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Squarespace. $38.5 Million in VC Bucks. More Social Networking For All. (Stop Me If You've Heard This One.)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:15:48 +0000

Another day, another giant venture funding.

Today it is $38.5 million to Squarespace–which lets you make blogs, Web sites, mobile apps, social networking widgets and other such oversharing digital tools–from Index Ventures and Accel Partners.

Squarespace is from New York. Index is in London. Accel is in Silicon Valley. It’s very global!

BoomTown will admit it–these big fundings are starting to bleed into each other.

And here I thought VCs were running out of scratch!

Nope.

Thus, the inevitable press release about the start-up, which competes with WordPress and Six Apart:

Index and Accel back Squarespace–Industry leading web publishing platform

NEW YORK, NY–July 14th, 2010–Squarespace, an industry leading web publishing platform, today announced that it closed a $38.5M minority growth investment led by Index Ventures and Accel Partners. This is the first outside capital that Squarespace has raised since its founding in 2003.

As part of this transaction, joining Squarespace’s newly formed board will be Dominique Vidal, of Index Ventures’ growth team, Andrew Braccia, from Accel’s investment team, and Jonathan Klein, Founder and CEO of Getty Images. Founder Anthony Casalena will remain the company’s largest shareholder.

Squarespace was founded by Anthony Casalena with the goal of redefining publishing on the Web. Today, Squarespace’s SaaS platform powers tens of thousands of websites worldwide. Businesses, bloggers, web developers and artists use Squarespace to quickly and easily create and maintain professional, high quality websites. Squarespace’s product is differentiated by its intense focus on design, integration and scalability. Notable customers include Marc Ecko, Porter Novelli, Bob Woodruff, Kevin Pollak, and Don Imus.

“Squarespace has created a powerful product used by web developers, bloggers, and consumers around the world to build beautiful, functional and flexible websites,” said Dom Vidal, partner, Index Ventures. “We believe in the team, the technology, and the market potential, and are excited to be a part of such a fast growing business.”

The size of the round will enable Squarespace to significantly expand operations as they seek to solve the problem of content management at its core, and allow its new partners to contribute to and participate in Squarespace’s continued success.

“Squarespace has been a profitable business since its first year of operation. This investment will not change that, but it will allow us to be much more aggressive in our quest to both create an incredible product and bring that product to market,” said Anthony Casalena, Squarespace’s founder.

With the Squarespace web publishing platform, you can:

• Quickly publish and manage a highly functional web site, including a blog and portfolio.
• Host on an expandable grid infrastructure that can manage sites of any size across the globe.
• Access hand designed templates and customizable photo galleries.
• Aggregate data from across various social networks completely within the Squarespace environment, without needing 3rd party scripts.
• Use the iPhone app to check your site, post to your blog, manage blog posts, and see site traffic, while on the go.
• Easily import images, posts, and links from existing blogging platforms.
• Track visitors and usage patterns of a site with powerful analytics tools.

“There are a lot of tools on the market that allow people to set up simple blogs for free. At Squarespace, we offer something different–a high quality, professional, reliable platform, designed from the ground up by us to work in a very streamlined way,” said Casalena. “The addition of Index, Accel and Jonathan Klein to the Squarespace team will help us achieve further growth and cement our position as a clear leader in this space.”

Squarespace packages are sold on www.squarespace.com and start at $8 per month.

Almost Famous: Jonathan Tepper of Demotix

Drake Martinet — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:05:05 +0000

Never heard of Demotix? Don’t feel bad as that’s pretty typical, although the journalism start-up does operate in nearly every country in the world. We recently caught up with the nouveau photo wire service’s co-founder, Jonathan Tepper, to get the whole story on remaking media (and paying for it).

Who: Jonathan Tepper

What: COO, co-founder

Why: Jonathan left the finance sector to start what he calls a “street newswire.” Demotix continues to grow as competitors like Associated Press and Getty Images face harder times. Maybe he’s on to something.

