About

* I started this blog in 1998.

* I am an investor at Yes VC investing in early stage companies, and formerly a Founder Partner at Founder Collective. I have made investments in Etsy, Cloudera, Blue Bottle Coffee, Kickstarter, Hipcamp, Lovevery and dozens of other startups.

* I am the host of the podcast Should this Exist? which has repeatedly been the #1 Tech Podcast on Apple Podcasts

* I am the co-founder of Hunch.com, which created a “taste graph” for the internet
* I am a homeschooling mother

* I am a great lover of literature

* I serve on the board of the Sundance Institute and McSweeneys and have served on the board of several other non-profits including Creative Commons and the U.C. Berkeley School of Information

* I served as Director and Chairman of the Board for Etsy
* I am the co-founder of Flickr, almost certainly the best photo management and sharing application in the world

42 thoughts on “About”

  1. Pingback: Entrepreneurs As The New Asset Class « Rightways's Blog
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  4. Dear Caterina,

    I am contacting you from Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau (just outside of NYC in NJ). For over 30 years, our speakers bureau has provided keynote speakers for clients holding conferences, lecture series, and business meetings.

    I’m curious to know if you do speaking engagements–if so, I would love to talk with you.

    Thank you so much.

    Best,
    Sheldon Senek
    Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau
    1-800-345-5607

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  6. Dear Caterina,

    I’m writing on behalf of the Biennial of the Americas, an international forum taking place in Denver this July, co-chaired by Gov. John Hickenlooper and Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global.

    We would like to invite you to participate in a session at the Biennial and I’m looking for the appropriate email address to send this invitation. Please feel free to email me back with this information, if you are interested in receiving an invitation.

    Thanks for your time,

    Lila Creighton
    Programming Coordinator
    Biennial of the Americas

    biennialoftheamericas.org

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  7. Hi Caterina,

    I’m taking a shot in the dark here! My name is Ashley and I am the Founder of KeepMii: Where Families Connect Memories Forever.

    We are a BC based team working on our MVP, funded and recruiting Advisory Board members.

    Without going into too much detail on this site, I am wondering if there is a chance for us to connect over email to discuss our vision, team, story and the possibility of helping a BC startup with a kick-ass product.

    Thank you for your time!

    Ashley
    keepmii.com

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  8. Hi Caterina, I’m trying to contact you with an interview request for a magazine. I have no email address for you though, so I can’t connect with you on LinkedIn. Please get in touch, thanks.

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  10. Hello, Caterina:

    I ran across Findery at SXSW and am interested in the possibilities that augmented reality can present to communities.

    The Reynolds Journalism Institute is all about strengthening communities through independent, diligent journalism and service.

    Most news media are community oriented … there are about 8,000 newspapers in America, most of them weeklies, and most of them tightly integrated into their communities. We’re not talking national media such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox, CNN or CNBC, Huffington Post or ProPublica (though we work with all of them).

    The news industry has begun working with AR, perhaps most notably Aurasma. I see that as a “transition” use of the technology. Google Glass, of course, is getting a lot of attention. But you come at it quite a bit differently. We’d like to hear and learn more about it.

    RJI is assembling an RJI Tech Day on Wednesday, May 1 here in Columbia, Missouri at the Missouri School of Journalism (the world’s first and, many say, best journalism school). The morning will be a showcase of some of the student innovation here. The luncheon presentation will be a showcase of some of the latest technological gadgets that could be utilized by journalists. We’d like the afternoon to include presentations (and-or panel) of what’s happening or on the horizon in AR, especially as it might or could resonate with local news organizations, be they legacy print or the growing universe of digital born local news and service operations.

    How might local news organizations (or individuals) use or partner with Findery or its technology, to provide useful and meaningful insights and service to the community? How might a news organization use or partner with Findery to strengthen the sense of community? How might you envision your technology as a partner with local news organizations? We would like you to join us May 1 to share your vision, your ideas and to explore how Findery might work its way into the fabric of community and the local journalism that serves community.

    My contact info is below. I hope we can chat soon about the possibility.

