5 ms·

Socialcam Nabs Angel Funding From The A-List

54 points by mwseibel 14y ago

davidedicillo 14y ago
I'm just tired of these video apps that every time you click on one of their links automatically share the video on your timeline. Result: I don't watch their videos anymore.
- mdoerneman 14y ago
  I figured out this was happening when I saw a few videos in my feed from friends that wouldn't normally be posting them. My first thought was that they were spam or that someone hacked their Facebook account. I did some asking around and these friend's had no idea this was happening. (It's kind of embarrassing when everyone see's that you watched a video of a chick in a bikini) I think it is a really shady practice by both companies but I guess they don't have much choice in the battle for #1. Either way, be very careful the videos you click on in your news feed.
  - jaredsohn 14y ago
    The secret is that when you accept the app you tell it to automatically share with "yourself". (And you can do that with the social reader apps, too.) This stops you from spamming your friends, although you still may want to clean up your timeline so you don't have to see the noise.
stevenj 14y ago
Surprised to see Laurene Powell Jobs listed as an investor.
- pazimzadeh 14y ago
  Good catch.
  - baddox 14y ago
    It's in the headline.
    - pazimzadeh 14y ago
      Ah. Er..good catch.
prezjordan 14y ago
What are some differences between the two products? Why did one win over the other?
- dirkdk 14y ago
  not one won, Viddy is also busy raising another round (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/26/viddy-is-raising-30m-at-a-370m-valuation/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/26/viddy-is-raising-30m-at-a-3...). Both of them seem to skyrocket. Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition. Seems like all eyes are now on video sharing as the field where the next $1 billion exit will occur
  - mikeryan 14y ago
    Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition I dunno the web is littered with products that don't transition well to new corporate parents. The Instagram acquisition could actually have opened up the photo sharing space.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition. There's always room for failure.
sgrove 14y ago
Congrats to Michael and co. The success that Socialcam is enjoying makes me laugh - given the amazing hard-work the justin.tv team put in for years hustling, building, learning to deal with crazy unbelievable challenges, it just feels right that they do well now. How could it be any other way? These guys are unstoppable forces of nature at this point. Luckily they seem to be nice and down to earth as well. So congrats on making it this far, even though I'm sure it's only a small preview of what's to come.
rokhayakebe 14y ago
Can we adjust the title since the amount is unknown?
loeschg 14y ago
Shane Battier and Ashton Kutcher. Interesting. I feel like there's a joke here...
thedeuce 14y ago
what a racket...
SimianLogic2 14y ago
The fact that they're 1-2 in the app store probably has more to do with the Instagram sale than any pent up demand for video sharing. It makes sense that they're both raising money--they've got to fund their massive UA campaigns.
- gustaf 14y ago
  The reason they're at the top of the app store is because they built a great product that millions of people love. Video is a core technology on mobile devices and until now it's been really hard to record and post a video to Facebook/Twitter.
  - SimianLogic2 14y ago
    That wasn't meant as a disparagement on their products--but app quality and app store ranking often have very little to do with each other. Unless by "until now" you don't mean "until Instagram sold for $1 billion", I don't think the technology has radically shifted in the last couple of weeks.
randall 14y ago
The best part of that article is the list. "Ronny Conway – Andreessen Horowitz" Uh, what?
- mpakes 14y ago
  Not a typo. Ronny Conway is Ron Conway's son.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
hncommenter13 14y ago
Fundraising disclosed to date: 1/18/2012 $0.01 of Common 1/31/2012 $34,105.20 of Common 1/31/2012 $665,000 Convertible note 1/31/2012 $249,133 Preferred stock 4/20/2012 $150,000 Convertible note This is not comprehensive, so there may well be financing not yet disclosed. Also, they're represented by Wilson Sonsini, in case anyone cares. [edit: formatting]
- hncommenter13 14y ago
  Just so I'm clear for the future, what is it about this info that some people find objectionable? As far as I know, it's not available on the web anywhere, and since the story is about fundraising, I thought folks would find it interesting/informative. Sorry.
sethbannon 14y ago
All this with a team of only THREE. Socialcam really is following in Instagram's footsteps.
AVTizzle 14y ago
This is a wildly impressive syndicate. But looking down this list (that even includes Hollywood/entertainment elite: Ari Emmanuel, Ashton Kutcher, Micheal Rapino) I couldn't help but wonder: Will managing the amount of ego on this list be a 25-hour-a-day job on it's own? Given the scope of the names on that list - and the industries they're representing - there could easily be some conflicting interests and competing agendas within the group. Also, a ton of alpha a-players who may or may not be domesticated for this type of "super group". Could this much mojo be counter-productive? I wish Socialcam the best, and hope this doesn't end among the graveyard of "Why Dream Teams Fail" case studies. The most important lesson about team performance is that the basic theory of the dream team is wrong. You cannot assemble a group of stars and then sit back to watch them conquer the world. You can't even count on them to avoid embarrassment. The 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team consisted entirely of NBA stars; it finished third and lost to Lithuania. Why Dream Teams Fail: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/30/news/newsmakers/failures1_greatteams_fortune/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/30/news/newsmakers/failures1_gr...
- rdl 14y ago
  Investors, especially on convertible notes, are usually fairly hands off and non meddlesome. It isnt like they are all execs or on the board.
Porter_423 14y ago
The investment from the Live Nation executives could lead to some interesting initiatives to further integrate Socialcam in the live events scene.
klochner 14y ago
Anyone know why so many Duke basketball alums participated in the round?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
justjimmy 14y ago
The issue I have with the numbers of users from these Vid Apps is that they are just vanity numbers. The numbers doesn't include just those who actually download and use the app, but also those that actually click the link to share on Viddy/Socialcam to just watch the video. Neither are willing to disclose actual user numbers either. :(