Where: Demotix.com (Web site); @demotix (Twitter); London (analog place)

Who Else: AP, Reuters, and Getty Images, to name a few.

Five Stats You Won’t Find in His Facebook Profile:

Worst Job: The hands-down worst was as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant in college. They pretty much hired me as a go-between for the pretty waitresses and the kitchen staff, who only spoke Spanish. A close second was when I spent a year making PowerPoints for Lehman Brothers after I graduated.

Not Your Typical Home Life: I grew up in Spain, where my parents ran one of the first drug rehab centers in that country. My best friends growing up were HIV-positive ex-criminals who were in our work programs.

Newshound: I probably read 70 to 80 economic blogs a day. I use Google Reader; you have to. I also read probably 10 or so papers. Mostly the European press. It all takes me about an hour.

Inspirations: Probably my father. He created an international drug rehab center from scratch. That’s a real entrepreneur.

Uber Geekery: I’ve been reading lots of Pascal recently. Something about being restless while being alone in a room with one’s self resonates with me.

Bio in 140 Characters

He repatriated to the United States from Spain for school at UNC Chapel Hill and then received a Rhodes Scholarship. He left finance to fix the news.

The Five Questions

So you and your co-founder, Turi Munthe, decided 2007 would be a good time to get into journalism. What were you thinking?

Well, for us it was really about free speech. User-generated news is one way to do that. We are both very committed to that around the world. Turi said he had an idea; I asked if he needed a partner. We raised about a million dollars from friends and family and got it started.

The idea was to build a street newswire, one where amateur and semi-professional content could come together and the people who produce it could benefit from it. The vast majority of our outreach has been Turi traveling and meeting people. Today, we have around 14,000 contributors, 3,000 of whom I’d characterize as “active.”

Is this just another journalism business that works because it doesn’t pay contributors a living wage?

I know what you mean. Our model is different because it assumes the contributor is an amateur. That said, we do the work of promoting the images to outlets and we split the fees 50/50. Many of our contributors also live in places where the economics are different, so what would not be a living wage for you and me could be a life-changing amount of money for them. The economics are pretty interesting.

What does the process look like?

Well, of our 3,000 active contributors, I’d say we have about 200 worldwide who are what you might call “staff,” in that they contribute every day. A typical submission is 12 to 14 images. We intake them though our Web site, and then there is an editorial process where we decide what they are, if they are authentic, good, useful, etc. Turnaround time is usually 15 to 30 minutes, but can be as long as an hour. Then, they go up on the site. Once they are up, we reach out to news outlets who might want to run them.

One of the things that makes us really different is our ability to operate places that other wire services can’t. Our reporters are locals, and so when a government kicks all the AP people out, we still get images.

We just rolled out a new Web site and have started dealing in video as well, so we are looking forward to the changes those bring.

At the end of the year though, you are trying to turn a profit. Has that happened yet?

No. We’ve already done another round of funding. Mostly back to friends and family. I anticipate we will be cash-flow-positive in the next 12 to 18 months, maximum.

The whole venture capital industry seems really weird to me. To be profitable, they have to put $100 to $200 million to work, and they want to sell things for 10 times the money and have minimum size of investment, which doesn’t really make sense for us. So the angel, friends and family sort of thing makes more sense at our scale.

Has locating away from the Silicon Valley venture hub been a help or a hindrance?

I think we get a lot less press and recognition because of it. There’s a community journalism funding start-up, Spot.us, that gets just a ton of coverage. I don’t want to make it appear as though I’m dissing him in any way. He does great work, but I think Spot.us funded like 50 stories last year, and we do that in a day, and he gets a ton of coverage. I suspect it’s because he’s located in San Francisco. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but it speaks to the coverage biases.

