Colleen Taylor is based in San Francisco where she is a reporter for TechCrunch and TechCrunch TV.
Previously she worked as a reporter for GigaOM, the Financial Times’ Mergermarket newswire, and the semiconductor industry newsletter Electronic News.
Disclosure: Colleen holds a small amount of shares in AOL, which were awarded as part of her employment contract with TechCrunch. She personally does not hold shares in any other public company. Colleen’s spouse is employed as a software engineer for Google; he holds stock in the company as part of this employment.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin Harvard graduates who famously sparred with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook and are now working as tech investors through Winklevoss Capital, are part of the growing group of venture capitalists who have taken a keen interest in Bitcoins. Last month, it was revealed that they personally own roughly one percent of the currency, a stake worth the… → Read More
Peer-to-peer ride sharing is one of the hottest — and most controversial — markets in the current tech startup world. And one leading player in the space, SideCar, is looking to hit the gas pedal on its growth amidst all the hubbub.
The San Francisco-based SideCar announced today it has hired two key tech executives to join the company and focus on product development and revenue generation… → Read More
Formspring, the pioneering Q&A site that allowed people to invite other internet users to “ask me anything” anonymously, is apparently back from the brink. In a tweet and a company blog post, Formspring announced that it has been “saved” and is now “under new management.”
It was just two months ago that Formsping announced plans to shut down, with founder and CEO Ade Olonoh writing in a… → Read More
Larry Yu, the public relations executive who has headed up Facebook’s corporate communications operation for five years and helped steer the company through the publicity blitz surrounding its IPO, is leaving the social networking company. He announced his departure this morning in a post on Facebook, writing:
“Nearly five years ago, I joined some friends at a privately-held company called… → Read More
After a one-week hiatus due to Disrupt (did you miss us?) we’re back in the trusty TechCrunch TV studio with a brand new episode of CrunchWeek, the show where a few of us writers chat up the most interesting stories from the past seven days. → Read More
For the past several years, my New Year’s resolution has been some version of “cook more often” or “try a new recipe every week.” But it never really lasts. As much as I love the act of actually cooking, so much about it is a huge hassle — choosing a recipe, shopping for all the ingredients (and paying for a whole bottle of a spice I only need a tablespoon of), ending up with a bunch of… → Read More
We all know by now that the right mentor can be a huge boon to your career. But actually finding the right Larry Summers to your Sheryl Sandberg can be awkward at best, and impossible at worst.
A new startup launching today called Everwise is looking to help. The San Francisco and New York-based startup, which was co-founded by tech industry veteran and current Yahoo board chairman Maynard… → Read More
Path hasn’t had a particularly smooth road in terms of PR lately, but today brings some good news from the social networking app.
Path will announce today that its app will be built in for one-touch downloading as a featured app on several new Sprint devices: The Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and Torque. The app will be featured along with a handful of others that have been selected for Sprint’s… → Read More
Movable Ink, a New York City-based company whose technology lets clients create more relevant email marketing campaigns, has taken on $11 million in a fresh round of funding.
The funding, which serves as Movable Ink’s Series B, was led by Intel Capital with the participation of previous investors Contour Venture Partners, Metamorphic Ventures, ff Venture Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, and Wilson… → Read More
It’s been a while since the TechCrunch TV team has taken a tropical vacation, but we were able to take a walk on the wild side (no passports required) while shooting this latest episode of Cribs at open platform-as-a-service startup DotCloud.
DotCloud’s office is smack in the middle of the financial district of San Francisco, but when you step inside it feels like you’re in the middle of a… → Read More
Mondays aren’t always smile-inducing, but today two news stories cropped up that were pretty fun — and showed the increasing crossover between the worlds of technology and hip-hop.
First, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg signed up for a verified profile on Andreessen Horowitz-backed “hip-hop Wikipedia” RapGenius to help decode the preamble to her best-selling business book Lean In. → Read More
When it comes to quickly growing markets, it’s hard to beat Brazil, where an emerging middle class is driving strong demand for all kinds of products — particularly in the e-commerce sector.
The latest startup primed to take advantage of this boom is Basico, which just raised $500,000 in seed funding led by Initial Capital, the Israeli/Brazilian VC fund headed up by investor (and frequent… → Read More
Everlane has built a really unique business that straddles the tech and consumer spaces, by using technology to provide luxury quality apparel at much lower prices than traditional high-end designers. But with that success has also come copycats — particularly abroad, where Everlane has not yet expanded its business (at the moment the company is operating only in the United States and Canada.) → Read More
Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon has been a big part of the New York City scene for years — and finance has long been a dominant industry in the city. So when talking about the ascent of Bitcoin onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Dixon directly addressed corruption in Wall Street, we thought it’d be interesting to follow up and hear more. → Read More
A funny thing has happened in tech in recent years. It used to be that you could expect a venture-backed company to file for an IPO soon after a few rounds of funding — after, say, its Series C or Series D raise. But now we’re seeing companies’ venture capital investment go well into the hundreds of millions, and valuations cross over into the 10-figure range, with no S-1 filing in sight. Sequoia… → Read More
Lightbank, the venerated Chicago-based venture capital firm, made a very good decision this morning: It’s removing these large-scale photos of people falling from buildings that have been hanging in its lobby for the past couple days.
