Jared's Blog

In case you missed it...

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:04:32 -0400

We launched to the public this week! Here’s a little roundup:

GroupMe, Born At TechCrunch Disrupt, Secures Funding And Launches

Inception: A Hackday Dream (The Story Of GroupMe)

Freshly-Founded Startup GroupMe Raises $850k to Bring Group Chat to Mobile

Full House Theme Song!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:51:15 -0400

Full House Theme Song!

Inception: A Hackday Dream (The Story Of GroupMe)

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:53:49 -0400

Inception: A Hackday Dream (The Story Of GroupMe):

(via TechCrunch)

Several days before the TC Disrupt Hackathon in May, my fiancé started complaining about an email chain she was on. Her friends were coordinating a trip, and when it came time to mobilize, the chain broke down in real-time. Not everyone had a smartphone, some people experienced lag times between emails, etc. I thought there needed to be an easier way to communicate within groups in real-time. SMS seemed like the most intuitive option. I called up Steve Martocci (who I’ve used as a sounding board for years) who grew very excited by the idea. He slept on it and called me back the next day with what was potentially an 18 month product roadmap for what would eventually become GroupMe.

At its core, we were solving a very simple problem which was a pain point for both of us: how do we manage and stay in touch with our IRL groups of friends?

TechCrunch’s Hackathon was two days away. Steve, having won a hackathon at Gilt Groupe the previous month, was anxious to go strut his stuff at another one. We knew we could prove if the concept was viable in 24 hours. TCDH was the perfect opportunity. When we arrived we were greeted by Danielle Morrill from Twilio who was encouraging hackers to use their API. Our relationship with Twilio started that day and it’s blossomed ever since. We locked ourselves in a room with a seemingly endless supply of pizza and beer. 18 hours later we had a working prototype. We even secured an advertisement for half-priced bowling at Brooklyn Bowl for a Lost Season Finale party that night (it unfortunately broke down in our 90 second presentation)

The best part about the Hackathon was we started using our product Day 1. I went to Kinkos to print out business cards for the panelists and I stayed in touch with our group the entire time I was out. The product worked and we immediately found a useful application for it. I remember Steve and I walking the halls at 3 in the morning telling each other that if all went well we wouldn’t be working at Gilt and Tumblr the next week – this would be our full-time job. We were prepped to win the whole thing, present during TCD, and wow the world with the product.

Well, we didn’t win anything. I think we may have received some Top 10 honorable mention…but it didn’t quite work out as we anticipated.

Luckily, before we started building GroupMe we ran into Charlie O’Donnell of First Round Capital and told him we were going to solve group communications. He gave us an earnest smile and wished us luck.

During TCD proper, Steve’s high school friend and NYC entrepreneur, Edward Kim (simple.pr), started telling everyone about GroupMe (we showed it to all our friends after the Hackathon and they loved it – more importantly, within a matter of days they were using it religiously with their friends, families, co-workers, etc.). He was well connected in the NYC tech scene and started introducing people to Steve. Steve was so overwhelmed with requests for demos that his phone died. He found an empty table on Startup Alley, plugged into an outlet, and whipped out his computer and phone. He was stationed as if he were a contestant at TCD, and for the rest of TCD he had a continuous line of people requesting demos. That day we reconnected with Charlie through a friend – he immediately asked us to come into the First Round New York office and chat.

After TCD GroupMe snowballed. We both showed it to our bosses who encouraged us to pursue GroupMe full-time (John Maloney, Tumblr’s President, is actually an angel investor in GroupMe). For the next month we wound down our various roles at Gilt and Tumblr, started working on GroupMe full-time the first week of July, and raised a round of financing with some amazing people who really believe in the product. Funny story – at one point we saw Ron Conway roaming through the room at Hack Day but we were too busy building out GroupMe to even think about getting up. I remember a TC photographer came into our room and asked how our “hack” was different than all the others there. Steve looked at her in the eye and candidly replied, “We’re building a business.”

Since July, we’ve made some amazing full-time hires. Pat Nakajima and Brandon Keene (two ex-Pivotal Labs employees) are now cranking away, and Cameron Hunt (designer and iPhone dev of Birdhouse) moved out from Portland to join the team as well. We’re thrilled with everything that has happened so far. We’ve got an A+ team, a big vision, and a product that has already changed the way we communicate on a daily basis.

…and that’s how we turned a hack day idea into a full-time business.

*A big thank you to Dennis Kwon and Matt Ward for their help on hack day.

groupme: Some of team GroupMe throwing down the #’s. #Poundie...

