Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking service that allows users to post multimedia content to short blogs. Foursquare is a location-based mobile social network that allows users to "check in" at venues using their mobile devices. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that allows creators to set funding goals and deadlines for projects. Buzzfeed is a viral content website known for lists, videos and images that are intended to be widely shared.

1. tumblr
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Microblogging/social networking service
Founded in 2009. Acquired by Yahoo in 2013.
CEO: David Karp
141 million blogs
Users post multimedia and other content to short-form blogs. Major features include dashboard (live feed of posts), from which
users can post, comment, reblog, and like other posts, and tags. Users can upload text, photos, quotes, links, dialogue, audio,
and video from their dashboard.
Introduced without advertising but added advertising before acquisition by Yahoo.
Have had brand advertising campaigns with Adidas.
Most popular with teen and college-aged users.
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2. Foursquare
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Location based mobile SNS
Founded in 2009
CEO: Dennis Crowley
33 million users
Users “check in” at venues using mobile devices with geolocation. Checking in awards the users points and badges.
Companies can create brand pages that users can follow and sponsored badges. Companies can also issue messages to users
about deals and products.
Businesses offer sales and specials as incentives for new and regular customers to check-in.
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3. Kickstarter
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Crowdfunding platform
Founded in 2009
CEO: Perry Chen
4.9 million users
Project creators pick deadlines for achieving a minimum funding goal. Kickstarter takes 5% of funds raised. Film & Video, Music,
and Games account for over half the money raised.
$828 million total pledged to projects. 50,065 successfully funded project. The most successful projects are Pebble e-watch ($10
million) and Ouya video game console ($8.5 million)
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4. BuzzFeed
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Viral web content homepage
Founded in 2006
CEO: Jonah Peretti
85 million unique viewers
Homepage is a time-sequential list of
posts from users and staff members,
usually videos, images, lists, and links.
The homepage attempts to capture the
essence of viral media on the web.
Buzzfeed also has news coverage.
Promoted articles are also intended to be
viral. Partners include Virgin Mobile, GE,
Pepsi, Volkswagen, and Nike. In 2013,
Buzzfeed will run 600-700 advertising
programs with over half of the top 100
brands.
Users award badges to posts to
categorize and promote them.
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5. Bitly
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Link shortener
Founded in 2008
CEO: Mark Josephson
8 billion link clicks per month
Bitly is popular on Twitter because it was the default URL shortening service on the website since 2009. The website also
provides tools to view statistics related to users that click on generated links, and a similar service for online videos. Other
features include QR code generation, bookmarking, search, public profiles, and an attention ranking engine.
Domains include bit.ly, bitly.com, and j.mp
Brands can use custom URL hosting, custom keywords, and analytics and insights. Partners include The Huffington Post,
Progressive, GE, MIT, Comcast, Ford, Nokia, Gap, Al Jazeera, Conde Nast, and the Weather Channel.
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6. 4chan
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Anonymous imageboard
Founded in 2003
CEO: Christopher Poole
22.5 monthly visitors
Modeled on Japanese imageboards. Known for internet memes, pranks, and Random messageboard.
Users post anonymously under any username, most often “Anonymous”
Website is supported by advertising, donations, and paid subscriptions that allow posers to bypass CAPTCHA verification.
Birthplace of Anonymous hacktivist group that targeted government and corporations, supported WikiLeaks and Occupy
movement
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7. Etsy
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Handmade and vintage marketplace
Founded in 2005
CEO: Chad Dickerson
30 million users. 1 million shops with 18
million items listed.
E-commerce website focused on
handmade and vintage items, such as
jewelry, art, home goods, and clothing.
Many sellers also sell arts and crafts
supplies. Vintage items must be at least
20 years old.
Etsy charges listing fees and claims 3.5%
of the sale price of each listing. Most
sellers are women, who tend to be college
educated and in their 20s-30s.
$895M in 2012 total merchandise sales
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8. Gilt Groupe
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Luxury flash sales
Founded in 2007
CEO: Michelle Peluso
9 million users
$550 million sales in 2012
Flash sales for women’s and men’s clothing, shoes and accessories, luggage, beauty; children’s clothing, shoes, accessories,
toys; furniture and home décor; city deals; and travel. Sales last 36-48 hours and feature merchandise from single brands or
groups of brands. Viewing sales is restricted to members. Gilt, an early entrant in flash sales, was inspired by sample sales.
