I'm curious about how Tumblr (tumblelogging) is different or -after some evolutionary work- can afford being different from Twitter (microblogging).
If you start adding features to one or the other the line starts to blur, for example... add trackbacks posting and blog scraps to Twitter and you get a tumblelog. Add a friends timeline to a tumblelog and it becomes a microblogging system like Twitter.
Also curious how does the VC manage his/her expertise so that no startup gets some sort of unfair advantage over the others, you know the fine little details that one of the startups gained through blood, sweat and tears could be a meme too easily contagious to be spread among the other startups in a portfolio.
As I see it from the distance, there must be a tension between the interests of the startups and the interests of the VCs who may want to do everything possible for *ALL* of the startups in their portfolio to succeed.
I'm cautiously skeptical in this regard, but I thought you might want to share some insight on this, I find rather important to the survival of a startup.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
I think the essence of twitter is the message routing system they have built and their api.
The esssence of tumblr is the simple, elegant, tool for self expression
My guess is they are more likely to work together than compete
But it's always possible that they could end up competing.
One thing we do is make sure we have different partners working with each company. Brad is the point person for Tumblr and I am the point person for Twitter, for example.
fred
vruz
· 2 years ago
sounds like a sensible approach, that's some good insight
thanks !
Steve Kane
· 2 years ago
i read andrews post but i'm still a little confused -- tumblr appears to make all your widgets into unnecessary bloat and clutter. but i thought you love your widgets. what am i missing?
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
The cool thing about tumblr is that it eliminates the need for the widgets because it pulls all of that content in as posts
fred
Joe Lazarus
· 2 years ago
i've been using tumblr for a few weeks and love it. another wise investment. you're slowly gobbling up pieces of all my favorite web apps. excited for the tumblr news on 11/1.
Greg
· 2 years ago
I trust you mean that it's unfortunate that the investment couldn't be announced in the way you would have liked and not that it's unfortunate that SEC filings are public (even though the former is obviously a consequence of the latter)?
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
yes, that's what i meant. i have no problem with public disclosures. in fact those filings are voluntary, not required.
JohnMaloney
· 2 years ago
I just posted similar sentiments on USV site - congrats to David Karp. David's an extremely bright guy and one of the best people I've ever worked with (@ UrbanBaby). Look forward to watching him drive and enhance Tumblr.
Fred333
· 2 years ago
Very cool. I had not heard about them before. I will have to check them out.
Michael Hoffman
· 2 years ago
What about comments? Are the comments here from disqus connected to the Tumblr blog? For me, the comments are one of your best assets.
Daniel Ha
· 2 years ago
There's some fun stuff happening with tumblr+disqus soon!
vruz
· 2 years ago
I agree, I learn lots from the comments and interaction here too.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
Yes, disqus is available through feedflare on tumblr
But unfortunately it's not working right now.
I think its a feedflare issue
fred
RacerRick
· 2 years ago
21 year old founder. That must have cinched it for you. If he was 35 - no deal.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
Our next deal the founder is >40
Open for business for founders of all ages!
vruz
· 2 years ago
you read paul graham, right ?
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
religously
Greg
· 2 years ago
Paul Graham is one of those people who I disagree with more often than agree (on the age things, the geography thing, the college-degree thing, etc.) and yet I always want to hear what he has to say.
vruz
· 2 years ago
I may disagree on many things with Paul Graham.
But the thing that really bugs me is the noodles.
gregshove
· 2 years ago
Fred, I like the idea of displaying the widget, not just the data..adds a visual element and allows me to scan someone's page and see quickly what they are into....like your blog. can tumblr give me both?
bijan
· 2 years ago
you can have widgets on tumblelogs. no problem. I have the flickr widget and lijit widget on mine. no problemo.
Adam Ostrow
· 2 years ago
My question is that as a VC, what "problem" did Tumblr convince you they are solving? And, with their tool being so simple and easy to duplicate, what is their competitive advantage? These seem to be the first things VCs have asked me whenever I've pitched an idea, and am wondering how a company as simple and in as crowded a space at Tumblr pitched it.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
tumblr didn't pitch us. they weren't a company. david karp built the service on the side when he was doing his davidville work and we started using the service and found it to be a superior blogging service than the ones we were using. so we suggested to david (bijan did) that he take a little money from us and form a company to focus on tumblr. it's almost identical to the way we found and invested in del.icio.us several years ago.
peteski
· 2 years ago
Thanks for turning me on to this. If someone without a blog asked me where to start - Tumblr would be my recommendation. I think if you already have blog that is word heavy and time intensive and more importantly low-traffic'd and underread - you may want to reconsider. I sign'd up even though I'm on blogger and wordpress.