    Brian Steffens | Director of Communications
    Donald W. Reynolds Institute
    301 RJI, Missouri School of Journalism
    Columbia, MO 65211 | 573.882.8251

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  11. hi Caterina i am riccardo writing you from rome i am working to an e-commerce social network and i am looking for investors i’d love to explain you what is concerning about here my e mail r.rainoni@yahoo.it

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  12. Hi Caterina ,

    This is Amy Tripp, I’m a segment booker for Money For Lunch radio talk show.
    My producer asked me to contact you about having you as a guest on our program and to talk about Hunch.com

    If you’re interested in being one of our guest, we would like to know ASAP.
    As soon as I get confirmation back from you, I will be sending you instructions in preparation to be on the show.

    Thanks.

    Best Regards,

    Amy Tripp
    Segment Booker
    Money For Lunch Talk Show
    Mon – Friday from 12-1pm CST
    Connect With Us
    Facebook
    Twitter
    MoneyForLunch.com
    Wikipedia.org

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  15. Hello

    I am an entrepreneur myself and would like to see the findery community grow as I understand where you guys are coming from. But this is a slow and steady kind of community. But you need to sustain the interest of people. So what can you do? Simple.
    Pleople write about stories from their places and memories. Not many others may be inerested in a standalone piece of those and the ones writing may not be encouraged sufficiently. So what can we do? Simple.
    Organise novel writing and even movie making contests etc. whatever content people upload can form part of a bigger story and ppl will be excited to think their content may form the part sometime.
    .

    good luck
    Utkarsj

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  16. Hi Caterina,

    I am a television show host, reporter, producer and comedienne. Right now I am developing a new dynamic and engaging docu-style reality series about luxury living in South Africa. It is going to be an informative and comical journey through the unparalleled terrain of South Africa. My team and I will showcase unique products and services that highlight fabulous experiences for a luxurious lifestyle!
    I know that you have a broad range of interests and you invest in diverse industries. I would like to get more information about what you do, so we could potentially collaborate on my project.

    I would love to schedule time and talk to you!

    You can reach me via my email: M.Smoller@michellesmoller.com

    Regards and warm wishes,
    Michelle

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  17. Hello Caterina.
    My name is Alejandro Hernandez from Colombia.

    I like know what is your conditions to comming at Latin America like speaker (Social Media).

    We need know the conditions to get you for 3 dates: Lima Peru, Buenos Aires Argentina and Santiago Chile.

    The Dates are Sept 26 and 29, and Oct 01.

    Please email me at muzikbook@hotmail.com

    Thanks!

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  18. Hi Caterina, I am a Board member of Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego. We host an annual dinner of over 200 lawyers, local community and business leaders in January 2015. Proceeds from the dinner go to our scholarships for local law students. I’d like to speak with you to see if you are interested in speaking to our group as a keynote speaker for our annual dinner in January. Please let me know if you are interested.

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  19. Hi Caterina,

    My names Makenna Redden and I help run a personal growth blog (www.titaniumsuccess.com) where we talk a lot about entrepreneurship and business. I was hoping you would be interested in letting me feature you for an interview to tell your story as well as give other entrepreneurs tips and strategies to be successful. The interview will consist of 8-9 questions via email. All I would need in return is your answers, you bio, an image, and a link to your website so that readers can contact you if needed.

    If you are interested please let me know as I would love the opportunity to work with you.

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  20. Dear Mrs. Caterina Fake,

    We would like to invite you to be one of our top speakers for TWINKLE 2015, to share your truly inspiring story of success, diversity and leadership in social media design with Finnish companies and international talents from all over the world. We believe your expertise could be part of TWINKLE SHARE & DIALOGUE programs.

    TWINKLE 2015 is the platform to bring international competences to light in a unique interactive scenario that will put together experts, inspiring speakers, official representatives, companies and talents.

