As you may know, Benny and I have killed off Friendslist and refocused our efforts elsewhere.  The Friendslist product was live for about 6 months.  In that time we disproved our core hypothesis: that we can compel people to build and run their own thriving marketplace. Few people used the product. Even fewer loved it. [...]

A friend recently pitched me on an airbnb-for-meals concept  As I listened to him list reason after reason why the business would work (“You save money by sharing food…You get to eat home cooked meals more often…You make new friends”), I couldn’t help but feel he was missing the point.  Finally I had to interrupt: [...]

Last week I launched FourGroupTwilVen, a fun mashup of Foursquare, GroupMe, Venmo and Twilio designed to entertain my bored friends on Christmas. When my Foursquare friends checked in at a Chinese food restaurant, they unlocked a little surprise: 1)  First, they would get a phone call wishing them a Happy Jewish Christmas and playing them [...]

Christmas day can be depressing. It seems like the entire world is decorating trees, opening presents and feasting with family. Meanwhile, we Jews are lonely, bored and hungry. We’re left to scour the town looking for entertainment and food. And we always end up at a chinese restaurant and a movie theater. Well, my fellow [...]

One of the most interesting early stage NYC startups on my radar right now is BNTER. The service lets easily capture and share conversations you’ve had. Here’s an example. Is there a bigger vision for the product and company? I don’t know. But here’s my vision for them: I think the company should focus primarily [...]