Fresh funding and more departures at Quirky, the New York startup that burned through $150 million | ||
| | ||
Quirky, the New York City startup with the goal of "making invention accessible," is close to closing a new round of funding, even as more employees leave. CEO Ben Kaufman told Business Insider in April that he planned on raising more money, and that close is "just days away," Fortune's Dan Primack and Stacey Higginbotham report. The funding comes at a crucial time for the company, which has had an incredibly tumultuous year. In the past seven months it gone through multiple rounds of lay-offs, burned through tens of millions of dollars, and discovered that its founding business model broke at scale. Now, Business Insider has learned, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, has left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab, and Quirky appears to have shut down the San Francisco office where he was based. We also heard from a former employee that Quirky's "Internet of Things" subsidiary Wink was almost sold, but the would-be buyer backed out after a major malfunction of Wink's products in April. (Quirky did not initially respond to a call and multiple emails for this story. If they do, we'll update it.) A recap of how things went wrongWhen Kaufman founded Quirky in 2009, it allowed ordinary people to become inventors by submitting ideas that Quirky would turn into real products and sell at stores like Target, Staples, and Bed Bath & Beyond. As the company grew, it started accepting more complex product ideas, which not only cost more to manufacture, but often sold far fewer units than its simpler, cheaper items. Meanwhile, the company created a subsidiary "Internet of Things" business called Wink, which it launched after striking a deal with General Electric in 2013. The partnership gave Wink access to old GE patents and it was an impressive vote of confidence from a major company in a young startup. But Wink's first product launches in 2014 were far from smooth. Disappointment is rife in forum posts about various software products and Gizmodo ran an extremely harsh review of the Wink system earlier this year. Wink's financials were such that in February, Quirky decided to hire bankers to help it either sell Wink or raise new outside investment. "There’s a point where it doesn’t make sense for one unprofitable startup to keep funding another unprofitable startup," Kaufman told Fortune. As that process got started, Quirky decided to scale back in a few ways. It had a round of layoffs (which, compounded with cuts in November and December, amounted to more 20% of the company), decided to stop making so many products, and shut down its ecommerce site. A new initiative, called Powered By Quirky, would align the startup with major brands like Mattell and headphone maker Harmin and help those corporations figure out new products to launch. Quirky itself would only manufacture products in three categories: "connected home," "electronics," and "appliances." That process was "moving along," Kaufman told Fortune, but then disaster struck.
In May, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab. In early June, sources told Business Insider that Quirky had laid off between 20 and 30 more employees. Several former Quirky employees tell Business Insider that the remaining people in Quirky's San Francisco office either followed Heintz to Flextronics, started working at Wink, or lost their jobs. Kaufman declined to comment at the time of that report (and Quirky hasn't answered Business Insider's phone calls or emails for this story), but three former employees say that the office also sold all of its machine equipment, like 3D printers and a plastic injection molding machine, to Flextronics. What's next?Selling off that machinery would make sense, because Kaufman tells Fortune that Quirky will stop making any of its own products at all. It's looking for Powered By Quirky partners for the "electronics" category it had decided to stick with in February. As for the "appliance" category, Quirky announced in March that it would start making smart appliances through a partnership with Amazon, but Kaufman says that a formal announcement will come about that soon, given its decision to stop manufacturing. Kaufman also told Fortune said that Wink is now "closing in" on a round of outside funding, separate from the funding that Quirky is raising. Both rounds will have new lead investors — Quirky has previously raised $185 million from GE, Andreessen Horowitz, Keiner Perkins, Caufield, RRE Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners. "The Powered by Quirky business is going really well, but we’ve definitely shifted some things around and had to say goodbye to some great people who had been here for a long time," Kaufman tells Fortune. "The investors we’ve been talking to about the new round know about what we’re doing, and are excited by it." So far, the company hasn't announced to the inventor community whether any of their product ideas have been picked up by Powered by Quirky partners In a blog post today, a Quirky community manager wrote that the team is "hustling out there pitching new business leads," and that it's holding an internal workshop with Mattel brand Little People. READ OUR MORE IN-DEPTH PIECE ON THE COMPANY: How a quirky 28-year-old plowed through $150 million and almost destroyed his start-up Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
In April, the company had to do an expensive nationwide recall of its Wink products because of This startup's engineers bond by cooking extravagant breakfasts for each other | ||
| | ||
Team bonding activities are a staple at any startup. For engineers at Thrillist Media Group, the New York-based ecommerce and content site started by Ben Lerer and Adam Rich in 2004, team bonding comes with a healthy serving of bacon and eggs. They call it a "Techfast." One morning each month, the tech team comes together to cook a big, potluck-style breakfast. "In this industry — and city — it's easy to have team bonding happy hours, but it's a challenge to find team activities that don't center around alcohol and can include people who don't want to give up time outside of work," Annie Trombatore, Thrillist's VP of Product, said to Business Insider. Techfasts became a tradition by accident. A few years ago, the product team went out for drinks after launching a big new project that had kept them in the office late. "While deep in 'celebration,' some of the guys volunteered to make everyone breakfast the next day," Trombatore said. "No one believed them, but lo and behold, a portable griddle and literally pounds of assorted breakfast meats showed up." The team meal was such a success that they decided to do it on a more regular basis. Now it has become such an event that most of Thrillist's 350-person staff attends. "I think the first time we opened it up to other departments was pretty memorable," Trombatore said. "They just didn't realize how seriously we took it, which was fun to see."
Each Techfast follows a theme, from a "Christmas in July" celebration with hot cocoa and Christmas tunes to a St. Patrick's Day party where green pancakes are served. The adorable Neptune, a golden doodle who spends his days at the Thrillist offices, is usually the star of the party. He even has his own title: Lead Pawgrammer. At last year's Halloween party, held a little bit later in the day, pumpkins were hollowed out for drinking games. For June's Techfast, the team went all out on the luau theme, making a palm tree-shaped tower of donuts and distributing leis to attendees.
"We try to make it as easy as possible for people to be involved, so while some people are more adventurous and choose to scour Pinterest and tackle some crazy, on-theme, frosted masterpiece, others simply reference the shared doc of needed supplies and pick something up on the way to work," Trombatore said.