Also have worked with brands for marketing and introducing new lines, including Banana Republic..
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9. Fancy
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Social photo sharing store/app
Founded in 2010
CEO: Joseph Einhorn
2 million users
Fancy allows users to share photos and links through bookmarklets, adding them to their personal feeds (similar to Pinterest).
Users can follow other users and popular users are awarded titles like “editor” and “art director.” Users are encouraged to buy
items they like or similar items and services.
Fancy Box is a monthly $30 subscription service for different products in customized categories including women’s, men’s
gadgets, media, etc.
Partnership with American Express for statement credit for users. Fancy offers cash rewards to users through referral links.
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10. Warby Parker
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Online eyewear store
Founded in 2010
CEO: Neil Blumenthal
500,000 pairs of glasses sold
Sells glasses and sunglasses online
starting at $95, compared with the
industry standard of $300+. Frames
are produced specifically for Warby
Parker and sell on the website and
showrooms. Customers order frames
to try on for five days, or can upload a
photo to try frames on virtually.
Partnered with VisionSpring to
distribute one pair of glasses to
someone in need for every pair sold
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11. Birchbox
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Subscription cosmetics service
Founded in 2010
CEO: Hayley Barna & Katia Beauchamp
400,000 subscribers
Birchbox sells women’s subscriptions for $10 per month and men’s subscriptions for $20 per month. Boxes include several
beauty and grooming sample sized products based on user profiles. Men’s subscriptions include full-sized products such as
accessories. A shop sells full-size products that are featured in boxes.
$50 revenue per year. A quarter of Birchbox’s revenue comes from its full-price e-commerce store. Over half of subscribers have
purchased full-price products.
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12. ArchetypeMe
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Personalized content delivery website
Founded in 2012
CEO: Michael Mendenhall
950,000 visits
ArchetypeMe curates editorial content,
commerce, and community in a
personal manner. The site matches an
individuals preferences based on an
algorithm that maps back to the
content of archetypes. Users take a
personality assessment and get
assigned three out of ten archetypes.
Its predictive model identifies what
content an user will be interested in
(push model).
The site is supported by advertising but
plans on integrated promotions with
retail brands.
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13. Custora
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Marketing analytics platform
Founded in 2011
CEO: Corey Pierson
Custora is a marketing analytics platform that helps companies identify and keep customers. Custora offers analytics about
customer trends, cohort patterns, behavioral segmentation, trend analysis, and mobile customers. They also offer testing and
automation for lifecycle marketing campaigns.
Customers include Fab, Threadless, Birchbox, Etsy, and LivingSocial.
Custora also sells courses for marketers and data scientists.
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14. FiftyThree
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Creativity apps, including Paper, which won Apple’s App of the Year
Founded in 2011
CEO: Georg Petschnigg
8 million users (Paper)
Paper is a sketchbook app for iPad. The fountain pen tool is free, and in-app purchases include pencil, marker, ink, watercolor,
and color mixer tool. Pages created in the app can be shared on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.
Book is an app that creates electronic and physical books from sketches made in Paper. Fiftythree partners with Moleskine to
print 15-page books for $40.
Has won awards from Industrial Designers Society of America, and Communication Arts’ Interactive Design Annual 2013
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15. Fitocracy
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Workout tracker and fitness social network
Founded in 2010
CEO: Brian Wang
1 million users
Fitocracy is a social network that uses
gamification to help users improve their fitness.
Users log their exercise activity from a collection
of activities and enter details such as weight lifted.
Points are awarded based on the estimated
fitness benefit of each activity. Users can
complete quests to earn extra points, and
significant fitness milestones are awarded with
badges. Social networking features include
following other users, viewing and commenting
on their workouts, and joining groups.
Paid memberships include the ability to challenge
other users and saving others’ workouts.
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16. Grouper
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Group dating
Founded in 2011
CEO: Michael Waxman
Grouper matches two groups of three friends together based on information from their Facebook profiles, then arranges a
destination for an offline blind group date. Matches are selected by matchmaking professionals. Users pre-pay $20 for the first
drink and table.
