. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ptch was an app that started inside DreamWorks animation, as a project of its CTO Ed Leonard, who ended up taking on the CEO role. Co-founder Hans Ku also worked at DreamWorks. When we spoke to the Ptch team last year, there were around 20 of them, about 1/3 of which came from DreamWorks. About 2/3 of them came from outside places like Yahoo and Myspace. Now, it looks like some of them will boomerang back to the big purple. The app allowed users to remix their videos with effects and music, and to offer their original clips up to others in order to mash them up and remix them further. The concept was centered around allowing friends and people with shared experiences to use all of their combined media to craft the ‘story' of the event. There's no word on where this leaves DWA Investments, the separate company that was funded by Dreamworks and which created Ptch. Since it's equity-owned by the employees, it seems like it would go along with the acquisition, likely to be dissolved. This continues Yahoo's strategy of absorbing talent in the mobile app design and development space. Yahoo is in the process of retooling all of its offerings to be mobile-centric, and developing new properties to bolster its media empire. In order to do that, it's been snapping up small teams and products that have strategic value of some sort, but mostly for the people.

5:08 PM

Ptch, the Dreamworks Animation-incubated mobile video startup, has been acquired by Yahoo. The app was launched just over a year ago and wil...

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Screen Shot 2013-12-03 at 3.49.57 PMJust kidding. But since Jeff Bezos is going to pull his April Fool's Day jokes early for traffic, then so will we. Because quite honestly, 'twas the night before Cyber Monday, and all through the house, every creature was stirring, posting to Twitter about Amazon considering deliveries through drone.


4:40 PM

Just kidding. But since Jeff Bezos is going to pull his April Fool's Day jokes early for traffic , then so will we. Because quite hones...

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Salesforce.com has taken an interesting step in stemming the fallout from its recent hackathon by deciding to award a second prize of $1 million to another team of developers. At the Dreamforce software conference last month, Salesforce.com held a Salesforce1 Hackathon, in which more than 4,500 developers were encouraged to build apps using the company's customer relationship management platform. A firestorm erupted over the judges' decision to crown Upshot the million-dollar winner for an app that generates mobile reports for sales people.


3:54 PM

Salesforce.com has taken an interesting step in stemming the fallout from its recent hackathon by deciding to award a second prize of $1 m...

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Ask a VC is back this week after a brief hiatus–and our guest this week is DFJ managing director Josh Stein. As you may remember, you can submit questions for our guests either in the comments or here and we'll ask them during the show.


Stein currently has backed and serves on the boards of Box, Chartbeat, LendKey, Selligy, SugarCRM, and Swell. He is also actively involved with DFJ's investments in AngelList, Glam Media, Opscode, Path, Redfin, Tremor Video, and Twilio. His previous investments include GoodGuide (acquired by UL), iList (acquired by IGN/News Corp), Polaris Wireless (strategic recapitalization), Yammer (acquired by Microsoft), and Yardbarker (acquired by Fox Sports Interactive).


Prior to joining DFJ, Stein was a Vice President at Telephia, and was a co-founder, Director and the Chief Strategy Officer for ViaFone. He also held positions in product management at Microsoft and NetObjects, and was a management consultant in the San Francisco office of The Boston Consulting Group.


Stein has made some early investments in clear winners in enterprise and beyond, including leading Box's first round of institutional investment back in 2006. We're curious to hear what patterns he's observed in finding and backing successful entrepreneurs and companies.


Please send us your questions for Stein here or put them in the comments below!







3:38 PM

Ask a VC is back this week after a brief hiatus–and our guest this week is DFJ managing director Josh Stein . As you may remember, you can s...

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Mobile messaging startup Just.me announced a couple of weeks ago that its assets were being auctioned off. Now it looks like the auction is over. The winner? Just.me.


Well, technically it's “Just.me 2014 Inc.,” but founder Keith Teare (who also co-founded TechCrunch) said the new company's goal is to continue the same work: “And from a user point of view, we hope not to skip a beat.”


As I wrote in my initial coverage, Teare said the auction was necessary because of the $1.5 million in debt that Just.me took on from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Combined with decent-but-not-spectacular growth numbers (Teare said it has hundreds of thousands of users), the debt meant the startup had trouble raising money, so it was selling off its assets to pay back the money it owed (or as much of that money as possible). Even then, Teare expressed his hope that he would be the top bidder - but it had to be a fair auction for him to meet his obligations to Hercules.


When Teare told me today about the results, he said he's not allowed to disclose the exact price, but he did note that the sale was funded by and therefore “within the means” of his incubator Archimedes Labs - in other words, it probably wasn't an enormous sum. He also said that there were 23 bids total, and that nine of those bids were for the full package of assets (rather than individual pieces).


