AllThingsD » Mike Hirshland

Some Twits Chirp From Twitter Conference: @Ev, @Biz and More!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:13:38 +0000

Here’s a video BoomTown did yesterday at the Twitter Chirp conference, where a lot of noise was made about a lot of things.

Like: Twitter has a Google (GOOG) Android app; Twitter has a link shortener; Twitter does more searches than you think; Twitter has 105.8 million registered users and is adding 300,000 a day; Twitter users write 55 million posts a day; Twitter is being archived at the Library of Congress.

Also more blah-blah-blah on geolocation, metadata called Annotations and, of course, @anywhere, which is essentially Facebook Connect for Twitter.

And–oh, yes–making money. That.

Apparently, according to the execs in attendance, I will have to stop making fun of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone’s name, calling him things like: No-Biz-Here Stone, Ain’t-Nobody’s-Biz-Ness-If-We-Don’t-Have-a-Business-Plan Stone and Biz Stone-Cold-Profits.

Now, given that the San Francisco microblogging service is introducing a number of advertising-related efforts in a quest to make some bank, I will have to change the name to Hey-Zuckerberg-We-Have-a-Biz-Too Stone.

Or, given some of the tensions with third-party developers over Twitter moving into their space in core development areas: Pardon-Us-While-We-Stomp-on-Your-Biz Stone.

In fact, that issue was the main focus of a panel I moderated yesterday afternoon at Twitter’s Chirp, titled “Investing in the Ecosystem.”

My dudes-only panelists included Polaris Ventures’ Mike Hirshland, Venrock’s David Pakman, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, and Benchmark Capital’s Peter Fenton.

Mostly, they took my guff about the state of the Twitterverse, in what turned out to be a lively discussion.

While yesterday was all talk, from COO Dick Costolo (who mistakenly thinks he is as funny as I am), Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams, Stone and others, Chirp today is 24-hour hackathon.

Here’s a video I did of interviews with a wide range of Twitter staff, investors and advisers–and blogger Robert Scoble, of course, who is as inevitable at an event like this as air:

[ See post to watch video ]

What Shall BoomTown Ask the Twits–Oops, I Mean Twitter-Loving VCs–at Chirp Today?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:21:08 +0000

Later today at Twitter’s Chirp conference in San Francisco, BoomTown is moderating a panel titled “Investing in the Ecosystem.”

Or as I like to call it, “How Do You VCs Come Up With Those Crazy Valuations: Magic 8 Ball? Ouiji Board? Darts?”

I have a choice group of dudes–of course, they are all dudes–for the panel, all of whom have invested in a range of start-ups, including Twitter.

They include: Polaris Ventures’ Mike Hirshland, Venrock’s David Pakman, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, and Benchmark Capital’s Peter Fenton.

Presumably, the group of venture capitalists will give the audience the 411 on what goes into finding, feeding and nurturing the many innovative start-ups that populate the Twitterverse.

That is, until you actually try to compete with Twitter or make some dough without its sanction, wherein all the nice Whos-down-in-Whoville sweetness of the folks who run Twitter turns into the backroom at the Bada Bing with Tony Soprano and the boys.

(You can see Twitter COO Dick Costolo here, in fact, giving us his best Don Corleone in this video interview with MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka.)

The tensions of late between Twitter and the many third-party developers circling it are perhaps going to add some frisson to the two-day event at the Palace of Fine Arts, which costs $469 to attend. Twitter also just announced its advertising platform plan.

The first day is all talk, from Costolo, Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams, co-founder Biz Stone and others. The second day is 24-hour hackathon.

For those not there, Twitter will be streaming the event live with the help of Justin.tv.

And, of course, there will be tweets–lots and lots of tweets.

[Sticker image courtesy of Zazzle.com]

The Flip (Camera) Is Flipped!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 07:05:22 +0000

Mike Hirshland of Boston-based Polaris Venture Partners recently turned his Flip video camera on me in a desperate attempt to become a video artist like, well, me.

He fails miserably, of course, to reach my levels of jittery and nausea-inducing shooting, by sticking the camera in my face and asking me what I think of the, surprise, online video business.

Tables turned, I embrace the opportunity and blather on.

He posted it on his VCMike’s Blog here, but you can see the video below:

And here is me interviewing Hirshland in July about blogs, social networking–and, of course, the hot-and-hyped Facebook–and some video-content plays:

[ See post to watch video ]

A Talk With VCMike

Kara Swisher — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:20:24 +0000

Mike Hirshland of Boston-based Polaris Venture Partners was in San Francisco recently, and so I had a little chat with him, part of my ongoing series: Meet the VCs, so you can fight or flee when you see them at parties.

I met Hirshland when he was working in Congress on tech issues such as the Microsoft antitrust case, but he moved onto Intel and then venture investing and now focuses on funding companies, well, that Microsoft might be interested in buying. He also has a blog with a pretty good name: VCMike’s Blog.

Here’s the video where he talks about the consumer market, where Hirshland likes blogs, social networking–and, of course, the hot-and-hyped Facebook–and some video-content plays:

[ See post to watch video ]