Author Archive: Amanda Coolong
Its tagline is “enlightened debauchery.” Its been called what would happen, “if TED and Burning Man had a lovechild that went to MIT and became an artist.” Its curator, Doug Campbell, is a Tuxedo Tyrant, a founder of Syyn Labs, and a purveyor of social good. It’s called Mindshare, and it’s taking downtown LA by storm.
Mobile social discovery is all the rage as evidenced by the early success of apps like Banjo, which achieved an astounding 500,000 downloads in its first six months alone.
Apparently the momentum is continuing. Earlier this week, Banjo announced it doubled its users in the last three months. For those of you who don’t do math, that’s one million people using Banjo in just nine months since launch.
It’s often referred to as Spring Break for Geeks, and for good reason. I’m talking, of course, about South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin’s annual film and music festival that in recent years added an interactive component. It’s the place where geeks go to cut loose, share their knowledge, test new concepts and network like crazy.
Mike Jones may be known for his most recent role as CEO of MySpace, but this Internet entrepreneur is no stranger to the startup world. He’s had multiple exits (his company Userplane sold to AOL for nearly $40 million and Tsavo Media drew a cool $75 million from Cyberplex) and also advises private startups
