    During two days, 2000 people will interact through networking, sharing and learning activities.
    Time and Place: 7-8 December 2015, Tampere-Hall Tampere, FINLAND

    There is a team of international volunteers that make Twinkle happen – for a brighter future, city and business. Twinkle is facilitated by Talent Tampere and Tampere Region Economic Development Agency TREDEA and funded by sponsors.

    Don’t wait. Light up with Twinkle!

    Yours sincerely,

    Gloria Zuniga
    Seminars Coordinator
    Ambassador of Tampere
    Phone: +358 50 370 5831
    Email: gloria@decoark.com

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  21. Hi,

    This is Sandeep from business dev. team at Combotrip.com, launched in April, 2015, Albuquerque. I found you through Combotrip twitter. I wanted to briefly describe Combotrip and discuss the possibility of investment if the product interests you. We are a travel company focused on changing the group and solo travel planning experience.

    Unique features:
    First comprehensive online solo/group travel planning tool in the industry
    Great Deals for flights, activity inventory and Group planning module.

    A small comparison of flight deals with your other major providers(kayak,google flights, priceline etc.) would reveal our deals. We also launched the iPhone app (‘Combotrip’) on app store recently. So far people’s response to the product has been exciting as they mentioned Combotrip makes their group travel planning fun, especially with all the travel inventory deals we provide. We have been generating traffic and some bookings already. This is an exciting area of travel that is cutting edge and promising good market share.

    Please find the attached deck on summary of our product, business model and current status. We are currently raising investments from multiple angels to meet our 2nd seed round goal. If you are interested to chat more, please let us know when is a good time for you for skype call to show you the demo and give more info.? Our schedule is open during the weekend as well. Also if you know of any angels in your network who may be interested in our product, please let me know.

    Thanks
    Sandeep@comobtrip.com
    Skype: sandeep.panta1

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  22. Dear Ms. Fake,

    I am currently a third-year law student at Loyola Chicago and am looking to contact you to send a formal invitation for an opportunity to speak at Loyola’s International Law Review’s February 2016 Symposium entitled “Small Business in a Big World”. This Symposium focuses on the international challenges that small businesses must overcome when expanding. Given your experience and involvement in start-up companies, we believe she would be able to be an insightful speaker. If it is possible to get her contact information, it would be greatly appreciated.

    Warm Regards,
    Rebecca Tenuta

    Warm Regards,
    Rebecca Tenuta

    Senior Editor of Symposium International Law Review
    Loyola University Chicago School of Law
    Juris Doctor Candidate ‘16

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  24. ​Hi Caterina,

    I hope this email finds you well. I am a board member for the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce, Orange County. We would love to have you to be one of our panelists at our 8th Annual “Secrets to Success” event, where we ask successful Filipino-Americans to share their stories of diversity, success, challenges and tips as they navigate through their business and personal life. The event is on April 13, 2016 at the Muzeo in downtown Anaheim.

    I contacted you because our theme this year is Filipino-Americans in the art and creative field, and your experiences are the right blend of creative, art and business.

    Please let me know if you are interested, and would like to discuss further.

    Regards,
    Cristina

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  25. Dear Caterina,

    I am contacting you to invite you to participate in a panel and as a jury member at the 3rd edition of PrimaveraPro Startups, a joint initiative with PrimaveraPro and Seed&Click.

    The main objective of this event is to support and enhance entrepreneurship, as well as to incubate new projects of the music industry and transforming the city into the place where music and technology meets.

    The event will take place on June 3rd, 2016 at the Meyer Auditorium MACBA, in parallel to Primavera Sound, which is considered the most international musical festival in Southern Europe and a global point of reference for music lovers. It will feature a panel discussion on innovation, future and success stories of investment in the sector and will end with the investment forum of the 5 startups finalists selected by the jury among all the proposals submitted in the open call.

    I’m looking for the appropriate email address to send you this invitation and details. So I would appreciate if you can contact be back at the email: sponsor@seedandclick.com

    I look forward your words!

    Thanks for your time!

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  27. Hi Caterina,

    I am a huge fan of Flicker and have been a long time customer. I recently heard about your company, Findery. It’s appears to be a really great tool, especially for someone like me who travels across the globe quite frequently, and I can’t wait to try it out!