"It's really amazing to work in a place where we can have such fun inside the office walls," Trombatore said. Neptune definitely had a good time, too.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: A California Startup Has Finally Made The World's First Working Hoverboard  | ||
| |
Cereal was served from beach buckets, and people could help themselves to fancy tropical drinks.
How a 'fake' Craigslist ad from Apple led Brit Morin to her fabulous career | ||
| | ||
In only three and a half years, Brit Morin went from a Google employee to a bona fide Silicon Valley “it” girl. Last week, she announced that her startup, Brit & Co, raised $20 million in funding. Her home/fashion/crafts site, which combines a blog with e-commerce and online learning, is now serving 12 million people a month. Serendipity: Apple recruits on Craigslist?Morin's stellar career really started when she answered what she thought was a phony ad from Apple on Craigslist, she told us.
But she answered it anyway. And it was real. She got the interview, and then the internship and then went on to work for Apple in the iTunes unit in 2006. (By the way, we just checked and didn't see any more ads for interns for Apple on Craigslist.) She wasn't at Apple long, not even a year, before she was hired away by Google to work on Google Maps and Google Search. That's where she met and worked with Mayer. She was recruited internally to join the YouTube unit and, later, worked on Google TV. All of that made her realize: "This generation of millennials really looks up to people more than it looks up to brands. That was evident by all the YouTube celebrities during my time at Google, as it was on Twitter and blogger platforms and so on," she said. This insight would become a big deal a few months later. 'Obsessed' with TechShopDuring her nearly four years at Google, a few things happened to Morin that would change the course of her life. She caught the entrepreneur bug and decided she wanted to start her own company. She got married, and took a few months off from Google to plan an elaborate wedding, have the ceremony, go on a honeymoon.
Before her wedding, "I was actually close to starting a company in the health and fitness space. I even had a co-founder," she told us. "After I got married and came back from my honeymoon, we were going to start fund raising. We had built an alpha version of the app and everything at that point," Morin says. "While I was working on my new health and fitness company and I was preparing for my wedding and it just so happened that the first-ever TechShop opened in San Francisco. It’s like a gym for making things. You pay $100 a month and you have access to all these types of machines ranging from wafer cutters to 3D printers," she describes. "It opened in 2011 and I was one of the first members. I think I literally spent every day there. I thought it was like a hobby of mine, like, 'Oh this is cool, I have this new hobby, I can just like make things.' Then I became obsessed with it," she describes. She says she didn't know how to use all the tools in the shop, but her background in tech – albeit software – made it fairly easy for her learn. She was making decorations her wedding, as well as a bunch of other stuff. "So I got married and at the wedding, the women were coming up to me and raving about how cool all of my decorations were. They kept telling me they wished they were creative, that they weren’t creative. I started getting that more and more, after I would show more people the stuff I made outside of my wedding," she says. "I came back from my honeymoon thinking how wrong this was. What happened from that time when we were all three-year-olds who loved to color and build LEGOs, to the time when we’re 25 or 30 years and we’re really insecure about our creative skills?" she adds. Breaking up is hard to doSomething in her gut told her that the company she really wanted to build would be all about helping people find their lost creativity. "I ended up breaking up with my co-founder of the health company. I told her it wasn’t her, it was me," Morin tells us. It was a painful time. "We were friends. It was hard. We could have gone out and raised a good seed round and I could be a CEO of a health company at this point. But following my intuition and my gut was the lesson I learned," she says.
Having quit her job at Google, she set up shop in her dining room and launched a website that catered to women with do-it-yourself projects. "I was by myself for a month or two, pretending I was a big media company, trying to create a lot of content. Ultimately my next hires were an engineer and another editor, an artist to help create content," she recalls. That first year was a struggle,"as every startup kind of struggles through that first year of what are we going to be? How are we going to hire people that want to take a risk on a three person startup?" So how did she convince people? "Being very convincing ... and equity packages," she jokes.
She didn't recruit through Craigslist, but "we recruited a lot of engineers through AngelList and sold them on the long-term opportunity," she says. She explained this was a tech company that would sit between an ad-supported media company and the $34 billion crafts market dominated by stores like Michael's and Joanne’s and Hobby Lobby. The unique thing she was bringing to the table: online education to teach "maker wannabes" how to make stuff, complete with "kits" that included everything they needed to take the class. Eventually, she wanted to help them sell the stuff they made, too. "I was convincing VCs and employees: This is a real thing that’s happening. Please trust me. Get on the board when the wave is coming, I promise you it's going to hit," she says. Raised eyebrows
Today, the "maker" thing is a bona fide trend, complete with an annual Maker Faire at the White House, which launched last year. And Morin is considered one of the female leaders of the trend. The 2015 faire is taking place this week starting Friday. As part of that launch Morin did fireside chat with White House CTO Megan Smith. $20 million more and an acquisitionMorin is frequently called the "next Martha Stewart" or "Martha Stewart 2.0" and the two do know each other. Morin has appeared on Stewart's radio show, they see each other at social events and their companies generally run in the same circles.
With the new $20 million investment, Morin made also her first acquisition for an undisclosed amount: SnapGuide, a free iOS app and web service that allows users to create and share step-by-step "how-to guides." SnapGuide has amassed 100,000 of these guides, everything from recipes to make-up tips to techie-projects to automotive hacks. Brit & Co has raised $27.6 to date. Beyond Marissa Meyer, her investors include Jim Fielding, head of Consumer Products and Retail at DreamWorks Animation; Intel Capital; DMGT (the corporate arm of the Daily Mail media company); VC Fred Harman at Oak Investment Partners, (Demand Media. Huffington Post, aQuantive) and other big names. Morin has achieved fast successIn under four years, Brit & Co has become a phenom and she's become a personality regularly appearing on the Today Show. Her site now hosts about 15 classes with plans to host between 60 and 70 by year's end. Classes include kits of all the materials you need and so far, Brit & Co has sold a combined 15,000 classes and kits. Brit & Co has 12 million visitors a month, between its website, email lists and social media channels. It has about 100 advertisers, with a 74 percent retention rate, Morin tells us. Although she wouldn't share a revenue number, we're told that the "company is doing millions in revenue annually" and in the first half of 2015, hit its revenue grew two times over the year what it was in the first half of 2014. Brit + Co currently now has 50 employees, 70% of which are women, including much of the company's leadership team.