The In Living Color Interview

[ See post to watch video ]

Rob Glaser Eased Out as RealNetworks CEO

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:50:56 +0000

Rob Glaser is stepping down as CEO of Real Networks, the company he founded in 1994. Sources say the move was instigated by his own board, but that he cooperated with the decision and was involved in the transition.

Glaser will be replaced by Robert Kimball, a well-liked executive who most recently served as general counsel and executive vice president of corporate development at RealNetworks (RNWK).

Glaser, who will remain chairman of the Seattle-based Internet company, owns 38.4 percent of Real’s shares, making him by far the largest investor.

His move follows other significant news at Real: Last week, a federal judge dismissed its claims against Hollywood studios in the RealDVD case.

A few days earlier, COO John Giamatteo said that he would step down; the company announced that news yesterday afternoon.

But it is Glaser’s departure that is most important, given that he has been an innovative, pioneering and high-profile Internet leader for so long. Nevertheless, he eventually had to answer for problems with performance.

In fact, Glaser and the board had been talking for some time about making these changes, although it came much more suddenly than Glaser preferred, according to several sources. He had wanted to do a search for a new CEO before he left and make the shift less abrupt.

But the board–with the message coming from director Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images–felt a quicker change was needed.

“It’s a typical case of a founder and Internet visionary who can’t convert it to the bottom line. There was a great deal of admiration and respect for Rob, which delayed the decision, but eventually you can’t ignore the results,” says a person familiar with the company. “This move was a long time postponed, because he always had another good idea. But you have a staff whose options are all underwater, and the conversion of gross into net profit was not happening.”

It’s unclear when Glaser’s board informed him of the decision, but sources say that after processing the news, Glaser cooperated with and helped in the transition. He represented the company in a series of meetings at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show without letting on that he was on his way out.

He did, however, post an untypically melancholy message on Twitter yesterday:

Some Real employees and investors have had grievances with the company’s founder for years. A long string of former Real employees, for example, describe Glaser as a cantankerous boss, and Real’s stock price has withered since 2006, when it nearly broke the $12 mark.

The stock is now trading below $4.

And while Real was a genuine pioneer in Web video software and an early player in Web music services–the company was originally called Progressive Networks after Glaser’s political bent–it has been idling for many years.

For a while, for example, it was investing time and money in Web-based “casual games” and had filed to spin off that unit in 2008. But those plans were iced by the recession.

Meanwhile, RealNetworks split its Rhapsody music service into a joint venture with Viacom (VIA) unit MTV, but that service has also stalled, and the two partners have been trying to renegotiate the terms of their partnership.

Real’s crowning achievement of the past few years: The whopping $761 million antitrust settlement it won in 2005 from Microsoft (MSFT), Glaser’s former employer.

Here’s Glaser’s memo to his staff, followed by a note from Robert Kimball, and, finally, the company’s press release.

From: Rob Glaser
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 1:35 PM
To: All RealNetworks Employees
Subject: Important Personal News

Team,

Today we’re announcing something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Nearly 16 years after founding RealNetworks in 1994, I’ve decided to step aside from day to day operations. Accordingly, we’re announcing today that I am relinquishing my CEO job and will focus on my role as Chairman of Real’s board.

A decision of this magnitude produces a complex bundle of feelings. First, profound gratitude for the amazing colleagues I’ve had the opportunity to work with during a chapter that has turned out to be a third of my life. I am incredibly proud of the creativity, persistence, and commitment to excellence that our teams around the world bring to the table every day.

Second, deep appreciation for the billions (yes, billions!) of consumers that use or have used our products, the hundreds of millions of consumers that use our products every year, and the tens of millions of consumers that use our products and services every month. I am also grateful for the trust placed in us by our fantastic carrier and other distribution partners. Very few companies get to have the global reach and impact that we do.

Third, great confidence in the team that will be running the company day-to-day. As we kick off a search for my permanent successor, Real will be led by Bob Kimball as Acting CEO. Bob is one of the most passionate, hard-charging, and lucid executives I’ve ever had an opportunity to work with, and given his decade of leadership at Real, I am confident that the company won’t skip a beat.

