Socialcam Nabs Angel Funding From The A-List | Hacker News Reader

Socialcam Nabs Angel Funding From The A-List

techcrunch.com

54 pointsmwseibel26 comments

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.

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.

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.

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.

Surprised to see Laurene Powell Jobs listed as an investor.

Good catch.

It's in the headline.

Ah. Er..good catch.

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.

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.

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.

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_gr...

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

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. :(

Can we adjust the title since the amount is unknown?

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

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]

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.

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

not one won, Viddy is also busy raising another round (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

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.

Photo sharing is a done deal after the Instagram acquisition.

There's always room for failure.

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

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

The best part of that article is the list.

"Ronny Conway – Andreessen Horowitz"

Uh, what?

Not a typo. Ronny Conway is Ron Conway's son.

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