SEE ALSO: How this 28-year-old turned a website he built when he was 12 into a media empire Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How Elon Musk can tell if job applicants are lying about their experience  | ||
| |
"I started at Apple with an internship. I saw an ad on Craigslist. I didn’t think Apple would ever advertise on Craigslist, so I didn’t even think it was real," she tells us.
And she became "obsessed with" this new workshop club called TechShop.
In the meantime, "I also had to start from scratch. I didn’t even know what this thing was I wanted to go do, I just knew it was a problem and I wanted to go figure it out."
But having gone through her own creative rebirth, she truly believed the whole "maker" trend, was about to take off.
"The challenge for me in the early days was getting people to believe me. A lot of people would totally raise their eyebrows when I said I wanted to start a company that was a hybrid of DYI and tech. No one understood how those things go together. Now it’s really clear."
In fact, Morin just added Susan Lyne to the Brit & Co board. Lyne was previously a CEO at Martha Stewart's company and was later CEO at Gilt Groupe. Today she runs AOL's BBG Ventures, a fund focused on women-led tech startups.
Apple has finally given the people making Watch apps the freedom to make them awesome | ||
| | ||
Last month, my colleague Steve Kovach made the argument that the biggest thing holding the Apple Watch back from its full potential is exactly what makes the iPhone so great — the apps. Now, after using an Apple Watch for the past week, I too can attest to how underwhelming its apps are. Very few are any more compelling than their iPhone counterparts, and they’re all terribly slow to load and connect to the internet. But Watch apps will get much better this fall, when Apple allows developers to release native versions for the device. That means that apps will load and operate off of the Apple Watch directly instead of running off of a paired iPhone via Bluetooth. Reliance on the iPhone is the main thing that's held back the Apple Watch, and once the iPhone takes a backseat, the Watch is going to be way more powerful. Earlier this week, Apple unveiled watchOS 2, the first major software update for the Apple Watch. There are a number of big changes in the next version of the operating system, like new watch faces, a “Time Travel” mode that lets you visually go back or forward in time to see things like past events or the weather forecast, and a “Nightstand” mode for charging the Watch while you sleep. But App Store developers say that the biggest change is that their apps can now run directly on the device and access features like the heart rate sensor and Digital Crown, Apple's small dial that's used to control some aspects of the Watch’s interface.
Now Apple Watch apps can access WiFi networks without having to be tethered to the iPhone. So an app like Citymapper would be able to get transit directions without needing an iPhone’s cellular connection. Apple is allowing third-party “complications” on the watch face, which means that a sports app could show your favorite team’s score next to the time. Right now, only information from Apple's own apps can be shown on the clockface. “I think we’re going to see a lot of cool apps coming out that people wouldn’t have made,” Joe Binney, vice president of engineering for the stock trading app Robinhood, told BI. “It’s going to prompt people to start using apps on the Watch a lot more.” Apple Watch apps will get much faster when they're loaded directly on to the device. Load times for opening apps will be reduced from around five seconds to less than a second, according to developers we spoke to.
At the media event where Apple announced the Watch’s new software, Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, told the crowd that apps on the Watch will “change peoples' lives." That may be the case one day, but many developers still need to find good reasons to put their apps on our wrists. Now that Apple has given them the tools needed to make Watch apps that don’t constantly depend on the iPhone, developers are optimistic about what they can do on the platform. For Jeremy Olsen, who runs the app company Tapity, the Apple Watch’s upgraded software is a new opportunity to make compelling software. “It could be that game changing moment when apps really become useful." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The new Pebble is out — here's how it stacks up to the Apple Watch  | ||
| |
It’s a watershed moment for Apple’s wearable and the first step in it “becoming a standalone platform,” 
11 apps that will make you smarter | ||
| | ||
In fact, there are ways your phone might actually be good for you. We've compiled a list of apps to boost your brainpower, hone your memory, and even improve your emotional intelligence. The science of how exactly our brains work — and how much we can train them — is constantly evolving, but one thing's for sure: there's no better way to get smarter while waiting in line at the grocery store. Whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, there's something here for you. This is an update of an article originally written by Dylan Love. Duolingo Combining reading, writing, listening, and speaking exercises for maximum progress in minimal time, Duolingo is a free (and beautiful) app designed to help you learn one of 13 languages. And you don't have to be traveling any time soon to reap the potential benefits: research suggests that becoming multilingual boosts your cognitive power. Moreover, the process of learning a new language — whether or not you ever become fluent in it — may actually help you delay cognitive decline in old age. Longform Longform sifts through the web and delivers the best in-depth journalism to your mobile device. Not only will reading teach you about discreet topics — mandatory drug sentencing, the early work of Alanis Morissette, SpaceX — but it may also increase the raw power of your mind. Regular reading helps keep your brain sharp as you age, boosts your vocabulary, enhances your memory, and improves your analytical thinking. Also, it will make you more interesting at parties. Price: Free Kindle With the Kindle app, you can systematically work your way through all of literature on your morning commute. Almost any book you can think of is available for purchase, but you can also download anything that's out of copyright (i.e., most of the Western canon) for free. We already know that reading is generally good for you, but recent research suggests that immersing yourself in a novel boosts emotional intelligence and increases your capacity for empathy. Price: Free Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
| |
Despite the constant hand-wringing that smartphones will lead to the downfall of society, there's mounting evidence that your phone habit A 19-year old Latvian prospect is blowing away NBA people in workouts, and some think he could be the best player in the draft | ||
| | ||
With the 2015 NBA Draft less than two weeks away, one of the most mysterious prospects is making a name for himself. 19-year-old Latvian player Kristaps Porzingis, considered one of the top prospects in the draft, held his first US workout in Las Vegas on Friday, and impressed a gym packed full of team officials. At 6'11", Porzingis has the height of a center, but is long, wiry, and nimble, almost in the mold of Kevin Durant. He can shoot three-pointers, take the ball of the dribble, and can block shots on defense. He showed a glimpse of his skills at the workout, leaving one scout raving about him: DraftExpress posted a video of Porzingis' workout, where he showed off some of his versatile skills:
ESPN's Chad Ford similarly raved about Porzingis' skill, saying he might be the second-best prospect in the entire draft, and could give Karl-Anthony Towns a challenge for best prospect: "In Porzingis' case, I think there's enough evidence of his play in Sevilla to safely say that the things I love about him (his shooting ability and his athleticism) will come through in the NBA. If Porzingis were playing at Duke or Kansas, I think he would be the toughest competition for Towns for the No. 1 overall pick. I really believe [Philadelphia 76ers GM] Sam Hinkie may pull the trigger on Porzingis at No. 3." In experts' mock drafts, Porzingis has been going anywhere from third in the draft to eighth. For all of his potential, he still has his imperfections. His slight frame may be a problem in the NBA. In addition, he needs to get stronger, develop his post game, and according to DraftExpress, draw contact and react more quickly to in-game situations. The NBA world rushes to compare seven-foot European players who can shoot to Dirk Nowitzki, but in fairly recent history, there's a track record of such players not living up to nearly to that comparison. Andrea Bargnani came into the league as a mobile seven-footer who could spread the floor and block shots. Nearly 10 years into his career, Bargnani, the 2006 No. 1 overall pick, is known for being injury-prone, poor on defense, and has only shot above 35% from three four times in his career. Jan Vesely, the No. 5 overall pick in 2012, was also listed as an athletic seven-footer, but is now out of the league entirely. That's not to say Porzingis can't reach his potential or will end up a bust like Bargnani and Vesely, but the NBA is wary of players like Porzingis. While he's blowing away people in open drafts, he still has to face NBA competition, where his size may become a disadvantage for now. All of this makes Porzingis somewhat of a mystery. Some teams may be scared to use a top pick on him, and if that's the case, one lucky team could end up with one of the most intriguing players in the draft. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how Cristiano Ronaldo spends his money  | ||
| |
These are the most dominant athletes in every sport | ||
| | ||
| Produced by Jacqui Frank. Special thanks to Scott Davis. Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Here's the disturbing way the dinosaur sounds in Jurassic Park were made | ||
| | ||
I remember exactly where I was when I first watched Jurassic Park — hiding behind a couch at my dad's friend's house, hands covering my ears to muffle the terrifying sound of dinosaur yelps and roars spewing from his surround-sound speakers. Had I known what I was actually listening to, I might have been far more terrified — and traumatized. Those sounds, it turns out, are bonafide recordings of real animals. But they're engaged in an activity you might not expect for a 1993 PG-13 film: having sex. The film's sound designer, Gary Rydstrom, spent months recording and fine-tuning these sounds, he told Kyle Buchanan over at Vulture. "If people knew where the sounds in Jurassic Park came from, it'd be rated R!" Rydstrom says. In the film, each dinosaur species has a distinct set of sounds. Some are R-rated, others are a bit more mild, but still surprisingly strange. Here's how they made the most iconic dinosaur sounds: Barking Velociraptors The strange, bark-like sounds that the film's raptors use to communicate is actually the sound of tortoises having sex. Really. "It's somewhat embarrassing," Rydstrom told Vulture. Stampede of Gallimimus I still can't forget the feeling of my adrenaline racing as I listened to a stampede of screeching creatures as they chased doctors Grant and Satler (played by Sam Neil and Laura Dern) through the forest. In reality, though, the high-pitched squawking sounds those little guys make are terrifying for an altogether different reason: They're actually the sound of a female horse squealing at a male horse when he got "a little too close" and she got excited, Rydstrom said, Magical Brachiosaurus Remember the magical moment in the movie where doctors Grant and Satler are captivated by the sound of the slow-moving, long-necked Brachiosaurus as it chomps on its leafy lunch in the forest? Get ready to be disappointed. That enchanting moment comes courtesy of a pretty non-magical creature: the donkey. "You think of donkeys, and they kind of yodel, you know? There's this pitch shift in donkey vocals, and if you slow them way down, you get almost a hooting, songlike quality," Rydstrom told Vulture. As it turns out, slowing down small-animal noises is how Rydstrom gets a lot of his bigger-sounding animal roars. Terrifying T-Rex As I remember it, the Tyrannosaurus rex was the star of the film — it's biggest, scariest character. Yet the majority of its sounds came from none other than Rydstrom's own pet, a petite Jack Russell terrier named Buster. It's characteristic roar, on the other hand, is actually the sound of a baby elephant. Dying Triceratops The triceratops sounds were from dozens of cows from George Lucas' film site, Skywalker Ranch, where Rydstrom works. As for the unforgettable sound of the dying triceratops, though, Rydstrom turned to a simple, homemade device: a cardboard tube with a spring in it. "When Sam Neill puts his ear right up to the chest cavity of the triceratops and listens to its breathing, there's a lot of cow in there, but the key element of the breathing is mostly me breathing into a tube," Rydstrom told Vulture. UP NEXT: Scientist has a bedbug breakthrough after subjecting herself to 180,000 bites SEE ALSO: The frightening true story of the Florida sinkhole that swallowed Jeffrey Bush Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 amazing science facts that sound false but are actually true  | ||
| |
Fresh funding and more departures at Quirky, the New York startup that burned through $150 million | ||
| | ||
Quirky, the New York City startup with the goal of "making invention accessible," is close to closing a new round of funding, even as more employees leave. CEO Ben Kaufman told Business Insider in April that he planned on raising more money, and that close is "just days away," Fortune's Dan Primack and Stacey Higginbotham report. The funding comes at a crucial time for the company, which has had an incredibly tumultuous year. In the past seven months it gone through multiple rounds of lay-offs, burned through tens of millions of dollars, and discovered that its founding business model broke at scale. Now, Business Insider has learned, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, has left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab, and Quirky appears to have shut down the San Francisco office where he was based. We also heard from a former employee that Quirky's "Internet of Things" subsidiary Wink was almost sold, but the would-be buyer backed out after a major malfunction of Wink's products in April. (Quirky did not initially respond to a call and multiple emails for this story. If they do, we'll update it.) A recap of how things went wrongWhen Kaufman founded Quirky in 2009, it allowed ordinary people to become inventors by submitting ideas that Quirky would turn into real products and sell at stores like Target, Staples, and Bed Bath & Beyond. As the company grew, it started accepting more complex product ideas, which not only cost more to manufacture, but often sold far fewer units than its simpler, cheaper items. Meanwhile, the company created a subsidiary "Internet of Things" business called Wink, which it launched after striking a deal with General Electric in 2013. The partnership gave Wink access to old GE patents and it was an impressive vote of confidence from a major company in a young startup. But Wink's first product launches in 2014 were far from smooth. Disappointment is rife in forum posts about various software products and Gizmodo ran an extremely harsh review of the Wink system earlier this year. Wink's financials were such that in February, Quirky decided to hire bankers to help it either sell Wink or raise new outside investment. "There’s a point where it doesn’t make sense for one unprofitable startup to keep funding another unprofitable startup," Kaufman told Fortune. As that process got started, Quirky decided to scale back in a few ways. It had a round of layoffs (which, compounded with cuts in November and December, amounted to more 20% of the company), decided to stop making so many products, and shut down its ecommerce site. A new initiative, called Powered By Quirky, would align the startup with major brands like Mattell and headphone maker Harmin and help those corporations figure out new products to launch. Quirky itself would only manufacture products in three categories: "connected home," "electronics," and "appliances." That process was "moving along," Kaufman told Fortune, but then disaster struck.