Fourth, the bittersweet feelings that come from closing the book on a 16 year labor of love, emphasis on both labor and love. I feel very fortunate that as Chairman I will still get to carry the torch for everything that has made and will continue to make our company great. And with 2 small children and a third on the way, I feel very lucky that the rhythm of my life can now change, at least for a time, to allow our family to do some things that might not otherwise have been possible. I also look forward to spending more time on civic and other projects outside of Real.

While there’s never an ideal time to make a change like this, this is as good a time as any. We’ve weathered the brunt of the Great Recession and have done what we said we wanted to do, which was to keep our core solid while also building for the future. We’ve also undertaken an extremely rigorous strategy review and have a very exciting road map for the future that you’ll hear about in the days and weeks ahead. And the start of a new decade is a good time, poetically, to pass the baton.

Thanks again for everything, and I hope to see all of you soon.

Rob

From: Robert Kimball
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 1:07 PM
To: Real@real.com
Subject: Important News

Dear Team,

Rob Glaser, our founder, has resigned as CEO effective today. Rob is sending out a separate note discussing his decision. While Rob will no longer have an operating role, he will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. We look forward to continuing to work with Rob and I want to thank him for making RealNetworks what it is today and leaving us with a strong foundation upon which to build.

The Board has asked me to assume Rob’s executive responsibilities and has appointed me President and acting CEO. The Board of Directors will consider candidates for the permanent CEO role in the coming months. The senior executive team is galvanized and committed to making RealNetworks a company where customers love our products, employees are excited about being here, and we create value for our shareholders. We want RealNetworks to be a more focused, faster growing and profitable company. We are going to simplify the way we do business, empower employees to do their jobs, and hold people accountable for their results. I look forward to working with all of you to transform RealNetworks as part of this next chapter.

As part of transforming RealNetworks, I am personally committed to providing you with candid, clear and frequent communication so you know where we stand and where we want to go. In the coming weeks, we will be sharing with you changes in the way we operate and organize our business. And we want you to talk to us. Tell us when we are succeeding and when we are failing to make the changes necessary to transform. We plan to hit the ground running and we will need your help and input to succeed.

As you learned yesterday, John Giamatteo announced that he will be leaving in April to pursue another opportunity. John has built a great team here are Real and is completely supportive of the executive team going forward and will be working closely with all of us to ensure a smooth transition. Finally, I want to thank all of you for your contributions to RealNetworks. Our employees are our greatest asset and I humbly ask for your support and commitment to build our company into the great company we all know it can be.

Best to all,

Bob

REALNETWORKS’ FOUNDER ROB GLASER STEPS DOWN AS CEO

Company appoints Robert Kimball President and Acting CEO

SEATTLE–January 13, 2010 Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks, Inc., (Nasdaq: RNWK) announced today that founder Rob Glaser has stepped down as CEO. He will remain chairman of the board of directors of RealNetworks. The company also announced that its board of directors has appointed Robert Kimball president and acting chief executive officer. The board also appointed Mr. Kimball to the board of directors.

“After nearly 16 years, I’ve decided it’s time for me to step away from day-to-day operations,” said Glaser. “I’m grateful to all of our stakeholders–customers, partners, shareholders, and most of all, employees–for the support and commitment they’ve given to RealNetworks. I remain committed to the company and look forward to continuing to serve in my capacity as board chairman.”

In February 1994, Mr. Glaser founded what was then known as Progressive Networks, a pioneer in the field of digital audio and video technology for the Internet. Under his leadership, Real has grown into a multinational company, providing digital entertainment products and services to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world.

