Don't know how to take this. Blue Bottle is my current go-to coffee spot. I like them because 1) they make great coffee and 2) they are an Oakland based small business. Now that they only are one of these things (and I'm not sure if the other thing will continue or not), I'm not sure I want to support a mega-corp whose other service I don't 100% agree with.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I had a little start-up that was doing Netflix style delivery but for video games. Vikas Jha, currently CEO and founder of Teracent, was kind enough to join our board of advisors. He had no obligation to do so and was just interested in helping out a fellow entrepreneur. Fast forward to today and I'm ecstatic to hear that Google has bought Teracent. Hope you made out well Vikas!
Ah, an icon of the great internet bubble of the late 1990's. Back in the day, nothing signaled that you "arrived" on the internet scene like a Super Bowl commercial. Start-ups plunged a good chunk of their funding into Super Bowl ads hoping for the exposure and eventually IPO to riches. One of these ill-fated companies was Pets.com and their Sock Puppet. After blowing through about $300M of capital, Pets.com went under in November of 2000, just under two years after it started. As part of the fire sale, BarNone, an online marketer specializing in auto finance and auto sales leads for less than stellar credit, became the new home of the sock puppet and coined the phrase "Everybody deserves a second chance!" as their slogan. For a time BarNone was doing quite well and then took a big hit (who didn't take a hit?) when the current recession hit full force in 2008-2009. Fast forward to today, we are announcing that we have purchased the BarNone unit from First Advantage Corp. It's been an exhausting couple of months (I've taken a lot of flights to Baltimore and San Diego) but well worth it. We're getting a great brand in the auto dealer community plus a product that once the auto sector picks up again, will be poised for great success. Thanks to all the folks on the First Advantage team plus much thanks to the BarNone staff who continue to help us during the integration phase. We look forward to returning the Sock Puppet to its glory of yesteryear (minus the Super Bowl ads).