    I am the Founder of EntreprenHER, a new online community supporting young and aspiring female entrepreneurs. Our mission is to empower 1,000,000 young female entrepreneurs by 2022 to think big, overcome their limiting beliefs, and strive to launch and grow businesses with $1 million or more in revenue while making an impact in this world.

    According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, only “4.2% of women-owned firms have revenues of $1 million or more.” As per our research: fear, not owning their accomplishments, lack of mentors, and lack of funding, are some of the top reasons why women struggle to achieve a high level of financial success.

    We plan to achieve our mission by sharing the powerful stories of successful female entrepreneurs along with providing business specific resources and tools.

    Your success as a female entrepreneur is extremely inspiring and we truly believe that your story, advice, and insights can have a lasting impact on many women who strive to be like you in business.

    We would be extremely grateful to have 30 minutes of your time to conduct a skype interview and then share your story with millions of women across the world. We understand you must be very busy so thank you in advance for taking out the time to read this.

    We look forward to hearing from you.

    Best Regards,

    Rupali Monga
    Rupali@entreprenhercircle.com

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  28. Just a short note from this small-town newspaper editor. Your back-to-back posts with the words of Asimov and Berry were very much appreciated. Not only do those two authors rank high in my list of favorite authors, they represent thinking that, on first blush, that are poles apart. But, their insistence on quality reading, thought and expression go hand in hand, despite any differences their thought might exhibit. Perhaps there is hope, but that requires a basic level of humanity and education. So, thanks for your posts.

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  29. I am currently building an entrepreneur community to possibly connect entrepreneurs from different fields. And we are glad to invite you to our first 100 members with no cost at all. Would you be interested? And if so do reach me with this email! Thank you and much appreciated.

    Regards,
    Aaron Hoh
    Founder of Contrep

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  30. Hi Caterina,

    My name is Irum and I am a programmer at GoWonder. We are a digital community dedicated to the mission of inspiring and empowering women to create the lives they want to lead.

    Currently we are creating a series on “Women in Technology” and we would love to feature you. If you are interested, do reply to this email and soon I’ll send you the follow steps for a short interview 🙂

    Irum

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  31. Hi!

    I am a college student working on a hypothetical grant proposal. I was essentially interested in hypothetically having a group of eighth graders create an app, but part of this project would include a guest speaker.

    I was curious as to what your rate would be for hypothetically coming in to speak?

    Thank you!

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  32. Dear C.

    Hempies™ Paper needs your help. Sarah Bieda our cofounder, could use some Angel Influence. Mucho Respecto. Philip

    Hempiespaper.com Saving humanity one wipe at a time.

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  33. Dear Caterina,

    I really liked your podcast with Masters of scale recently. Your work crafting communities and experiences is hugely inspirational. What advice would you give to yourself if you were to start it all again, crafting the likes of Flickr?

    I’m building a community of professionals who help companies and people find eachother in a transpartent and rewarding way. I have so many questions, and would love a moment of your time.
    If you are interested, my email is kieran@referral.works.

    Kind Regards,
    Kieran Desmond
    CEO @ Referral.Works

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  34. Dear Caterina,

    I too, as so many others greatly appreciated your Masters of scale podcast. I’m curator of http://www.theconference.se, an event exploring complexity in the digital world (and really in society at large) in Malmö, Sweden. We’re organized by a community driven organisation called Media Evolution (non-profit) and I would absolutely love to invite you for this year’s edition of The Conference (Sept 4-5). You have many fans here, and it’s a city thriving of community builders :). Since I haven’t found a better way to get in touch I thought I just try it here.

    My very best,
    Cecilia cecilia [at] mediaevolution [dot] se

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  35. Hi Caterina,

    I’m a producer with Gimlet Media. I’ve tried to send you an e-mail to the address you have listed above, but it keeps bouncing back.

    We’d love to talk to you for a new show that we have launching this fall. Is there a better way to get in touch and tell you more about it?