“Few people have changed an industry and created a unique experience for billions of people,” said Jonathan Klein, a board member of RealNetworks and the co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. “Rob has changed the face of digital entertainment with RealNetworks’ streaming media products. At the same time Rob has had a profound impact on politics and philanthropy. I’m sure he will continue to do this extraordinary work as well as spending time with his wife and young children. We are grateful for all he has done for the company, the industry and employees, and are pleased that he will continue to serve on the board.”

Bob Kimball joined the company in 1999 and has been a member of the senior executive team since 2003. He most recently served as general counsel and executive vice president of corporate development at Real. “In the decade he’s been at Real, Bob has proven to be an outstanding business executive and leader, and under his leadership the company won’t skip a beat,” said Mr. Glaser. “Our board has great confidence in Bob, and he will be a candidate for the permanent CEO position as part of a formal search process that will begin soon.”

“I look forward to the opportunity ahead,” said Mr. Kimball. “Real has a great team in place, a strong financial position, close customer relationships and fantastic products. We plan to transform Real into a more focused and more profitable company that delivers value to our shareholders.”

[Peter Kafka contributed to this report.]

What Hath Flip Wrought?–The Ghoul Edition

Kara Swisher — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:06:27 +0000

Earlier this week, BoomTown pointed out how Cisco (CSCO) Chairman and CEO John Chambers was captured doing duck calls on the Flip digital video camera, made by the start-up his company bought in March for $590 million.

That was an adorable use of the consumer electronics device. But in the not-so-cute department, I submit this photo above.

Sitting next to her boss, Barbara Walters, an ABC producer used it to ghoulishly take shots of the kids of pop legend Michael Jackson memorial service on Monday.

Noted the TMZ celebrity news site:

“During last night’s ’20/20′ Michael Jackson special, Walters showcased footage shot by an ABC producer sitting next to her at the memorial. The video captures Katherine Jackson and Michael’s kids two rows in front of Barbara watching the service–despite the fact that tickets to the event clearly state ‘no camera/video/recording.’”

While readers of this blog know I am all for annoying execs with the Flip treatment, pointing and shooting at what is essentially a funeral service, given how much video was available already of those kids (already being sadly overexposed, but that’s another issue): Yuk.

Here is a link on the TMZ of the video in use by Walters.

[Photo courtesy of Getty Images.]

Time Inc. and Getty Images Go Back to the Future With Life.com

Peter Kafka — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:38 +0000

Here’s refreshingly retro take for a Web site launching in 2009: One that only features photos. Lots and lots of really interesting photos.

Meet the new Life.com, a joint venture between Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc. and Getty Images that launches today.

This one doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. Time Inc. stopped publishing the legendary Life photo magazine in 2000. Now it’s trying to revive the brand online.

Last fall the company worked with Google (GOOG) to host a huge image catalog on the search engine; today it wants to drive traffic to its own site, where it will feature seven million photos at launch and promises to add 3,000 a day. Life.com is a 50/50 JV with Getty, which built the site, will run it out of Seattle and will be providing it with new, exclusive images; Time Inc.’s people will sell ads.

There are a couple bells and whistles in the works, like the ability to order up books of prints you see online. But compared to the dizzying, iPhone feel of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Wonderwall project, the site is almost stolid–in a good way. It just relies on arresting photos grouped into interesting categories.

Celebrities? Sure. And the site’s SEO-savvy editors are clever enough to feature a photo of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton at a Perez Hilton party on day one. But they’ve also given us “The World’s Weirdest Beards” and a collection featuring Cassius Clay in the early 1960s, before he changed his name to Muhammad Ali (see the photo at top right of the boxer and the Beatles during their 1964 trip to the U.S.).

Maybe I’m just a sucker for cool images, but this one sucks me in. I think the Time Inc. folks are onto something here: While Web publishers are quite sensibly trying to figure out how to handle audio and video, it’s worth remembering that photos are powerful, too, given the proper showcase.

My favorites so far? This odd collection of glamour shots of David Letterman, circa 1984. Click through for pensive Dave, undressing Dave and Miami Vice trucker hat Dave.