8 posts and columns on Peter Fenton

Exclusive: Twitter’s VP Engineering Mike Abbott Departs

in News on October 13, 2011 at 5:49 pm PT

According to sources close to the situation, Twitter VP of Engineering Mike Abbott has left the company. He is apparently interested in doing more investing.
michael_abbot-378x285

The Men and No Women of Web 2.0 Boards (BoomTown's Talking to You: Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare)

in News on December 21, 2010 at 2:44 pm PT

Simply put: The five top Web 2.0 superstar companies have no women on their board of directors. As in zero.

Q: Why No Twitter Board Seat for Kleiner's John Doerr? A: His Google Board Seat (Plus, Is the Star VC Looking at Spotify and Groupon Next?)

in News on December 16, 2010 at 5:14 am PT

Star venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins paid $150 million for a stake in Twitter and all he didn’t get was a board seat. That’s due to another directorship he has at search giant Google. Maybe Doerr will get one at Spotify or Groupon, where he could be investing next.

Exclusive: Silicon Valley Go-To Guy Peter Currie Joining Twitter Board

in News on December 1, 2010 at 3:53 am PT

According to sources close to the situation, well-known Silicon Valley power player Peter Currie is joining the board of directors of Twitter. It’s an interesting choice to bring the well-regarded moneyman to the microblogging start-up, and could indicate an intent to push to an IPO eventually. With much hot start-up experience, Currie is also suited to helping Twitter sort through its current funding round.
picture-2091

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

in News on April 15, 2010 at 4:13 am PT

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 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.

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

in News on April 14, 2010 at 8:21 am PT

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

Another One Bites the Dust at Yahoo: Chief Technologist Sam Pullara Departs for Benchmark

in News on March 19, 2010 at 11:15 am PT

Yahoo Chief Technologist Sam Pullara is leaving the company to become an Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark Capital. BoomTown inquired about the departure earlier in the week and got a call from Yahoo PR today confirming the move. He’s the second major exec to leave Yahoo for greener pastures in a week. The company’s head of North American Revenue, Joanne Bradford, quit Monday to take a top job at social media start-up Demand Media.

Facebook's Matt Cohler to Benchmark

in News on June 19, 2008 at 10:29 am PT

In a move BoomTown is still trying to noodle over, longtime Facebook exec Matt Cohler (pictured here) will be leaving the social networking site to become a general partner at Benchmark Capital. Cohler, who is currently Facebook’s VP of Product Management, was one of its earliest hires and, as I wrote once, seemed to me like “the Yoda figure at Facebook to me.” He will not leave the prominent social networking company for the venture capital firm until the fall, though. And, after he goes, Cohler will remain as a “special advisor” to Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and senior management.