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Beats me!!
How We Founded myYearbook
inc.com
It's one of the 25 most-trafficked webites in the U.S., and it was founded by a pair of siblings in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Catherine and Geoff Cook explain how they did it.
The Overachievers: Catherine Cook's classmates voted her Most Likely to Become a Billionaire. with her brother Geoff, she's on her way.
It's hard not to wonder just what the Cook parents fed their kids, Geoff, Dave, and Catherine. Geoff founded a business while attending Harvard—and sold it in 2002 at the ripe age of 24. That inspired Catherine and Dave to launch myYearbook, a social networking site for high school kids, in 2005. When the site, based in New Hope, Pennsylvania, took off, Geoff stepped in as CEO. (Dave spent the past four years at college in Colorado but recently returned.) Last year, myYearbook, one of the nation's 25 most-trafficked websites, merged with Quepasa, a publicly traded company that runs social networking sites aimed at Latinos, in a $100 million deal. The Cooks still run the show and are focused on graduating to a global market. As told to Liz Welch.
CATHERINE: When I was 14, my family moved to Skillman, New Jersey, where I started high school. I didn't know anyone. My brother Dave and I were flipping through the school's yearbook to see if we recognized anyone, and we were shocked at how useless the information was. That's when we thought, What if we put the whole thing online? I'd always looked up to my brother Geoff. He's 11 years older than me and had already launched a successful start-up. I thought if he started a company, I could, too.
GEOFF: I was a sophomore at Harvard and was editing admissions essays and resumés. In 1997, I put up two websites—EssayEdge.com and ResumeEdge.com. By the end of my senior year, I was hiring students to do the work and making hundreds of thousands of dollars. I wound up finding an investor, and then sold the sites to the Thomson Corporation in 2002. I stayed with Thomson—which had offices in New Jersey, not far from where my family lived. I was looking for my Next Big Thing when Catherine bounced this idea off of me. I invested $250,000 and left Thomson and became myYearbook's CEO.
CATHERINE: I was like, Wow! He really likes it! We found developers in Mumbai through a Google search. Dave and I would get home from school at 4 and then be up chatting online until 4 a.m. because of the time difference. A month later, in April 2005, we launched a bare-bones site in our town. We wore T-shirts with sayings like, "Are you the prettiest girl in high school? How about the dumbest? Find out.'' In one week, 400 people signed up. I knew we were going to be successful when a friend told me it was one of the greatest procrastination tools ever built.
GEOFF: We immediately started thinking of ways to engage users with games and quizzes that appeal to teenagers. Catherine was responsible for some of our most important features, because she was communicating directly with users and learning instantly what they wanted.
CATHERINE: I have always been, and still am, one of the most active members on the site. Every new member gets a friend request from me, which is why I now have more than a million friends.
GEOFF: By mid-2006, we had one million users, mostly due to viral growth, but we weren't making any money at all. I reached out to one of the investors in my previous company, and he made a sizable investment, which allowed us to put together a team of about a dozen people—mostly engineers—and get our first office. Before that, we were working out of my home and my parents' place. But then we realized that we needed more engineers to scale the site, so we started looking for a second round of financing. Our selling pitch was that we were MySpace for high school. We got $4.1 million in 2007.
CATHERINE: Dave and I became known as the "myYearbook kids" at school. Our plan worked-we had tons of friends. But my grades suffered. By my senior year, I was skipping classes all the time to go to work. One of my teachers actually pulled me aside, because my grade had dropped to a 78 percent-and I had always been an A student. I missed one class so often I almost lost credit, but my school cut me slack.
GEOFF: Before we launched the company, Catherine cared about if she got an A-minus instead of an A-plus. Her striving for perfection transferred to the company. She became our spokesperson, and she's a natural. When she was 17, we were invited to speak at a technology conference with all these very high-powered people, including Mark Zuckerberg. We had to pitch our business to Barry Diller for a segment called "What Would Barry Buy?" Catherine and I followed MC Hammer, who presented his company, DanceJam. Barry picked myYearbook.