Of course, the question is why anyone thought this kind of decoration would be a good idea in the first place (not surprisingly, the negative outcry was swift and… → Read More
Ron Conway, David Lee, and Brian Pokorny meet new startup founders practically every day as investors at renowned angel funding firm SV Angel. So when they came backstage at this week’s Disrupt NYC event after their on-stage talk with Michael Arrington, I asked them to talk about the most inspiring up-and-coming founders they’ve met with lately — people who may be flying a little more under the… → Read More
Yesterday, Viddy filed a regulatory document with the US Securities and Exchange Comission that seemed to indicate that the Los Angeles-based video sharing startup had raised $2.85 million in new funds.
While cash infusions are always good things, that particular amount would be a big step down for Viddy in comparison to its frothy past — just a year ago, the company closed on a $30 million… → Read More
For some of us, hanging out with our parents is something best relegated to off-work hours and holidays. But Kenneth Lerer and Ben Lerer have had some big successes working together at Lerer Ventures, the New York City venture capital firm whose portfolio includes BuzzFeed, Warby Parker, Everlane, FancyHands, and many others. → Read More
Kevin Ryan has had a lot of variety in his career so far, with a front-row seat building companies including DoubleClick, Gilt Groupe, 10gen, and Business Insider. And recently it’s been reported that he could add another very interesting facet to his resume by running for mayor of New York City.
So when we had the opportunity to talk with Ryan backstage at the Disrupt NYC 2013 show, we asked… → Read More
The Disrupt NYC 2013 Hackathon winners were just announced (congratulations, Rambler!) But amidst all the celebration, it’s important to remember that it’s been a very long and largely sleepless 30-hour road to victory for the 164 teams that presented onstage today. → Read More
Financial advisory services often aren’t targeted at the people at the lower end of the economic spectrum — and arguably, those are the folks who really need money advice the most.
That’s where Scaffold, an app built over the past 24 hours at the TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Hackathon, wants to help out. Scaffold aims to be a financial advisory platform that can give actionable insights to lower… → Read More
Live from New York it’s CrunchWeek, the weekly show where a few of us writers gather ’round the TechCrunch TV cameras and chitchat about a few of the most interesting stories from the past seven days in the world of tech. At the moment we’re in New York City for Disrupt NY next week, and the weather here is pretty amazing — so Jordan Crook, Ryan Lawler and I decided to film… → Read More
PICT, a San Francisco-based startup that has built a “shoppable photo” technology platform for brands and retailers that embeds smart watermarks into images, is emerging a bit out of stealth mode today with the beta launch of the newest version of its mobile and web app.
The company, which we first met as “Dropt” when it graduated out of the AngelPad accelerator last year, is also announcing… → Read More
Ecomom, the Las Vegas-based e-commerce site for eco-friendly kids’ products founded by the late Jody Sherman, wound down its operations due to financial insolvency soon after Sherman’s death at the age of 47 in January 2013.
But there is a silver lining of sorts: Today it was announced that Ecomom’s assets have been acquired by GreenCupboards, a Spokane, Washington-based online retailer. Also… → Read More
It’s time for a brand spankin’ new edition of Cribs, the TechCrunch TV series where we snoop around inside the parts of hot tech companies that are typically for employees only.
Just like Walt Whitman, the tech industry contains multitudes, and we try to represent it all in Cribs. That means that in addition to touring smaller startups, we also like to go inside established tech giants — and… → Read More
Crowdfunding has changed the game for many grownups who need money to achieve their dreams, whether that’s making a film, building a unique new gadget, or becoming president. But sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are for adults. When kids need to raise money for their schools or extra-curricular projects, they’re often still using decades-old methods like selling candy bars or wrapping paper. → Read More
The weekend is finally here, and so is another episode of CrunchWeek, the TechCrunch TV show where a few of us writers sit down for some real talk about the stories that dominated the tech world over the past seven days. → Read More
The Exploratorium, San Francisco’s hands-on science and technology learning museum, is set to open up next week in its brand new location at Pier 15 right on the Bay, and we got the chance to head inside a few days early and take a look at the new digs. Many cities have science museums, but this one has an extra dose of tech cred… → Read More
Bitcoins may be getting a lot of buzz, but the market for products that deal with old fashioned dollars and cents is apparently still strong.
To wit: Motif Investing, the Silicon Valley startup headed up by Microsoft alum Hardeep Walia that lets people invest their money in themed groups of stocks called “motifs”, has raised $25 million in a new round of funding led by Goldman Sachs.
This… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
