The 5 Biggest Internet Entrepreneurs of 2012

THE • 5BIGGEST Internet Entrepreneurs of 2012 presented by: BESTFINANCESCHOOLS.NET Pinterest 4 MONTHS AFTER LAUNCH: 200 USERS "In stealth mode but not because we wanted it to be" -Silbermann Silberman personally wrote to the first 5,000 users with his phone number for any questions Launched March 2010 9 MONTHS AFTER LAUNCH: 10,00O USERS Steadily grew 40%-50% every month since inception Paul Sciarra Pinterest kept with their original design and idea, the iconic pinboard grid, turning many investors and engineers away. Ben Silbermann 20% OF FACEBOOK USERS ARE ON PINTEREST DAILY Pinterest was the brainchild of failed app designers = 72% = 28% Mar Following in the footsteps of his parents, doctors in Des Moines, lowa, Ben Silbermann attended Yale in 1999 only to realize that he did not want to become a doctor. In 2006, Silbermann jumped ship and headed to Silicon Valley to do customer support help for Google. 2012 Rather than admit a humiliating defeat, Silbermann and Sciarra continued to improve Pinterest. VENTURE FUNDING TOTAL $ 138 MILLION Instagram Born from the ashes of Burbn in 2010 when "checking in" was, well, in. This basic app incorporated pictures. To Systrom's surprise, users weren't using it to check in, they were using it to share photos. oo15 Launched October 2010 1ST DAY OF LAUNCH: 25,000 USERS Perfect launch timing with the iPhone 4 just being released Kevin This number continued to 3 MONTHS AFTER LAUNCH: 3 MILLION USERS grow until it hit a staggering: Systrom Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in April 2012 for: 10 MILLION USERS just for iOS in December 2010 Kevin Systrom graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in management science and engineering, the perfect storm. After interning at Odeo (led the way for Twitter), Systrom got his first glimpse of the world of startups. Leaving his job at Google, he set out to create the next big thing. $1 BILLION There were 100 MILLION USERS as of September 2012 Façebook/Instagram combination was the icing on the cake for Instagram says Mark Zuckerberg photo courtesy of conecti.ca VENTURE FUNDING TOTAL $57.5 MILLION 3 twitter Dorsey came up with the idea for a site that would combine the broad reach of dispatch software with the ease of instant messaging. He approached a now-defunct company called Odeo to pitch the concept. Founded in 2006 "He came to us with this idea: 'What if you could share your status with all your friends really easily, so they know what you're doing?" -Biz Stone, former Odeo exec Dorsey, Stone and Odeo co-founder Evan Williams started a new company, called Obvious -- Evolved into Twitter Jack Dorsey first tweet: "just posted the world's Originally deemed too shallow and ego-driven when celebrities and CEOS alike began tweeting, Twitter was no longer the brunt of so many jokes. In its early setting up my twttr." days, the site suffered from ----------------------------- BY 2010, TWITTER HAD 105 MILLION USERS WHO, TOGETHER, TWEETED 55 MILLION TIMES/DAY frequent service Innovator/ Computer Programer, Jack Dorsey, is best known as the creator of Twitter, a social media tool using short messages for personal expression, though, at 15, he created a dispatch program still used by Taxicabs today. TWITTER VAULTED INTO INTERNATIONAL PROMINENCE AFTER THE 2009 IRAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS outages. -------------- Government had blocked text messaging and foreign news coverage In 2008, Twitter became a powerful tool for presidential candidates, McCain and Obama VENTURE FUNDING TOTAL S 60 MILLION turntable From the creaters of Stickybits, a relatively unsuccessful startup, turntable.fm was born. The social music platform letting users be their own DJs and share music with others. Founded in 20o09 1 MILLION SONGS STREAMED A DAY an With just 9 employees and funding of Billy Chasen More than 300,000 "rooms" and 650,000 registered users $7 MILLION N $7 MILLION n funding from Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures Popularity from celebrity investors such as Lady Gaga and Madonna's managers and Jimmy Fallon. turntable started out slow. In November 2012, turntable.fm updated it's already popular platform set to up the count of users tremendously After realizing the mediocrity of Stickybits created a whole new direction for the company, rather than shutting down and calling defeat. Creating a whole different set up from Stickybits (a barcode/messaging social app) into turntable (a social music app). NO LIMIT TO USERS IN ROOM CLEANER INTERFACE Unlike other music applications, tracks are chosen by users, not an algorithm of "music you may like" 1.2 million registered 120,000 active users "The hottest new club isn't in Los Angeles or New York. It's on a website called Turntable.fm."-NYTimes 2012 Nine months after it's launch in March 2011, RockMelt boasted over 1 million users: 2/3 of them under the age of 25. This discovery led CEO Eric Vishria to believe they've created the first web browser for the social generation. Average user: 25 and under daily usage of chats per day installed on 12 apps used Rockmelt 60% 7 hours 26 times a day 1.3 devices Eric Instead of digging for your own content, Vishria RockMelt brings your customized likes to life with updates from blogs, likes, and friends Recent ipad app release (2.0.3) allows sign in without facebook when 50% didn't sign in at all. 37% through Facebook 15% through Twitter "We're stuck with browsers that were designed before social media existed" -Vishria Co-founder of RockMelt, alongside Tom Howes. Graduating from Stanford University with a BS in Mathematical & Computational Science and a minor in Human Biology; later serving as VP of Marketing for Opsware/Hewlett-Packard. In 2008 he left to create RockMelt. $10 MILLION IN FUNDING FROM INVESTORS $30 MILLION LAST SUMMER FROM ANDREESSEN, ACCEL PARTNERS AND KHOSLA VENTURES IN ROUND B FUNDING VENTURE FUNDING TOTAL $39.9 MILLION SEED FUNDING TOTAL $1.68 MILLION presented by bestfinanceschools.net developed by N NOWSOURCING techcrunch.com/2012/04/08/pinterest-startup-mountain/ techcrunch.com/2012/04/22/as-pinterests-hype-peaks-there-are-external-signs-that-its-growth-is-slowing/ crunchbase.com/company/instagram techcrunch.com/2012/04/09/instagram-story-facebook-acquisition/ forbes.com/sites/limyunghui/2012/04/09/inspiring-insights-by-instagram-ceo-kevin-systrom-the-man-who-built-a-1-billion-startup/ mashable.com/2012/09/11/instagram-100-million/ allthingsd.com/20120716/novell-antitrust-suit-against-microsoft-sputters-to-a-close/ seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2018702942_microsoftnovell17.html deseretnews.com/article/865559110/Judge-rules-for-Microsoft-in-prolonged-legal-fight-with-Utah-based-Novell.html crunchbase.com/company/turntable-fm techcrunch.com/2011/12/11/founder-stories-turntable-fms-billy-chasen-on-closing-stickybits-none-of-us-used-the-app/ techcrunch.com/2011/06/28/accel-khosla-andreessen-30-million-rockmelt/ techcrunch.com/2012/11/30/email-social-signup-rockmelt/