CATHERINE: We weren't making any money, so after I graduated, I went to Georgetown as a fallback. Dave wanted to focus on college, so he took time off from the company while he was at the University of Colorado. I came home every two weeks and clustered all my classes to two days and spent the other three telecommuting. As a result, I had no social life. There was no time for parties or extracurricular stuff. I felt bad about missing things. But how many kids could say, I'm missing my first midterm to talk about user-generated content at a conference in South Korea?
GEOFF: By the time Catherine was at college, it became clear that Facebook intended to rule the world, which forced us to hone our message: Facebook was about the friends you already have; myYearbook was about making new friends. On Facebook, people never accept friend requests from someone they don't know, but that is 99 percent of all friend requests on myYearbook. So we focused all our apps and features on becoming the social graph of people you want to know.
CATHERINE: I met my best friend on the site when I was in high school. Recently, a member messaged me to say his wife, whom he met on myYearbook, was pregnant with their first child. How cool is that?
GEOFF: In 2010, we had $23 million in revenue, but 85 percent of our users were in North America. Winners tend to be global brands, so we started looking for ways that myYearbook could span the world. We looked at raising private equity to go buy other companies, but we didn't see anything we were interested in. And then, in 2011, we were approached by Quepasa. We thought, If you put these things together and push, a year from now we'll have a meaningful Brazilian and Mexican audience.
CATHERINE: The merger made me even more excited to graduate. I kept it a big secret. I didn't even tell my boyfriend or best friend.
GEOFF: It was a $100 million deal—$18 million in cash, the rest in stock. I am now Quepasa's COO. Since yearbooks don't matter much outside of the U.S., we just announced a new name: MeetMe. And with that, we plan to make our social discovery platform span the world.
CATHERINE: My new title is vice president of brand strategy, so I'm focused on going global with the mission I started this company with: to meet new people. It's pretty awesome. I'm more popular than I ever imagined.
Thanks Guru. I believe the company's results and growth will move the company's stock, not the company's story. A bit more patience will be rewarded in my opinion.
Both RSI and Board Sentiment oversold here in my opinion... so not the best time to sell unless of course you have other promising opportunities. My opinion only.
Assuming we can in fact own Canadians, dibs on Fishin Canuck.
Would love to see that SAIC pro forma.
Sometimes I just love TOO MUCH though.
I see that too... wish they would tell us what they updated!
Great post.
No thanks... I bet you play Top Flites :)
Thank you for checking it out and posting!
Thanks for the update!
You're implying that the 10Q due on 5/9 might include financials from May 2012?
Thanks for your thoughts this morning. The results here should start to speak for themselves soon. I will give them a couple more quarters to prove themselves with my moderate position; will move to a much larger position once the financial results start to roll in...
All due respect Hank I think you may have Rawnoc-colored glasses on when looking at this company, which for you are the exact opposite of Rose-colored glasses:) Meaning I think you may be looking at this with too much skepticism because you and Raw have such a history (that many of us get to watch and is frankly very entertaining lol)
Your questions, KIK's questions, Littlefish's questions and R59's questions have all been answered and explained to very good satisfaction in my opinion. I am a regional director for a company that gets paid by Medicare and private insurances via these damn CPT codes (on the physician-fee schedule), and completely understand how they are doing it. After the company's explanations, I also now completely understand the "A/R issue" which is no issue at all. They eventually recover the cast majority of their A/R's - at a multiple! They have shown us the proof. It's also clear to me why an MD would sign on for this - it brings on much more business than they would have otherwise been able to get on top of the core biz that Spin gets to manage and simplify for them.
Lastly, I do agree that the difficulty explaining the A/R issue pits somewhat of a cap on the stock - most people will pass quickly on it as there's not enough time in the day when scanning and researching companies. However this also allows the most potential return.
All just my opinion and I followed you into DPDW the other day... Think it's good for a nice short term pop with potential for long term appreciation. Thanks for giving management a licking on their CC...
Well done great post!
Bought some AAPL. Hope it goes up for once.
This is a great point.
Understood. Would you accept an answer from Third Oak Associates if you were to call or email them?
How about you call Third Oak Associates?
Nice catch!
Do hue really care?
Let us know what you find!
Purchasing more JBII stock next week.
Your name is Bill?