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:12:52 -0400

groupme:

Some of team GroupMe throwing down the #’s. #Poundie represent.

The Gong Show: The IRL Social Graph

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:50:06 -0400

The Gong Show: The IRL Social Graph:

Here’s a question I’ve been tossing around for the past week: Which web service has the best representation of the In-Real-Life (IRL) social graph? Knowing who is *actually* friends with whom IRL (and not just accepting a friend request out of social guilt or apathy) would be a valuable data set…

Enter GroupMe. Persistent groups/communication for your IRL relationships (family, friends, activities), and one-off groups for temporal events.

GroupMe Twitter!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:08:16 -0400

GroupMe Twitter!:

groupme:

Make sure you’re following the official GroupMe Twitter account. All the cool kids are doing it!

Follow GroupMe's Tumblr. Proven to increase lifespan.

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:51:51 -0400

Follow GroupMe's Tumblr. Proven to increase lifespan.

What Don Draper’s Wall Street Journal Hedcut Would Look...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:59:48 -0400

What Don Draper’s Wall Street Journal Hedcut Would Look Like

(via moneyries, petervidani)

Steel Pulse - Bare Necessities

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:58:42 -0400

Steel Pulse - Bare Necessities

Amen. (via startupquote)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:59:45 -0400

Amen.

(via startupquote)

Buzz Off

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:14:21 -0400

One day, two bees are buzzing around what's left of a rose bush. 

"How's your summer been?" asks bee number one.
      
"Not too good," says bee two.  "Lotta rain, lotta cold. There aren't 
enough flowers, therefore not enough pollen."
      
The first bee has an idea. "Hey, why don't you go down to the corner and 
hang a left?  There's a bar mitzvah going on. Plenty of flowers and 
fruit."
      
Bee two buzzes, "Thanks!" and takes off. An hour later, the bees bump into 
each other again.
      
"How was the bar mitzvah?" asks the first bee.
      
"Great!" replies the second.
      
The first bee, however, notices a small circle on his friend's head, and 
inquires, "What's that on your head?"
      
"A yarmulke," is the answer. "I didn't want them to think I was a Wasp."

Polyphonic Spree - It’s The Sun

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:47:27 -0400

Polyphonic Spree - It’s The Sun

Gangstagrass feat. T.O.N.E-Z - Long Hard Times to Come

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:50:23 -0400

Gangstagrass feat. T.O.N.E-Z - Long Hard Times to Come

"We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this..."

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:01:18 -0400

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

- Steve Jobs

(via ranajune, naveen)

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:30:00 -0400

I started working at Tumblr the day after I graduated in May 2009. It’s been a remarkable year - I learned more than I did in four years of college, met brilliant and talented people, and was given an incredible opportunity doing business development at one of the hottest startups out there.

I’ve always had a proclivity to stray from the common path. Whether it was leading bands in high school, managing a digital and print publication throughout college, or running a music marketing and production company, entrepreneurship is in my blood. With a problem-solving idea, a brilliant co-founder, and a whole lot of luck, I’m off to launch my own startup (more news on that end coming soon, but for now visit http://GroupMe.com or go follow our Tumblr or Twitter).

I have a whole lot to be thankful for. For one, the whole Tumblr team has been wonderfully supportive. A big thank you to Jo hn Maloney who took a random chance on a college grad, showed him the ropes, and mentored me all the way through. Another big thank you to David and Marco who have been nothing but supportive and helpful over the past month. I’m also indebted to all those who have helped make this possible: my friends, co-workers, new acquaintances, family (who has encouraged and been with me through thick and thin), and Carrie - my better half who keeps me going everyday.

Stay tuned for updates on all things GroupMe - I’ll have a big post on that coming soon. Exciting times to come.

Lady Gaga - Telephone I saw Lady Gaga last night at MSG with...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:11:28 -0400

Lady Gaga - Telephone

I saw Lady Gaga last night at MSG with @wepdawg. For lack of better words, the show was brilliant. I’m a fan of the Gaga - she’s an amazing performer/artist and has balls of steel.

Jay-Z and Marvin Gaye - American Gangster

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:16:00 -0400

Jay-Z and Marvin Gaye - American Gangster

In case you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a...

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:08:56 -0400

In case you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a rockstar…

Photo

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:29:23 -0400

An AWESOME video of the cross country response to Landon...

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:44:21 -0400

An AWESOME video of the cross country response to Landon Donovan’s game winning goal against Algeria on Wednesday (6/23).

(via bsiscovick)