Dave McClure tells room full of startups they will most likely fail | PandoDaily

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Dave McClure tells room full of startups they will most likely fail

“Most things fail. The primary reason most startups fail is lack of customer acquisition at reasonable economics. There are a lot of other reasons. You might be stupid or foolish or might be unable to lead or hire or not wake up early enough, but it is likely if you are not an idiot, you will be able to get a product out the door. For most of the startups in the room, you are going to fucking fail.”

- Dave McClure talking to entrepreneurs before 500 Startups’ demo day

Box acquires Folders

File-sharing company Box has acquired the technology behind the French app Folders. According to Box, the acquisition is part of a bold plan to make a product “that doesn’t suck”. [Source: VentureBeat]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
Has content discovery reached its logical end?

By Cale Guthrie Weissman May 23, 2013
Former Googler Ben Ling joins Khosla Ventures

Ben Ling, who was Badoo’s COO and an ex-Googler, has joined Khosla Ventures. In addition to Badoo and Google, Ling has also worked at Facebook. [Source: TechCrunch]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
Google rolls out new Chrome notifications

Google today debuted new Chrome notifications for its beta channel release. According to The Verge, they are capable of displaying formatted text and images. [Source: The Verge]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
Bing transforming from search engine to service

Even though Bing wasn’t talked about much at Microsoft’s XBox One reveal, it became apparent that the product as a back-end service is gaining some real traction. For the new services Microsoft is offering, Bing will help power them, such providing all the relevant data for XBox’s new voice search. [Source: CNET]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
Imonomy raises $400K

Israeli startup Imonomy has raised a $400,000 seed round. The company creates a software that analyzes webpages and automatically inserts copyright-free images. [Source: TechCrunch]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
ChannelAdvisor’s IPO debut causes stocks to soar

Today marks e-commerce company ChannelAdvisor’s first day of trading as a public company. As a result, the company’s stocks rose today almost 40%. [Source: VentureBeat]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
“People think [bitcoin is] a potential alternative to dollars, but it’s more an alternative to gold.”

— PayPal president David Marcus

May 23, 2013
Jawbone hires Microsoft exec as new president

Jawbone has hired Mindy Mount, a top corporate VP at Microsoft, as its new president. This comes after a few other upgrades in the company’s management and board, including the addition of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. [Source: AllThingsD]
- CGW
May 23, 2013
YC alum’s new service Loom aims to be photo management for the mobile world

By Richard Nieva May 23, 2013
HTC reportedly sells 5M “One” models despite supply issues

HTC has sold around 5 million units of its flagship HTC One smartphone since its launch, an unnamed exec told the Wall Street Journal. This is despite supply constraints that have nagged at the device since its inception — HTC expects to better meet demand once those issues have been worked out.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]
- NM
May 23, 2013
Microsoft’s Kinect to come to Windows devices next year

Microsoft will be bringing its Kinect product, a motion-sensing peripheral currently used by the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, to Windows products next year, the company has announced. Microsoft is expected to reveal more about the change during its BUILD conference in June.

[Source: Microsoft]
- NM
May 23, 2013
Lyft raises $60M

Lyft has raised a $60 million Series C from Andreessen Horowitz (whose founding partner, Marc Andreessen, is a personal investor in PandoDaily). The funding will be used to kickstarter Lyft’s global expansion; the company’s COO told AllThingsD that they can “scale globally in the next 12 months.” We’ll see.

[Source: AllThingsD]
- NM
May 23, 2013
Microsoft announces new computer mice with dedicated Windows keys

Microsoft has announced two new computer mice (as opposed to, you know, mice mice) with dedicated Windows keys meant to make it easier to navigate the oft-befuddling interface introduced with Windows 8. The Verge’s hands-on states that the products’ usefulness is currently limited, but that Microsoft teased more-capable products in the pipeline.

[Source: The Verge]
- NM
May 23, 2013
LoyalBlocks raises $9M

LoyalBlocks, an Israel-based loyalty marketing startup, has raised a $9 million Series A led by General Catalyst Partners, the company has announced. Founder Collective and Gemini Israel Ventures also participated in the round, which will be used to expand the LoyalBlocks platform and the company’s US presence.