In May, Quirky's chief technology officer, Steven Heintz, left the company to work at Bay Area-based Flextronics Invention Lab. In early June, sources told Business Insider that Quirky had laid off between 20 and 30 more employees. Several former Quirky employees tell Business Insider that the remaining people in Quirky's San Francisco office either followed Heintz to Flextronics, started working at Wink, or lost their jobs. Kaufman declined to comment at the time of that report (and Quirky hasn't answered Business Insider's phone calls or emails for this story), but three former employees say that the office also sold all of its machine equipment, like 3D printers and a plastic injection molding machine, to Flextronics. What's next?Selling off that machinery would make sense, because Kaufman tells Fortune that Quirky will stop making any of its own products at all. It's looking for Powered By Quirky partners for the "electronics" category it had decided to stick with in February. As for the "appliance" category, Quirky announced in March that it would start making smart appliances through a partnership with Amazon, but Kaufman says that a formal announcement will come about that soon, given its decision to stop manufacturing. Kaufman also told Fortune said that Wink is now "closing in" on a round of outside funding, separate from the funding that Quirky is raising. Both rounds will have new lead investors — Quirky has previously raised $185 million from GE, Andreessen Horowitz, Keiner Perkins, Caufield, RRE Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners. "The Powered by Quirky business is going really well, but we’ve definitely shifted some things around and had to say goodbye to some great people who had been here for a long time," Kaufman tells Fortune. "The investors we’ve been talking to about the new round know about what we’re doing, and are excited by it." So far, the company hasn't announced to the inventor community whether any of their product ideas have been picked up by Powered by Quirky partners In a blog post today, a Quirky community manager wrote that the team is "hustling out there pitching new business leads," and that it's holding an internal workshop with Mattel brand Little People. READ OUR MORE IN-DEPTH PIECE ON THE COMPANY: How a quirky 28-year-old plowed through $150 million and almost destroyed his start-up Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
Bang and bling for Kurdish pop diva's anti-IS anthem | ||
| | ||
Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - High heels, fatigues and gold rifle-shaped rings -- singer Helly Luv's blend of bang and bling has made her the most popular cheerleader for the Iraqi Kurds' war against jihadists. She visits peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State group, which overran a third of Iraq last year, and says she filmed her latest music video in Al-Khazr, not far from the jihadists' lines. "I want to give something to the peshmerga because I consider myself one of them," the 26-year-old singer told AFP in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil. "I wore peshmerga clothes in the song to support them." Her latest music video, for a song titled "Revolution," opens with a peshmerga fighter looking at a picture of himself with a young boy, presumably his son, as shelling and gunfire are heard in the background. He tucks the photo inside his helmet and goes to fight. The video then moves to a quiet village where children play and people sit drinking tea, but it soon comes under fire from black-clad militants driving armoured vehicles like those captured from Iraqi security forces, including a tank. A child screams and residents flee, but Helly Luv -- wearing golden high heels with a white and red scarf covering her face -- strides the other way to dramatic music, unfurling a banner before the tank that reads "STOP THE VIOLENCE." She sings and dances next to a car with "END WAR" spray painted on its side, but footage that includes peshmerga forces counterattacking and lyrics such as "We gon' keep on fighting" make clear she means the violence will stop once IS is defeated. The music video hits on many themes that the peshmerga have sought to emphasise since the anti-IS conflict began last June, showing them as the brave, secular defenders of the innocent threatened by jihadist brutality. To hammer home the coexistence message, people march in the video carrying banners with peace messages in various languages and an array of religious symbols, including the Jewish star of David and the Buddhist wheel.
