Reddit, from YC’s original batch in 2005, has recently hired startup investor Ellen Pao.  According to the announcement, the past few months have been a time of unprecedented growth for reddit.  Ms. Pao’s role at the company involves managing strategic partnerships that benefit the community.  She’s previously served as an advisor to reddit.

Sixty-one known companies funded by Y Combinator have exited through acquisition.  That’s 11% of the 564 total companies.  In my previous post, I stated the average lifespan of startups that get acquired is typically between 18 months to 24 months.  Below is a complete list of the name and age of all 61 YC companies […]

Apportable enables iOS apps to run on Android devices.  Apportable’s platform, along with available conversion services, allow apps to be cross-compiled without extensive changes to the original codebase written in either Objective-C or C++.  And not just simple apps.  Björk, the famous Icelandic musician and actress, recently relied on Apportable to bring the complete Björk Biophilia multimedia […]

Aaron Swartz, late hacker and Internet activist, has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.  The announcement of the 32 inductees for 2013 was made last week in both Washington, D.C. and Geneva, Switzerland.  When the ceremony is live streamed on August 3 in Berlin, Germany, Aaron Swartz will posthumously receive an honor also held […]

Y Combinator has added four new part-time partners, one new full-time partner, and a full-time partner is reducing his role to part-time.  That’s all according to a post on the official Y Combinator blog at Posthaven.  Three of these new advisors have previously founded YC-funded startups.  One of the new advisors is the first YC […]

Bitcoin reminds me both of the personal computer revolution and the mid-1990s Digital Revolution.  Both were moments in history that resulted in entirely new industries that changed how people do business and created new wealth in the process.  Bitcoin has recently shown signs of being a similarly disruptive innovation.

Coinbase, from YC S12, is a Bitcoin money transfer service.  Coinbase serves as a Bitcoin wallet, which is a personal virtual piggybank for saving, spending, and receiving Bitcoins.  Bitcoin is decentralized, not backed by any government, and presently lacks legal regulations or any form of deposit insurance like FDIC.  Therefore, choosing a reputable wallet provider is an important […]

Aaron Swartz, famed hacker and Internet activist, passed on at the age of 26 on Friday, January 11.  Hacker News has at least fifty discussion threads related to Aaron’s passing.  Aaron worked on Reddit in YC’s original batch in summer 2005.  He also co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification, created the original web.py framework for Python, and co-founded the online group Demand Progress.