Fortune 100 Companies: Pick one to be in bed with :)
Fortune 100 Companies
1. Wal-Mart Stores $219,812.0 (revenue in millions)
2. Exxon Mobil $191,581.0
3. General Motors $177,260.0
4. Ford Motor $162,412.0
5. Enron $138,718.0
6. General Electric $125,913.0
7. Citigroup $112,022.0
8. ChevronTexaco $99,699.0
9. Intl. Business Machines $85,866.0
10. Philip Morris $72,944.0
11. Verizon Communications $67,190.0
12. American Intl. Group $62,402.0
13. American Electric Power $61,257.0
14. Duke Energy $59,503.0
15. AT&T $59,142.0
16. Boeing $58,198.0
17. El Paso $57,475.0
18. Home Depot $53,553.0
19. Bank of America Corp. $52,641.0
20. Fannie Mae $50,803.0
21. J.P. Morgan Chase $50,429.0
22. Kroger $50,098.0
23. Cardinal Health $47,947.6
24. Merck $47,715.7
25. State Farm Insurance $46,705.2
26. CenterPoint Energy $46,225.8
27. SBC Communications $45,908.0
28. Hewlett-Packard $45,226.0
29. Morgan Stanley $43,727.0
30. Dynegy $42,242.0
31. McKesson $42,010.0
32. Sears Roebuck $41,078.0
33. Aquila $40,376.8
34. Target $39,888.0
35. Procter & Gamble $39,244.0
36. Merrill Lynch $38,793.0
37. AOL Time Warner $38,234.0
38. Albertson's $37,931.0
39. Berkshire Hathaway $37,668.0
40. Kmart $36,910.0
41. Freddie Mac $35,523.0
42. WorldCom $35,179.0
43. Marathon Oil $35,041.0
44. Costco Wholesale $34,797.0
45. Safeway $34,301.0
46. Compaq Computer $33,554.0
47. Johnson & Johnson $33,004.0
48. Conoco $32,795.0
49. Pfizer $32,259.0
50. J.C. Penney $32,004.0
51. MetLife $31,928.0
52. Mirant $31,502.0
53. Dell Computer $31,168.0
54. Goldman Sachs Group $31,138.0
55. United Parcel Service $30,646.0
56. Motorola $30,004.0
57. Allstate $28,865.0
58. TXU $27,927.0
59. United Technologies $27,897.0
60. Dow Chemical $27,805.0
61. ConAgra $27,194.2
62. Prudential Financial $27,177.0
63. PepsiCo $26,935.0
64. Wells Fargo $26,891.0
65. Intel $26,539.0
66. International Paper $26,363.0
67. Delphi $26,088.0
68. Sprint $26,071.0
69. New York Life Insurance $25,678.2
70. DuPont de Nemours (E.I.) $25,370.0
71. Georgia-Pacific $25,309.0
72. Microsoft $25,296.0
73. Walt Disney $25,269.0
74. Aetna $25,190.8
75. Ingram Micro $25,186.9
76. Lucent Technologies $25,132.0
77. Lockheed Martin $24,793.0
78. Walgreen $24,623.0
79. Bank One Corp. $24,527.0
80. TIAA-CREF $24,230.6
81. ConocoPhillips $24,189.0
82. BellSouth $24,130.0
83. Honeywell Intl. $23,652.0
84. UnitedHealth Group $23,454.0
85. Viacom $23,222.8
86. Supervalu $23,194.3
87. PG&E Corp . $22,959.0
88. Alcoa $22,859.0
89. American Express $22,582.0
90. Wachovia Corp. $22,396.0
91. Lehman Brothers Hldgs. $22,392.0
92. Cisco Systems $22,293.0
93. CVS $22,241.4
94. Lowe's $22,111.1
95. Sysco $21,784.5
96. Bristol-Myers Squibb $21,717.0
97. Electronic Data Systems $21,543.0
98. Caterpillar $20,450.0
99. Coca-Cola $20,092.0
100. Archer Daniels Midland $20,051.4
$1.98 close according to my trading platform. Interesting!
I show volume as only 4,829 so far? Wonder if my trading platform's info is inaccurate?
Thanks, Stan. I liked the call from you though, especially after more DD, and appreciate it.
