Rumorrrrrrroundup!
ZOMGS. We hear TripMedi, the New York winner of the Startup Bus competition, has a Y Combinator interview this weekend. Also, we have their deck.
FAST SOCIETY SPENDING DOLLARS. Fast Society is hiring for a UI developer to “craft consistent, elegant UI with continuity between the web and mobile apps.” While main evangelist Matthew Rosenberg used to boast the company was “bootstrapped” in contrast to their ten-times-bemillioned New York competitor GroupMe (even though FS raised $275,000 in the fall and then snagged a Crunchie nomination for a Best Bootstrapped Start-Up the next month–we’re still trying to add that up), the job listing stresses different points. “We’re a small, funded, tight-knit team based in NYC,” it says. “We’ve created a ton of amazing tools to help friends communicate on the go (short-term groups, instant conference calls, location sharing, shout-outs and group texting without the need for keywords: all our ideas).” We thought maybe the change in messaging meant the company had scared up some cash for its efforts at South By Southwest, but Mr. Rosenberg denies there’s been any new funding: “Traffic is up. Brand is hot. We need more people,” he said in an email.
GROUPME TAKES A TRIP, DRAMA IN NEW DIGS. Moving on down the group texting start-up alphabet, GroupMe recently moved into a new office in SoSha (South of Shake Shack), which we assume is swag, because you know, the millions, BUT it sounds like the travel stress is manifesting in petty office politics. “Came back from SF to find my chair stolen and Campfire FULL OF PORN,” developer Pat Nakajima tweeted today. ANYway, we’re wondering, why the West Coast touch-and-go? Hardly seems worth the musical chairs, unless it’s for more millions OR FOR MEETING THE PRESIDENT.
DEPT. OF PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE TWEETS. “When you write a tongue & cheek post about being a woman in tech make sure a. U r funny, b. U can actually write,” start-up PR mavenatrix Brooke Hammerling advised today on Twitter. Aw…
ANNALS OF STRETCHING: Recently The Wall Street Journal reported that Foursquare is raising funding at a $500 million valuation. That sounds like a high number the company leaked to grease the wheels, area investors said sagely to Betabeat. The story was written by Spencer Ante, who interviewed meta-mayor Dennis Crowley about the company’s $20 million raise in June; this time, he cites “people familiar with the matter,” and the same “the people” said the number could maybe be a bit high for a company with “little revenue.” ALSO, LITTLE HEADLINE DISCREPANCY THERE: On Twitter, Mr. Ante said “Foursquare Seeks New Fund Raising That Could Value It For As Much as $500M, Though It’s a Stretch.” On the site, it’s just “Foursquare Seeks Funds.” Hm!