    Let me know! I can be reached at splatt [at] gimletmedia [dot] com

    Best,
    Sarah

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  36. Hi Caterina –

    I just listened to your Gimlet podcast. Thank you.

    I’m a Canadian co-founder (of a NYC business: Hyr). I founded the company with my partner. I am asked ALL THE TIME about what it is like to co-found a company with him. I asked him how many times he is asked (never). Truthfully, I did not think of the historical nature of families working together. The next time I am asked, I am going to use your analogy. But seriously, why would I not want to build a business with my best friend and partner who I trust more than anyone in this world? And who better to build a business with, since he understands every aspect we are going through, and we can support each other.

    More, when you were talking about the struggles of funding and making payroll it was just so great to hear that we are not the only entrepreneurs to find our way through. The ‘social media’ life makes being an entrepreneur look so sexy, and telling stories like the one you did IMO is so important for aspiring founders to hear. Because it is really hard. All the time.

    Thank you!
    Erika Mozes
    Co-founder & COO
    Hyr
    erika@hyr.work

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  37. Hi Caterina,

    Just finished listening to your podcast with Tim. Love your energy and topics that were raised.
    Like many of us, I love Jung, Rumi, poetry, and philosophy.

    We have never met and I feel we speak the same language.

    Felt an urge reaching out to you. I have it rarely. And actually, never reach out to those people as I don’t want to overload their inboxes.

    In the coming 3 months, we are launching an oral care brand that focuses on our archetypes and their shadows with a creative twist. I’m convinced you might like it. http://www.karmicare.com

    It is a pleasure getting to know you via Tim’s podcast. All the best!

    Hug,
    Victor

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  38. Watched your interview on ThisWeekInStartups + thought: “have I ever tried to contact her before?”

    Well, IDK — but it doesn’t matter, I guess.

    DLed the 1st several episodes of STE just now (will listen later). A couple of first impressions: 1. don’t make DLing difficult 2. IDC about the opinions of many people — is that what this is going to be?

    Well, that’s jumping to conclusions, so I’ll just listen first.

    One thing that springs to mind in response to the STE question: Should brands exist? I’d say probably yes, but they prolly aren’t as important as they’re often made out to be. Natural language is far more important than any TM or IP-BS.

    Please do reach out if you care to explore that further, the opportunities, possibilities, etc.

    🙂 Norbert

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  39. I just heard you doing an interview talking about Fomo. Something that unfortunately keeps me busy. Your words and perspective on the topic are very inspiring.

    I am currently working on a video project about Fomo for a young swiss online magazine called Akut. I would be happy to talk to you and to be able to include your view!

    Let me know how I can get in touch with you!

    Best,
    Lorena
    lorena@akutmag.ch

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  40. Hi Caterina

    After months of deliberation, I finally decided to reach out to you.

    I’m the founder of a Hydroponics farming startup in India, and I have worked with consumer-tech startups and in strategy consulting before. I’m obsessed with Should This Exist and the idea of responsible innovation.

    I would love to contribute to your podcasts or content team in whatever way possible. My skills lie in understanding technology and how it impacts people. I can grasp new, complex and raw ideas and structure them for others to make sense of it. I understand that you’re extremely busy but I’d really be grateful to have a 15-min chat with you or someone from your team.

    Hope to hear from you soon,

    Best
    Anisha Goel
    anisha@kazeliving.com

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  41. Hi Caterina–thanks so much for posting on our guides.vote nonpartisan candidate guides. We now have updated guides for the Georgia runoff at guides.vote/ga –one for the Walker-Warnock race and one on how to vote in the runoff. If you could possibly post on those as well we’d greatly appreciate it. Paul Loeb founder Guides.vote

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  42. Hi! I’m a Student and entrepreneur in Spain. I’m making a presentation about you as an inspiring person.
    I would be very grateful if you ask me a few questions about your business philosophy!
    Don’t hesitate to contact me
    my Gmail is mariasiay@protonmail.com and my Linkedin is Mariasiay
    Thank you very much and Merry Christmas

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