- NM
May 23, 2013
Appboy helps Android developers avoid heartbreak

By Nathaniel Mott May 23, 2013
Evernote adds reminders feature to beef up its To-Do list chops

Those users who rely on Evernote to manage their To-Do list got a gift this morning in the form of a new “reminders” feature. Available at launch on Mac, iOS and web and for both to Evernote and Evernote Business users, the new alarm clock icon will allow users to create reminders, more quickly created to-do lists, and pin notes to the top of their Note list based on time. [Source: TechCrunch]
- MC
May 23, 2013
GamGee raises $2M for mobile health care startup

Palo Alto-based Gamgee, a “stealth mode mobile health care startup,” has raised $2 million from Khosla Ventures and one other unnamed investor, according to an SEC filing. [Source: FinSMEs]
- MC
May 23, 2013
TaskRabbit offers businesses workers for 15 plus hours per week

With 30 percent of its revenue coming from small businesses, TaskRabbit has introduced a business product that will allow clients to hire its workers for more than 15 hours per week. TaskRabbit will manage the necessary W-2 forms in exchange for a fee of 26 percent, up from the standard 20 percent. [Source: AllThingsD]
- MC
May 23, 2013
Yahoo continues M&A strategy, grabbing upstart PlayerScale

Keeping its acquisition binge going, Yahoo acquired another early stage startup today announcing the addition of cross-platform gaming software company PlayerScale. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. [Source: TechCrunch]
- MC
May 23, 2013
Nepal's Picovico takes on Animoto

By Hamish McKenzie May 23, 2013
WibiData raises $15 million Series B

WibiData, a big data startup focused on software for building customer-facing applications on Hadoop, has raised $15 million in Series B funding from Canaan Partners. Existing investors NEA and Eric Schmidt participated. [Source: WibiData]
- EG
May 23, 2013
AlephCloud raises $7.5 million

AlephCloud, which makes technology to help manage content privacy in public clouds, has raised $7.5M in a Series B round of financing led by Handbag, LLC, a venture capital firm founded by Seth Neiman. The company has raised $9.5 million total. [Source : AlephCloud]
- EG
May 23, 2013
Bent on European domination, JustFab continues M&A

By Michael Carney May 23, 2013
Interactions Corp. raises $40 million

Interactions Corporation, which builds Virtual Assistant applications raised $40 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Capital with participation from Sigma Partners, Sigma Prime Ventures, RED LLC, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, North Hill Ventures and Updata Partners. [Source: Interactions Corp.]
- EG
May 23, 2013

The Week in Review

Saturday

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PandoMonthly New York with Chris Dixon, the full interview Stop bitching about Millennials

Sunday

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Dave McClure is no male chauvinist

Monday

Data Crying

You are your data: The scary future of the quantified self movement The new Flickr: Biggr, Spectaculr, Wherevr Yahoo didn’t buy Tumblr. They bought Tumblr’s market position Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants into Braintree’s arms Pass the pipe: Gawker’s “Crackstarter” is skeezy but potentially significant Sorry, NYC, Tumblr selling to Yahoo was not the “win” we needed On the outskirts of the Maker Faire Why Yahoo’s track record with acquisitions isn’t relevant to Tumblr Writers should be paid Don’t confuse Google’s ubiquity for openness NextGuide Web launches. Can it possibly be a discovery powerhouse? Minbox: The way file-sharing should work Former MySpace and NASA security exec raises $700k, launches Prevoty to defend websites against malicious user code Yahoo buys Tumblr and Mayer “promises not to screw it up” like past deals Forget armchair activism, new app Buycott helps people shop with a conscience

Tuesday

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PopExpert raises $2 million for its video teaching marketplace The race to a “smart” television is over. Xbox won In biggest pan-industry push since SOPA, tech leaders get set for March for Innovation The importance of grit, rules, and discipline In Oklahoma’s time of crisis, Sparkrelief is working to unify relief efforts Memo to this year’s YC class: It’s damn hard to build an enterprise company What are the effects of RelayRides’ New York cease and desist? Finally, a Lumia-like device unbound by Windows Phone How a Valley veteran found happiness and opportunity building tech in Mexico Yes, the Valley can be vacuous – but it’s more complicated than the New Yorker would have us believe The case against Shinichi Mochizuki as bitcoin’s “dance away genius” Swipely raises another $12m from tiny Rhode Island Is influencer marketing over? Here’s another pivot, this time from Wahooly ServiceMax’s SaaS platform could make training technicians and replacing software a thing of the past

Yesterday

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Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito’s H2 comes out of stealth Forty more tickets on sale for our John Doerr PandoMonthly! (And a new venue…) Too small to fail: The partnership-driven nature of fintech startups Jaron Lanier: Information doesn’t want to be free, and ads are screwed Data, heart, virality, and leadership: Five tips for today’s entrepreneurial journey YouTube network Fullscreen adds NBCUniversal and HBO veteran Tim Mohn as new SVP of Engineering Totsy burns through $34 million, lays off its 83 employees, selling assets Why people are ignoring Windows 8′s new interface and using the “traditional” desktop instead Eat Club hits the road to feed hungry office workers A new iOS game looks to kickstart neuroscience education Bill Gross’ UberMedia launches UberAds, using social and location data to better target on mobile Skyhigh Networks raises $20M to control unauthorized cloud programs used in the enterprise “If you’re building specifically for mobile, you’re in the past” Scanadu asks Indiegogo users to test its “tricorder,” but don’t call it a pre-order