This Week in Collaborative Fund
Our weekly update highlighting new products and jobs in our portfolio.
Launches & Product Updates
FOBO (formerly YardSale) launches on the iPhone as the easiest way to sell old electronics: http://tcrn.ch/1eXr3lk
Walker & Co. launches to build a Procter & Gamble for people of color: bloom.bg/1cs4Z3p
The Days asynchronous photo diary launches version 2.0 with easier discovery and sign-up: tcrn.ch/1d4EsIT
Grand St. will soon launch community profiles – reserve your username today! https://grandst.com/reserve
Skillcrush launches a new online course » Skillcrush 102: JavaScript, jQuery & APIs: http://bitly.com/LgDu2s
Awards & Honors
Neverware wins the UPS ‘Savings Side of Business’ GOOD Maker challenge: http://bitly.com/1dCloEv
Hopscotch wins the 2014 KAPi Award for Best Educational Technology: http://bitly.com/1eRhCGb
SAT Vocab by MindSnacks wins Best Secondary English Language Arts App of 2013: http://prn.to/LgDijS
Hampton Creek Foods and Lyft are highlighted by Forbes for their achievements in 2013: http://onforb.es/LraKET
FoxNews highlights Good Eggs as 1 of 5 most exciting food delivery services: http://fxn.ws/1hyT70K
Awesome
20 Kickstarter-funded projects are heading to the Sundance Film Festival: j.mp/1a7J3fp
Georgia Tech study finds marketing language plays major role in the success of Kickstarter projects: http://b.gatech.edu/1awhpUb
Teacher and author Wesley Fryer has written an eBook of Hopscotch challenges for students to complete: http://amzn.to/1awNEpo
BuzzFeed and IBM collaborate on a list of the 10 coolest things happening in Silicon Alley, featuring Hopscotch, Kickstarter and Maker’s Row! http://bzfd.it/1jbxKWh
Upstart now has a professional tennis player, a competitive swimmer, and a professional racecar driver on the platform.
Press & Interviews
Hampton Creek Foods in Forbes India – Making the Egg Obsolete: http://bitly.com/1eRfr5t
Upstart in Fast Company – Upstart offers venture capital for humans, not just the companies they’ll start: http://j.mp/1cqF1ZS
AltSchool in Fast Company – “How a former Google exec is reinventing elementary education.” http://bitly.com/K0PoN7
Fortune interviews Courtney Holt, COO of Maker Studios: http://bitly.com/1hyQJHc
Zach Sims, CEO of Codecademy, on gaining respect and making good hires: http://on.wsj.com/1awKDoY
Would you rather chew cinnamon or plastic? Learn why Simply Gum created the first 100% all natural gum: http://t.co/AOoP0UJlmt
Naval Ravikant, co-founder of AngelList, on how to find and attract the right hires to your startup: http://on.wsj.com/1df9MB5
UpCounsel in Business Insider Australia – How UpCounsel helps anyone get a lawyer: http://bitly.com/Lr6TrF
Quarterly on WSJ – “New ways to give yourself a gift every month.” http://on.wsj.com/199TQF9
Collaborations
Getaround strikes a deal to offer discounted leases for Smart Cars listed on its rental platform: http://u.getaround.com/smart/
Maker Studios and Warner Bros. will co-produce a comedy created and written by ‘Friends’ producers: http://j.mp/1dRnr2p
Walgreens taps TaskRabbit to deliver cold medicine to shut-ins: http://on.mash.to/1aDi1a1
Maker’s Row and Cotton Incorporated partner to bring back Made in the USA: http://j.mp/1djKiWJ
Gumroad creators can now use Zapier to automate with hundreds of web services: http://j.mp/JeWXAf
Growth
Balanced grew 784% in 2013 and is now processing $370M a year: http://tcrn.ch/1gW8uzq
Nathan Barry has made $355,759 self-publishing his books through Gumroad: http://t.co/Oo3k5HP7gB
Hundreds of Skillshare teachers earned five or six-figure incomes in 2013: http://t.co/1a6pixFAKW
The Kickstarter community pledged over 1,000,000 every day in 2013: http://bitly.com/1dYBoeQ
Maker Studios hires former AOL executive Rene Rechtman to lead international operations: http://bitly.com/1hyRsZ7
Codecademy surpasses 24 million unique users for its free online coding courses: http://t.co/AlZ5EsLVaV
Reddit in 2013, by the numbers: 56 billion page views, 731 million unique visitors, and over 40 million posts: http://bitly.com/1dtsDcr
Progress Report
Sebastien Park on how Quarterly has become a platform for empowering creative entrepreneurs: http://j.mp/1at0o05
Alberto Escarlate on how kids begin building their online reputation through gaming: http://j.mp/1do0yac
Kanyi Maqubela on why convenience isn’t enough for on-demand service companies: http://j.mp/Kbc1i1
Craig Shapiro on celebrating strong roots and the story of our Limited Partner Chris Cerf: j.mp/1aIAvWI
Ryan Jacoby on building products from insight: http://j.mp/1gdSSHC
Portfolio Job Opportunities
Gumroad is hiring a Data Scientist in San Francisco: gumroad.com/jobs
Quarterly is hiring a Director of Buying and a Curator Talent Manager in Los Angeles: quarterly.co/careers
Maker Studios is hiring an Art Director in Los Angeles: makerstudios.com/careers
MindSnacks is hiring a Senior Game Engineer in San Francisco: mindsnacks.com/careers
Skillshare is hiring a Full-Stack Marketer (Growth) in New York: skillshare.recruiterbox.com/jobs
MakeSpace is hiring a Brand Ambassador and a Customer Happiness Agent in New York: makespace.com/jobs
AltSchool is hiring a Curriculum Director in San Francisco: http://bitly.com/1eHcJx3
Kickstarter is hiring a VP of Operations/Finance in New York: kickstarter.com/jobs
Neverware is hiring a National Sales Executive in New York: neverware.com/careers.php