I checked out Tumblr recently (http://danbuell.tumblr.com/) ... Bare bone features really when compared to a Vox, Blogger, Wordpress or Typepad, etc. No unique social features and GASP, lack of commenting? Simplistic style is refreshing but also limiting.
Mobile features are up to snuff but don't lead the pack... It's funny, having been a blogger since 1998 I can look at a new solution like Tublr and know in a very short period of time whether or not there's anything there...
Bottom Line: Experienced bloggers will try Tumblr and eventually abandon it as it does not have the audience reach or features they need. New bloggers my stumble upon it but if they shop at all will eventually graduate to a more enriched service (Vox is the best thing going) and the lazy bloggers who don't want a fully loaded blogging experience will be, well, lazy and ultimately drift away from it. Not sure how you can build a business model on that?
I'll keep my eyes on it to see how it progresses.
Mike
· 2 years ago
I tried Tumblr after I heard you talking about a while back. I really do like the "beautiful" interface and ease of use -- I'm someone who doesn't want to commit to a full fledge blog. But, there were some updates/fixes that I wanted to see for the service.
So, I started watching the Tumblr blog (http://blog.davidville.com/) for news that they would continue development. I must say that I was really disappointed and unimpressed with the fact that they didn't make a post to that blog for over 6 months -- a lifetime on the web. If you follow the comments of that last post you'll see that people were just looking for some sign of life, and there were a ton of other disappointed people as well. I ended up going with a typepad format (the next easiest format for me)
It is with mixed emotions that I find out they're actually still developing this service.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
That's why we funded tumblr. David was doing contract work for a living and had no time for tumblr
All Comments
If you start adding features to one or the other the line starts to blur, for example... add trackbacks posting and blog scraps to Twitter and you get a tumblelog.
Add a friends timeline to a tumblelog and it becomes a microblogging system like Twitter.
Also curious how does the VC manage his/her expertise so that no startup gets some sort of unfair advantage over the others, you know the fine little details that one of the startups gained through blood, sweat and tears could be a meme too easily contagious to be spread among the other startups in a portfolio.
As I see it from the distance, there must be a tension between the interests of the startups and the interests of the VCs who may want to do everything possible for *ALL* of the startups in their portfolio to succeed.
I'm cautiously skeptical in this regard, but I thought you might want to share some insight on this, I find rather important to the survival of a startup.
and their api.
The esssence of tumblr is the simple, elegant, tool for self expression
My guess is they are more likely to work together than compete
But it's always possible that they could end up competing.
One thing we do is make sure we have different partners working with each
company. Brad is the point person for Tumblr and I am the point person for
Twitter, for example.
fred
thanks !
because it pulls all of that content in as posts
fred
But unfortunately it's not working right now.
I think its a feedflare issue
fred
Open for business for founders of all ages!
But the thing that really bugs me is the noodles.
I sign'd up even though I'm on blogger and wordpress.
http://nevver.tumblr.com/
Mobile features are up to snuff but don't lead the pack... It's funny, having been a blogger since 1998 I can look at a new solution like Tublr and know in a very short period of time whether or not there's anything there...
Bottom Line: Experienced bloggers will try Tumblr and eventually abandon it as it does not have the audience reach or features they need. New bloggers my stumble upon it but if they shop at all will eventually graduate to a more enriched service (Vox is the best thing going) and the lazy bloggers who don't want a fully loaded blogging experience will be, well, lazy and ultimately drift away from it. Not sure how you can build a business model on that?
I'll keep my eyes on it to see how it progresses.
So, I started watching the Tumblr blog (http://blog.davidville.com/) for news that they would continue development. I must say that I was really disappointed and unimpressed with the fact that they didn't make a post to that blog for over 6 months -- a lifetime on the web. If you follow the comments of that last post you'll see that people were just looking for some sign of life, and there were a ton of other disappointed people as well. I ended up going with a typepad format (the next easiest format for me)
It is with mixed emotions that I find out they're actually still developing this service.
Now he is focused 100pcnt on it
Fred