Available in 26 cities in the US
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17. Hukkster
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Online shopping tool to track
productsFounded in 2012
CEO: Katie Finnegan & Erica Bell
80,000 users
2,000 retail partners
Hukkster is a digital platform that allows
shoppers to track products at online stores
and get notified when those products go on
sale. Users track products using a browser
extension for Chrome. Users receive email,
text, or push notification alerts on product
sales, store-wide promotions, and coupon
codes. Users can create lists of products
that can be shared with social media.
Popular partners include Bloomingdales, J.
Crew, Macy’s , Nordstrom, Saks, Target,
Urban Outfitters, and Zappos.
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18. IMRSV
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Real-time data analysis software for web cameras
Founded in 2009
CEO: Jason Sosa
IMRSV’s Cara software transforms web cameras into intelligent sensors that capture data including age, gender, and attention
time. The anonymous audience demographic data is analyzed in real time. Cara tracks multiple people simultaneously. Cara is
used by retailers, shopper insights, small business analytics, marketers, developers, manufacturers, and advertising agencies.
Cara is a Data-as-a-Service platform.
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19. Klooff
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Mobile social network for pet owners
Founded in 2012
CEO: Alejandro Russo
1 million users
Kloof is a smartphone app for pet owners to show off their pets. Klooff allows users, who would otherwise be sharing photos of
their pets through Facebook and Instagram, to share pet photos under a profile. Features include pet profiles, photo sharing, and
creating customized pet products. Users can record dog walks and share them with other users. Pet photos with the most votes
display at the top of a public leaderboard.
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20. Qwiki
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iPhone movie creation app
Acquired by Yahoo in July 2013
Founded in 2009
CEO: Doug Imbruce
3 million downloads
Qwiki is an iPhone app that automatically
creates movies from a user’s videos,
photos, and music. Videos can be shared
on social media or embedded on websites.
Qwiki is integrated into Bing for video
summaries of search terms.
Qwiki has launched video creation tools
for publishers in cooperation with ABC
News.
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21. Upworthy
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Progressive viral content website
Founded in 2012
CEO: Eli Pariser
30 million unique visitors, 5 million subscribers
Upworthy is a curated viral content website that aims to present stories that don’t draw attention from mainstream news
outlets. Upworthy calls itself “social media with a mission: to make important stuff as viral as a video of some idiot surfing
off his roof.”
Aimed at liberal-leaning young adults. Content is usually related to politics or social issues. Content is fact-checked.
Partnered with the AFL-CIO for a series about work and the economy
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22. Kaltura
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Video and media platform
Founded in 2006
CEO: Ron Yekutiel
300,000 websites
Kaltura is a platform that allows
organizations to make their own
internal video sharing sites. The
platform can be used for internal
communication and for external
marketing and promotions.
Features include video
transcoding and processing,
video management, mobile and
HTML5 video player, publishing to
set-top boxes, editing tools,
monetization tools, analytics and
audience monument, and hosting.
Technology partners include
DoubleClick, Boxee, Roku, and
WordPress.
Channel partners include
Blackboard, Internet Broadcasting,
and Desire2Learn.
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23. StartApp
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Mobile app search monetization
Founded in 2010
CEO: Gil Dudkiewicz
1 billion downloads
StartApp integrates with mobile
apps to create a search icon on
the user’s home screen. When
users use that icon to generate a
search, the developer and
StartApp receive a share of the
profit. StartApp also includes
interstitial ads, banner ads, text
ads, and exit ads in apps.
Partners with over 50,000 apps.
3 billion monthly ad impressions
worldwide
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24. Young Entrepreneur Council
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Invite-only entrepreneur organization
Founded in 2010
CEO: Scott Gerber
55 partners
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an
invite-only organization of hundreds of
entrepreneurs, allowing them to connect
with each other and share ideas.
Honored by NASDAQ and the White
House.
Members have a members-only
dashboard that includes support,
community forums, community
management, and editorial services. The
editorial team helps members get
published with media partners including
Forbes, Yahoo, VentureBeat, the
Huffington Post, MSN, and Fox Business.