Teare added that Just.me's focus has shifted since it launched earlier this year. Initially, the app combined taking pictures for your private memories, sending messages to friends, and expressing yourself in public. However, it's the public expression that has seen the most usage (something Teare attributed in part to the quality of the native photo and messaging experiences on iOS and Android), and that's where the company has been adding new features like the ability to leave “confessions” (which can be anonymous).


The app isn't abandoning the other areas completely, but treating expression as the “starting point”: “Public expresison leads to serendipitous meetings which leads to the desire to chat privately. We're really trying to focus on that set of behaviors.”


And yes, Teare acknowledged that there's no guarantee that the new company, which is fundraising on AngelList, will succeed.


“I would say there's no slam dunk,” he said. “I didn't want to acquire the assets because I think there's a magic formula. I acquired the assets because I think the app is doing really well and there's no reason for us to die at this point.”







1:38 PM

Mobile messaging startup Just.me announced a couple of weeks ago that its assets were being auctioned off . Now it looks like the auction i...

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As a convert to the standing desk lifestyle, I wondered just what I could do to further expand my alternative loafing lifestyle. To that end I brought a desk treadmill into the home, a decision that I have yet to regret. The model I'm trying, the Rebeldesk Rebel Treadmill 1000 (a bold name, to be sure) costs $749 and maxes out at 2 miles per hour. If anything I can report that I've been able to do a few miles a day at a steady, slow pace while still getting work done. Although, thanks to holiday dinners and lots of beer, the waistline has moved just about a pants size down, which is good enough for fat old me.


First, understand that the best desk treadmill isn't the best running treadmill. The 2 mph maximums that most of these have are there for a reason: you're going to fall down if you go much faster. While I could see myself hitting a three or four mile pace on an energetic day, I'd rather not risk the head strike when I'm flipped over my desk while browsing Reddit.


Does it help? Take a look at the chart below. Although I was traveling some of those days, after November 11 I was able to consistently push my steps walked up past 10,000 almost every day thanks to the treadmill. Given that it's winter and I'm a bit sick, it's a real boon to be able to get some low-impact cardio in during the day and still get work done. And yes, I am walking as I type this and have completed three miles today.


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Walking treadmills should also be solid and sturdy. You can get away with a cheaper, thinner model – plenty of people have and there are instructions for building your own everywhere – but if you plan on using it with any intensity, look into a dedicated, flat treadmill without a front bar and high control panel. Heck, there's even a DIY system that uses an IKEA work desk.


The Rebel, for example, is about five feet long and two feet wide. It fits under almost every desk and has a small break-out box controller with stop, start, an emergency system, and sleep control. Setup is quite simple: you just plug it in, connect the controller, and attach the emergency magnet. Then you press start. The treadmill starts very slowly at first and then speeds up to your desired pace. The hardcore will probably balk at the Rebel's top speed – I thought I would, too – but I'm OK with going at a pace that won't leave me winded as I work.

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You can also look into the Tread, an $855 treadmill with a much lower profile that almost looks like a rug. It's a hair shorter than the Rebel at 54 inches and is just about 5 inches off the ground.


Need something a bit more imposing? Folks I've spoken to have had good luck with Life Span Fitness desks, including this massive treadmill/standing desk setup that goes for $1,999. This could be a bit too rich for most holiday wallets, but considering the heft and comfort, you can't go wrong. For example, while the Rebel is working great for me I could imagine the value of having a dedicated desk attached that I could raise and lower.


Can you still sit at a treadmill desk? Sure, but you're going to have to do a bit of finagling. When my setup is shut down I like to bring a big fitness ball over to sit on, which allows me to take a bit of a breather between miles. It's a surprisingly seamless move and I've not yet fallen off the treadmill while sitting. Remember also that these things can't just be rolled away and used as a clothes hamper. The Rebel is huge and heavy as is the Life Span model. In fact, almost any treadmill you bring into the office deserves at least more than a cursory trot or two.


Whether or not you spend a few hundred on a huge, hulking, single-purpose desk treadmill or just go the DIY route, setting up a treadmill desk will do wonders for your energy level, potentially your weight, and that nagging feeling that you should be getting out more. While a nice jog around the industrial park is probably best for all involved, a stroll on a treadmill desk is the next best thing. Just ask my pants.







10:39 AM

As a convert to the standing desk lifestyle, I wondered just what I could do to further expand my alternative loafing lifestyle. To that end...

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Posted by at 10:39 AM 0 comments
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Nearly 700 websites pushing counterfeit products were seized by American and European authorities, according to Europol, the Europe-wide law agency. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement teamed with European law enforcement agencies to execute the holiday cybersting. It is surely no coincidence that the seizures coincided with Cyber Monday, the online shopping orgy. ICE has a history of dramatic timing, like when it seized scores of sports-streaming sites in 2011 and 2012 just before the Super Bowl.


10:09 AM

Nearly 700 websites pushing counterfeit products were seized by American and European authorities, according to Europol, the Europe-wide l...

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