- 'Kurdish Shakira' -
The video and English lyrics are over the top and sometimes cringe-worthy, but also apparently popular, garnering 700,000 views on YouTube barely two weeks after its release. "The song is called 'Revolution' and I call in it for Kurdistan and the countries of the world to unite to fight terrorism and injustice," Helly Luv said. "I want to show the world who the peshmerga forces are, and who Daesh is," she said, using an Arabic acronym that the jihadist group deems derogatory. Peshmerga officer Nawzad Saleh, said that in the days when the peshmerga were mountain-based rebel fighters, singers sang songs encouraging them to fight. "Now the Kurdish singers have begun singing for the peshmerga in other languages, and this is a beautiful step and will result in the world knowing more about who the peshmerga are," he said. Peshmerga fighter Abdulrahman Ahmed agreed, saying such songs will encourage "the international community to sympathise and cooperate with us more, and support us with weapons to continue fighting these terrorists and eliminate them once and for all." According to her online biography, Helly Luv was born Helan Abdulla in Iran in 1988 and her grandfather fought for the peshmerga. Her family had fled Saddam Hussein's rule and she grew up mainly in Finland before flying to Los Angeles when she turned 18 to pursue a career in music. With plenty of hip-swinging and hair-swishing, the rock-chick style of the "Kurdish Shakira" is in stark contrast with the sombre and pious "nasheeds" -- both for and against IS -- that have blossomed on social media over the past year. When the jihadist group took over swathes of Iraq in June 2014 and subsequently attacked the peshmerga, many in the West held up the Kurds as the moral and military flagship of the world's fightback against IS. Of filming in Al-Khazr, Helly Luv said: "There were some who warned me against going there, but I insisted that filming be in real places affected by Daesh terrorism." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
This startup's engineers bond by cooking extravagant breakfasts for each other | ||
| | ||
Team bonding activities are a staple at any startup. For engineers at Thrillist Media Group, the New York-based ecommerce and content site started by Ben Lerer and Adam Rich in 2004, team bonding comes with a healthy serving of bacon and eggs. They call it a "Techfast." One morning each month, the tech team comes together to cook a big, potluck-style breakfast. "In this industry — and city — it's easy to have team bonding happy hours, but it's a challenge to find team activities that don't center around alcohol and can include people who don't want to give up time outside of work," Annie Trombatore, Thrillist's VP of Product, said to Business Insider. Techfasts became a tradition by accident. A few years ago, the product team went out for drinks after launching a big new project that had kept them in the office late. "While deep in 'celebration,' some of the guys volunteered to make everyone breakfast the next day," Trombatore said. "No one believed them, but lo and behold, a portable griddle and literally pounds of assorted breakfast meats showed up." The team meal was such a success that they decided to do it on a more regular basis. Now it has become such an event that most of Thrillist's 350-person staff attends. "I think the first time we opened it up to other departments was pretty memorable," Trombatore said. "They just didn't realize how seriously we took it, which was fun to see."
Each Techfast follows a theme, from a "Christmas in July" celebration with hot cocoa and Christmas tunes to a St. Patrick's Day party where green pancakes are served. The adorable Neptune, a golden doodle who spends his days at the Thrillist offices, is usually the star of the party. He even has his own title: Lead Pawgrammer. At last year's Halloween party, held a little bit later in the day, pumpkins were hollowed out for drinking games. For June's Techfast, the team went all out on the luau theme, making a palm tree-shaped tower of donuts and distributing leis to attendees.
"We try to make it as easy as possible for people to be involved, so while some people are more adventurous and choose to scour Pinterest and tackle some crazy, on-theme, frosted masterpiece, others simply reference the shared doc of needed supplies and pick something up on the way to work," Trombatore said.
"It's really amazing to work in a place where we can have such fun inside the office walls," Trombatore said. Neptune definitely had a good time, too.
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: A California Startup Has Finally Made The World's First Working Hoverboard  | ||
| |
How a 'fake' Craigslist ad from Apple led Brit Morin to her fabulous career | ||
| | ||
In only three and a half years, Brit Morin went from a Google employee to a bona fide Silicon Valley “it” girl. Last week, she announced that her startup, Brit & Co, raised $20 million in funding. Her home/fashion/crafts site, which combines a blog with e-commerce and online learning, is now serving 12 million people a month. Serendipity: Apple recruits on Craigslist?Morin's stellar career really started when she answered what she thought was a phony ad from Apple on Craigslist, she told us.
But she answered it anyway. And it was real. She got the interview, and then the internship and then went on to work for Apple in the iTunes unit in 2006. (By the way, we just checked and didn't see any more ads for interns for Apple on Craigslist.) She wasn't at Apple long, not even a year, before she was hired away by Google to work on Google Maps and Google Search. That's where she met and worked with Mayer. She was recruited internally to join the YouTube unit and, later, worked on Google TV. All of that made her realize: "This generation of millennials really looks up to people more than it looks up to brands. That was evident by all the YouTube celebrities during my time at Google, as it was on Twitter and blogger platforms and so on," she said. This insight would become a big deal a few months later. 'Obsessed' with TechShopDuring her nearly four years at Google, a few things happened to Morin that would change the course of her life. She caught the entrepreneur bug and decided she wanted to start her own company. She got married, and took a few months off from Google to plan an elaborate wedding, have the ceremony, go on a honeymoon.
Before her wedding, "I was actually close to starting a company in the health and fitness space. I even had a co-founder," she told us. "After I got married and came back from my honeymoon, we were going to start fund raising. We had built an alpha version of the app and everything at that point," Morin says. "While I was working on my new health and fitness company and I was preparing for my wedding and it just so happened that the first-ever TechShop opened in San Francisco. It’s like a gym for making things. You pay $100 a month and you have access to all these types of machines ranging from wafer cutters to 3D printers," she describes. "It opened in 2011 and I was one of the first members. I think I literally spent every day there. I thought it was like a hobby of mine, like, 'Oh this is cool, I have this new hobby, I can just like make things.' Then I became obsessed with it," she describes. She says she didn't know how to use all the tools in the shop, but her background in tech – albeit software – made it fairly easy for her learn. She was making decorations her wedding, as well as a bunch of other stuff. "So I got married and at the wedding, the women were coming up to me and raving about how cool all of my decorations were. They kept telling me they wished they were creative, that they weren’t creative. I started getting that more and more, after I would show more people the stuff I made outside of my wedding," she says. "I came back from my honeymoon thinking how wrong this was. What happened from that time when we were all three-year-olds who loved to color and build LEGOs, to the time when we’re 25 or 30 years and we’re really insecure about our creative skills?" she adds. Breaking up is hard to doSomething in her gut told her that the company she really wanted to build would be all about helping people find their lost creativity. "I ended up breaking up with my co-founder of the health company. I told her it wasn’t her, it was me," Morin tells us. It was a painful time. "We were friends. It was hard. We could have gone out and raised a good seed round and I could be a CEO of a health company at this point. But following my intuition and my gut was the lesson I learned," she says.