Thoughts on this? Thanks-
InterDigital Concludes Strategic Alternatives Review Process
Board Affirms and Expands Business Strategy to Include Patent Sales and Licensing Partnerships
$800 Million Sustainable Annual Revenue Opportunity in Three to Five Years
Company to Hold Conference Call at 5:30 p.m. ET, January 23, 2012
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) today announced that its Board of Directors
has concluded its review of strategic alternatives for the company. Following a comprehensive process, the Board determined
that it was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to execute on the company's business plan and to expand
the plan to include patent sales and licensing partnerships.
"We entered into the review of strategic alternatives from a position of strength, in terms of both our patent portfolio and our
balance sheet," commented Terry Clontz, Chairman of InterDigital's Board of Directors. "The process over the past six months,
although not resulting in an offer for the whole of the company, has helped to reaffirm our belief in the breadth and depth of the
patent portfolio, the strength of the R&D team, and our technology vision for the future. The Board believes the company and
its shareholders are best served by our continued focus on the development of wireless technologies, and the monetization of
those assets through vigorous and comprehensive patent licensing and sales efforts."
Over the past three decades, InterDigital's R&D team has developed fundamental wireless technologies that have shaped the
cellular industry and has built a portfolio of over 19,500 patents and patent applications as of December 31, 2011—one of the
largest portfolios of cellular-related patents in the wireless industry. Moreover, InterDigital's inventions are used in every
cellular device that ships today. As of December 31, 2011, the company has disclosed to the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute approximately 50 percent of its worldwide patents and patent applications based on the company's belief, at
the time of disclosure, that these patents are or may be or may become essential to wireless communications standards.
Furthermore, InterDigital's substantial portfolio of patented inventions continues to grow. During 2011, the company filed
approximately 140 new patent applications with the U.S. patent office, covering its inventions related to the next generation of
advanced wireless networks. The company was also granted approximately 170 new U.S. patents and approximately 1,000
non-U.S. patents in 2011, positioning it as one of the leading inventors in wireless technology.
Based on its strength in innovation, the company has received nearly $3 billion in royalties from 2G and 3G licenses through
December 31, 2011. Furthermore, industry analysts estimate that only one-third of the total expected 3G devices have been
shipped to date. The company believes that the accelerating shipments of LTE devices, combined with InterDigital's position as
one of the leading LTE patent holders, sets the stage for the company's licensing program for LTE to be the strongest in its
history.
InterDigital's President and Chief Executive Officer, William J. Merritt, added, "I strongly believe that we can substantially
enhance the value of the enterprise through our continued successful execution of our 3G licensing program and the addition
of royalties from our very strong LTE portfolio. Moreover, we have identified potential opportunities to further enhance value
through targeted sales and/or partnering arrangements involving portions of our large and growing patent portfolio. For
example, we have a strong and largely unlicensed mobile infrastructure patent portfolio that we believe could generate
significant third party interest in terms of a sale or licensing partnership. Similarly, we believe we have a substantial number of
3G and LTE terminal unit patents that are not necessary to drive our core terminal unit licensing business but could be of
significant interest to third parties, again in terms of sales or licensing partnerships. In light of the outlook for market growth in
3G and 4G handsets, our deep and growing patent portfolio, our world class licensing team, and our leading team of
engineers, the company's long-term compensation will be tied to our business generating sustainable annual revenue of at
least $800 million in three to five years, which, if realized, is also expected to drive substantial growth in free cash flow."
As an unbiased individual private investor, I'm very excited in JBI's prospects.
The SEC suit is certainly an issue but will be overcome with moderate to little material damage to the company, in my opinion.
Really excited for this next week and month. So much progress has been made - it's time to harvest the fruit.
...and the issues with the media credits and wrongful term lawsuits are very small non-material issues in my opinion. But I'm just an unbiased independent investor.
Great post. May use it as a stocking stuffer.
BOOM. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for clarifying.
What exactly are we supposed to be looking at?
JBII also makes up 300% of my portfolio. Amazing!
My cost basis is 55% below - check that, 57% below - where it is now. You do realize that one can purchase a security at more than one point in time?
I'm certainly not in the red. 55% in the Green, in fact.
Bought more this morning. Really excited about the progress and prospects here.
That permit is a thing of beauty. Getting more excited about this company - and okay with the share offerings to get this business off the ground.