54 points by mwseibel 14y ago

I'm just tired of these video apps that every time you click on one of their links automatically share the video on your timeline. Result: I don't watch their videos anymore.

mdoerneman 14y ago
I figured out this was happening when I saw a few videos in my feed from friends that wouldn't normally be posting them. My first thought was that they were spam or that someone hacked their Facebook account. I did some asking around and these friend's had no idea this was happening. (It's kind of embarrassing when everyone see's that you watched a video of a chick in a bikini) I think it is a really shady practice by both companies but I guess they don't have much choice in the battle for #1. Either way, be very careful the videos you click on in your news feed.
- jaredsohn 14y ago
  The secret is that when you accept the app you tell it to automatically share with "yourself". (And you can do that with the social reader apps, too.) This stops you from spamming your friends, although you still may want to clean up your timeline so you don't have to see the noise.

stevenj 14y ago

Surprised to see Laurene Powell Jobs listed as an investor.

pazimzadeh 14y ago
Good catch.
- baddox 14y ago
  It's in the headline.
  - pazimzadeh 14y ago
    Ah. Er..good catch.

prezjordan 14y ago

What are some differences between the two products? Why did one win over the other?

dirkdk 14y ago
not one won, Viddy is also busy raising another round (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/26/viddy-is-raising-30m-at-a-370m-valuation/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/26/viddy-is-raising-30m-at-a-3...). Both of them seem to skyrocket. Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition. Seems like all eyes are now on video sharing as the field where the next $1 billion exit will occur
- mikeryan 14y ago
  Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition I dunno the web is littered with products that don't transition well to new corporate parents. The Instagram acquisition could actually have opened up the photo sharing space.
- rhizome 14y ago
  Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition. There's always room for failure.

sgrove 14y ago

Congrats to Michael and co. The success that Socialcam is enjoying makes me laugh - given the amazing hard-work the justin.tv team put in for years hustling, building, learning to deal with crazy unbelievable challenges, it just feels right that they do well now. How could it be any other way? These guys are unstoppable forces of nature at this point. Luckily they seem to be nice and down to earth as well. So congrats on making it this far, even though I'm sure it's only a small preview of what's to come.

rokhayakebe 14y ago

Can we adjust the title since the amount is unknown?

loeschg 14y ago

Shane Battier and Ashton Kutcher. Interesting. I feel like there's a joke here...

thedeuce 14y ago

what a racket...

SimianLogic2 14y ago

The fact that they're 1-2 in the app store probably has more to do with the Instagram sale than any pent up demand for video sharing. It makes sense that they're both raising money--they've got to fund their massive UA campaigns.

gustaf 14y ago
The reason they're at the top of the app store is because they built a great product that millions of people love. Video is a core technology on mobile devices and until now it's been really hard to record and post a video to Facebook/Twitter.
- SimianLogic2 14y ago
  That wasn't meant as a disparagement on their products--but app quality and app store ranking often have very little to do with each other. Unless by "until now" you don't mean "until Instagram sold for $1 billion", I don't think the technology has radically shifted in the last couple of weeks.

randall 14y ago

The best part of that article is the list. "Ronny Conway – Andreessen Horowitz" Uh, what?

mpakes 14y ago
Not a typo. Ronny Conway is Ron Conway's son.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

hncommenter13 14y ago

Fundraising disclosed to date: 1/18/2012 $0.01 of Common 1/31/2012 $34,105.20 of Common 1/31/2012 $665,000 Convertible note 1/31/2012 $249,133 Preferred stock 4/20/2012 $150,000 Convertible note This is not comprehensive, so there may well be financing not yet disclosed. Also, they're represented by Wilson Sonsini, in case anyone cares. [edit: formatting]

hncommenter13 14y ago
Just so I'm clear for the future, what is it about this info that some people find objectionable? As far as I know, it's not available on the web anywhere, and since the story is about fundraising, I thought folks would find it interesting/informative. Sorry.

sethbannon 14y ago

All this with a team of only THREE. Socialcam really is following in Instagram's footsteps.

AVTizzle 14y ago

This is a wildly impressive syndicate. But looking down this list (that even includes Hollywood/entertainment elite: Ari Emmanuel, Ashton Kutcher, Micheal Rapino) I couldn't help but wonder: Will managing the amount of ego on this list be a 25-hour-a-day job on it's own? Given the scope of the names on that list - and the industries they're representing - there could easily be some conflicting interests and competing agendas within the group. Also, a ton of alpha a-players who may or may not be domesticated for this type of "super group". Could this much mojo be counter-productive? I wish Socialcam the best, and hope this doesn't end among the graveyard of "Why Dream Teams Fail" case studies. The most important lesson about team performance is that the basic theory of the dream team is wrong. You cannot assemble a group of stars and then sit back to watch them conquer the world. You can't even count on them to avoid embarrassment. The 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team consisted entirely of NBA stars; it finished third and lost to Lithuania. Why Dream Teams Fail: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/30/news/newsmakers/failures1_greatteams_fortune/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/30/news/newsmakers/failures1_gr...

rdl 14y ago
Investors, especially on convertible notes, are usually fairly hands off and non meddlesome. It isnt like they are all execs or on the board.

Porter_423 14y ago

The investment from the Live Nation executives could lead to some interesting initiatives to further integrate Socialcam in the live events scene.

klochner 14y ago

Anyone know why so many Duke basketball alums participated in the round?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

justjimmy 14y ago

The issue I have with the numbers of users from these Vid Apps is that they are just vanity numbers. The numbers doesn't include just those who actually download and use the app, but also those that actually click the link to share on Viddy/Socialcam to just watch the video. Neither are willing to disclose actual user numbers either. :(