Having quit her job at Google, she set up shop in her dining room and launched a website that catered to women with do-it-yourself projects. "I was by myself for a month or two, pretending I was a big media company, trying to create a lot of content. Ultimately my next hires were an engineer and another editor, an artist to help create content," she recalls. That first year was a struggle,"as every startup kind of struggles through that first year of what are we going to be? How are we going to hire people that want to take a risk on a three person startup?" So how did she convince people? "Being very convincing ... and equity packages," she jokes.
She didn't recruit through Craigslist, but "we recruited a lot of engineers through AngelList and sold them on the long-term opportunity," she says. She explained this was a tech company that would sit between an ad-supported media company and the $34 billion crafts market dominated by stores like Michael's and Joanne’s and Hobby Lobby. The unique thing she was bringing to the table: online education to teach "maker wannabes" how to make stuff, complete with "kits" that included everything they needed to take the class. Eventually, she wanted to help them sell the stuff they made, too. "I was convincing VCs and employees: This is a real thing that’s happening. Please trust me. Get on the board when the wave is coming, I promise you it's going to hit," she says. Raised eyebrows
Today, the "maker" thing is a bona fide trend, complete with an annual Maker Faire at the White House, which launched last year. And Morin is considered one of the female leaders of the trend. The 2015 faire is taking place this week starting Friday. As part of that launch Morin did fireside chat with White House CTO Megan Smith. $20 million more and an acquisitionMorin is frequently called the "next Martha Stewart" or "Martha Stewart 2.0" and the two do know each other. Morin has appeared on Stewart's radio show, they see each other at social events and their companies generally run in the same circles.
With the new $20 million investment, Morin made also her first acquisition for an undisclosed amount: SnapGuide, a free iOS app and web service that allows users to create and share step-by-step "how-to guides." SnapGuide has amassed 100,000 of these guides, everything from recipes to make-up tips to techie-projects to automotive hacks. Brit & Co has raised $27.6 to date. Beyond Marissa Meyer, her investors include Jim Fielding, head of Consumer Products and Retail at DreamWorks Animation; Intel Capital; DMGT (the corporate arm of the Daily Mail media company); VC Fred Harman at Oak Investment Partners, (Demand Media. Huffington Post, aQuantive) and other big names. Morin has achieved fast successIn under four years, Brit & Co has become a phenom and she's become a personality regularly appearing on the Today Show. Her site now hosts about 15 classes with plans to host between 60 and 70 by year's end. Classes include kits of all the materials you need and so far, Brit & Co has sold a combined 15,000 classes and kits. Brit & Co has 12 million visitors a month, between its website, email lists and social media channels. It has about 100 advertisers, with a 74 percent retention rate, Morin tells us. Although she wouldn't share a revenue number, we're told that the "company is doing millions in revenue annually" and in the first half of 2015, hit its revenue grew two times over the year what it was in the first half of 2014. Brit + Co currently now has 50 employees, 70% of which are women, including much of the company's leadership team.
SEE ALSO: How this 28-year-old turned a website he built when he was 12 into a media empire Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How Elon Musk can tell if job applicants are lying about their experience  | ||
| |
11 apps that will make you smarter | ||
| | ||
In fact, there are ways your phone might actually be good for you. We've compiled a list of apps to boost your brainpower, hone your memory, and even improve your emotional intelligence. The science of how exactly our brains work — and how much we can train them — is constantly evolving, but one thing's for sure: there's no better way to get smarter while waiting in line at the grocery store. Whether you use an iPhone or an Android phone, there's something here for you. This is an update of an article originally written by Dylan Love. Duolingo Combining reading, writing, listening, and speaking exercises for maximum progress in minimal time, Duolingo is a free (and beautiful) app designed to help you learn one of 13 languages. And you don't have to be traveling any time soon to reap the potential benefits: research suggests that becoming multilingual boosts your cognitive power. Moreover, the process of learning a new language — whether or not you ever become fluent in it — may actually help you delay cognitive decline in old age. Longform Longform sifts through the web and delivers the best in-depth journalism to your mobile device. Not only will reading teach you about discreet topics — mandatory drug sentencing, the early work of Alanis Morissette, SpaceX — but it may also increase the raw power of your mind. Regular reading helps keep your brain sharp as you age, boosts your vocabulary, enhances your memory, and improves your analytical thinking. Also, it will make you more interesting at parties. Price: Free Kindle With the Kindle app, you can systematically work your way through all of literature on your morning commute. Almost any book you can think of is available for purchase, but you can also download anything that's out of copyright (i.e., most of the Western canon) for free. We already know that reading is generally good for you, but recent research suggests that immersing yourself in a novel boosts emotional intelligence and increases your capacity for empathy. Price: Free Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
| |
Apple has finally given the people making Watch apps the freedom to make them awesome | ||
| | ||
Last month, my colleague Steve Kovach made the argument that the biggest thing holding the Apple Watch back from its full potential is exactly what makes the iPhone so great — the apps. Now, after using an Apple Watch for the past week, I too can attest to how underwhelming its apps are. Very few are any more compelling than their iPhone counterparts, and they’re all terribly slow to load and connect to the internet. But Watch apps will get much better this fall, when Apple allows developers to release native versions for the device. That means that apps will load and operate off of the Apple Watch directly instead of running off of a paired iPhone via Bluetooth. Reliance on the iPhone is the main thing that's held back the Apple Watch, and once the iPhone takes a backseat, the Watch is going to be way more powerful. Earlier this week, Apple unveiled watchOS 2, the first major software update for the Apple Watch. There are a number of big changes in the next version of the operating system, like new watch faces, a “Time Travel” mode that lets you visually go back or forward in time to see things like past events or the weather forecast, and a “Nightstand” mode for charging the Watch while you sleep. But App Store developers say that the biggest change is that their apps can now run directly on the device and access features like the heart rate sensor and Digital Crown, Apple's small dial that's used to control some aspects of the Watch’s interface.
Now Apple Watch apps can access WiFi networks without having to be tethered to the iPhone. So an app like Citymapper would be able to get transit directions without needing an iPhone’s cellular connection. Apple is allowing third-party “complications” on the watch face, which means that a sports app could show your favorite team’s score next to the time. Right now, only information from Apple's own apps can be shown on the clockface. “I think we’re going to see a lot of cool apps coming out that people wouldn’t have made,” Joe Binney, vice president of engineering for the stock trading app Robinhood, told BI. “It’s going to prompt people to start using apps on the Watch a lot more.” Apple Watch apps will get much faster when they're loaded directly on to the device. Load times for opening apps will be reduced from around five seconds to less than a second, according to developers we spoke to.
