Feedburner CEO Dick Costolo To Become Twitter COO

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/02/oh-rss-is-definitely-dead-now-feedburner-ceo-dick-costolo-to-become-twitter-coo/

by jasonlbaptiste • 17 years ago

31 16 17 years ago

hikari17• 17 years ago

Good for Twitter, not so good for the Chicago tech/startup scene. Dick was an inspiration to many local entrepreneurs, and the Feedburner exit is often cited as evidence that "it can be done here."

sachinag6• 17 years ago

Yeah, but Brad Feld led Feedburner's B round. Matt McCall had to go to New World Ventures because he couldn't raise a fund at Portage.

You can do anything anywhere, but your odds of success are much, much better on the coasts. The lawyers here have fucked me, the (few) investors here have toyed with me and left me hanging, and the actual number of people who can actually deal with startup culture (no, it's not "working 40 hours for a small company", asshole) is abysmally small. Tech Cocktail and the like are swamped with recruiters and "social media experts".

There are successes, such as 37signals, PerkSpot, skinnyCorp, but almost all of them are bootstrapped. If you need money because you're doing interesting technical things, leave.

I should have started my company in the Bay Area. It's too late for me. Save yourself.

tptacek• 17 years ago

Costolo had also been starting companies here for a decade prior to Feedburner, all the way back to Burning Door.

Strongly object to the idea that it's harder to find people to put in a 60-hour week in Chicago.

mediaman2• 17 years ago

How have the lawyers fucked you? We've had a good experience with ours (McGuireWoods). And I've been able to raise a low seven figures in angel money in the area.

Having said that, were I to do it all over again, I'd have to think harder about which region is appropriate, even though my business is not web-based.

bingaman_• 17 years ago

Don't forget Kickstarter and Everyblock. Chicago will be fine.

andrewparker2• 17 years ago

There's nothing about lawyers that requires geographic proximity. If you really dislike Chicago based lawyers, hire a lawyer out of a VC-specific lawfirm from SV or NYC.

j2d2• 17 years ago

It can be done anywhere. This news isn't even related to any of their startups, so there's no reason it should shake them, unless they're easily shaken, which speaks volumes if you ask me.

ivankirigin• 17 years ago

  Years from now, when the history books are written, 
  this week will be recognized as a pivotally beautiful one for Twitter.

http://twitter.com/sacca/status/3714731351

Feedburner CEO Dick Costolo To Become Twitter COO

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