Member companies include Disqus, Klout,
Rent the Runway, Hipmunk, and Yodle.
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25. GetTaxi
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Taxi ordering app
Founded in 2010
CEO: Shahar Waiser
$120-130 million projected
2013 revenue
20,000 daily orders
GetTaxi allows users to order
taxis by mobile app. Users
order and pay via the app
and watch their taxis on a
GPS-enabled real time map.
In New York City, the GetTaxi
app was reintroduced as
Gett. Features include black
car service, 24/7 customer
services, fixed flat rate prices
between neighborhoods, and
flat pricing for rush hour.
Gamification features include
acquiring points for rides,
which can be redeemed for
free rides and exclusive
events.
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26. Pontiflex
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Mobile advertising
Founded in 2008
CEO: Geoff Grauer
90 million users
Signup Ads allows mobile device users to
opt-in for advertisements from brands they
like. Users sign up for ads without leaving
the app or website they are using, and
advertisers only pay for signups and app
installations. Advertisers use the email
addresses of customers for email
advertising.
AdLeads product is self-serve mobile
advertising for small businesses, allowing
developers and advertisers to serve ads.
Users include Barack Obama’s
Presidential campaign, Hasbro, Disney,
Kimberly-Clark, ASPCA, Unicef, Tommy
Hilfiger, Lenovo, and Lily Pulitzer
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27. Noodle
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Educational search platform
Founded in 2011
CEO: John Katzmann
Noodle is an educational search
engine that aggregates information
for students looking for education
information. Its recommendation
engine helps users find educational
opportunities at all levels, from K-12
to college, grad school, and
professional development.
Founded by the creator of the
Princeton Review
Noodle offers data on over 150,000
schools and hundreds of thousands
of education providers
Blog has advice and opinions from
education experts
Partners include the Center for
Education Reform, AdmissionsDean,
CaptainU, and College Prowler
Partnered with the White House and
the Department of Education for
Education Datapalooza event in
October 2012
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28. RecycleBank
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Gamification of environmentally friendly behavior platform
Founded in 2004
CEO: Jonathan Hsu
4.5 million members
Recyclebank rewards users who take everyday green actions including recycling household garbage, taking steps to use
energy efficiently, reducing water usage, and buying environmentally friendly products. Users redeem points for discounts on
food, entertainment, and gift cards. They offer deals from over 3000 local and national businesses.
Challenges are sponsored by partners including Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and the World Wildlife Fund. Reward partners
include Coca-Cola, Kashi, Q-tips, and Ziploc.
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29. RentTheRunway
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Membership-based designer apparel and
accessories rental website
Founded in 2009
CEO: Jennifer Hyman
3 million members
RentTheRunway allows members to rent
designer dresses, accessories, and
jewelry at a fraction of the retail price.
Prices range from $50-$400 for a four-day
dress rental. Users are sent two sizes of
the dress. The website features photos of
users wearing the dresses. Most apparel
is for formal events. RentTheRunway also
offers stylist advice.
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30. CafeMom
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Social network for mothers
Founded in 2006
CEO: Michael Sanchez
20 million monthly users
CafeMom is a social networking site
targeted at mothers and mothers-to-be.
Membership is limited to women.
Features include profiles, commenting,
email messaging, and groups.
Site is ad-supported, generating
revenue from over 100 advertisers.
Most revenue is generated from
customized campaigns allowing users to
interact with products.
CafeMom publishes an online journal
called The Stir, featuring newspaper
articles about parenting and children.
Partnered with Arkadium on online
games section, including some
sponsored games
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31. LocalVox
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Local online marketing for small businesses
Founded in 2010
CEO: David Pachter
LocalVox provides an all-in-one solution for small
business to advertise to their website, email list,
social media profiles, search engines, local publishing
sties, and mobile. Features include push notifications,
local SEO, mobile website creation, automatic social
reputation monitoring, local mobile user targeting, and
metrics reports.
Product for multi-location retailers and local service
providers includes updating directory profiles,
improving local sites, geo-targeted mobile campaigns,
managing social media accounts and review sites,
and monthly optimization reports.
Customers include Allstate, Pizza Hut, Whole Foods,
and Buffalo Wild Wings.
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