At the media event where Apple announced the Watch’s new software, Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, told the crowd that apps on the Watch will “change peoples' lives." That may be the case one day, but many developers still need to find good reasons to put their apps on our wrists. Now that Apple has given them the tools needed to make Watch apps that don’t constantly depend on the iPhone, developers are optimistic about what they can do on the platform. For Jeremy Olsen, who runs the app company Tapity, the Apple Watch’s upgraded software is a new opportunity to make compelling software. “It could be that game changing moment when apps really become useful." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The new Pebble is out — here's how it stacks up to the Apple Watch  | ||
| |
The civil rights leader pretending to be black is under investigation over what she put on a job application | ||
| | ||
Rachel Dolezal, 37, serves as chair of Spokane's independent police ombudsman commission, and identified herself as white, African-American and Native American when applying for the job, City Council President Ben Stuckart said in an interview on Friday. Dolezal is also president of the Spokane chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. The city probe was opened after local media questioned Dolezal's racial identity, Stuckart said. The questions came after Dolezal filed police complaints of racial discrimination, most recently that she received hate mail. "We are gathering facts, looking at city code, to determine if any city policies in relation to boards or commissions were violated," Stuckart said. Spokane's Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that Dolezal's birth certificate shows her born to a white Montana couple, who say they are of European and Native American descent. Dolezal did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. But she told Spokane's KREM2 television on Thursday: "If I was asked I would definitely say yes, I do consider myself to be black." "There's a lot of complexities ... and I don't know that everyone would understand that," the Spokesman-Reviewnewspaper quoted her as saying, also on Thursday. "We're all from the African continent." The Montana couple who identified themselves to U.S. media as Dolezal's biological parents said they have lost touch with her. They say she has over the years showed an interest in diversity and black culture, especially after the couple adopted black children.
Lawrence Dolezal did not respond to requests for comment. The NAACP said in a statement in response to the controversy that racial identity was not a qualifying criteria for NAACP leadership and that it "stands behind Ms. Dolezal's advocacy record." "NAACP Spokane Washington Branch President Rachel Dolezal is enduring a legal issue with her family, and we respect her privacy in this matter," the NAACP said. Dolezal holds a master's degree from historically black Howard University and is a professor in the Africana Studies Program at Eastern Washington University, according to a biography on the university website. The university said in a statement it does not publicly discuss personnel issues and would not comment on her personal life. Debate over Dolezal's actions raged over social media, with National Football League player Benjamin Watsonwriting: "Bout time we answer the question. "What is black?" Or any other so called "race" for that matter." Curator and activist DeRay Mckesson tweeted: "The elasticity and boldness of whiteness never ceases to amaze me." And Jon Ronson, an author, tweeted: "Feeling incredibly sorry for #RachelDolezal and hope she's okay. The world knows very little about her, her motives." (Editing by Richard Chang and Eric Beech) Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
| |
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A prominent leader of the African-American community in 
"We are her birth parents and we do not understand why she feels it's necessary to misrepresent her ethnicity," Standoff after shots fired at Dallas police HQ | ||
| | ||
Washington (AFP) - At least one shooter opened fire on the Dallas police headquarters Saturday, resulting in a car chase and standoff, while explosives were found at the station, the force said. Witnesses reported that between one and four suspects carried out the shooting attack. At least one suspect then fled in what appeared to be an armored vehicle to a nearby suburb, where the van was cornered by officers, Police Chief David Brown told reporters.
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Relaxed Rory McIlroy ready for US Open challenge | ||
| | ||
Paris (AFP) - Rory McIlory gets acquainted with Chambers Bay golf course on Saturday ahead of next week's US Open confident that some time away from the game will have done him a power of good. The world number one won the Wells Fargo tournament in Charlotte in mid-May on the back of a superb 61 in the third round. But oddly he followed that up by returning to Europe and enduring back-to-back missed cuts at the BMW PGA Championship and at the Irish Open on home turf. His antidote for those blips in his recent form was to take a break. "I didn't touch a golf club last week. I had played five weeks in a row, and mentally, I was ready to have a little break," McIlroy said at the PGA Championship media day at Whistling Straits where he stopped off en route for the Pacific Northwest and the year's second major. "I just got away from it, did some other things I enjoy, got back to Florida on Sunday and started to practice. "Gearing up for the second major of the year, and my game is feeling in really great shape and I feel like I can have another summer not too dissimilar to last year. The reference to last year concerned McIlroy's back-to-back major wins at the British Open and the PGA Championship, taking his haul of major titles to four at the age of 25 (he is now 26). A win at Chambers Bay on June 21 would put him level with the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Phil Mickelson and Byron Nelson on the all-time list and would further fuel the debate over whether he can chase down the top two - Tiger Woods with 14 and Jack Nicklaus with 18. McIlroy, however, refuses to get drawn into any predictions "I've won four. I'd love to win a fifth, and hopefully when I do win a fifth, I'd love to win a sixth. I don't want to put any sort of burden on myself of giving myself a number," he said. "If I set myself a target, and I don't get there, but I still have one of the best careers of all time, does that mean I'm a failure?" - unknown territory -
More to the point, he insists, is how best to play Chambers Bay, south of Seattle which is hosting the US Open for the first time and is something of a mystery for most of the 156-strong field, McIlroy included. "It's a bit of an unknown for everyone. From what I've heard, it's going to be sort of different," he said. "At the end of the day, I'm competing against the same players I've been able to beat before. Hopefully, I get there again." After the US Open, McIlroy is playing two courses he knows well for majors, with the British Open headed to St. Andrews and the PGA at Whistling Straits. He will be the defending champion at both "They were courses I played well on, course I had fond memories of," he said. "Maybe you put a little bit more pressure on yourself for those, but over the course of the season, I build myself up for those four big ones. I feel like I still have three good chances to add to my major tally." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
