The team behind Yobongo, the location-based mobile chat application that was acquired by Mixbook in March, is finally ready to reveal what they’ve been up to in the months since. We already knew that Mixbook wanted to expand into the mobile photobook space, and had essentially hired the Yobongo team for their talents, not the Yobongo application itself. And those talents have been put to good use… → Read More
Yobongo has a problem that isn’t an easy one to solve. They want to create a realtime communication tool centered around location. But if people around you aren’t always on Yobongo, what do you do? Two new features aim to address that key issue. “Around” and “Nudge”.
Both new features launch today in the latest version of the app. And they make a lot of sense from an interaction perspective. → Read More
Of all the apps clumped together in the group messaging space, Yobongo is fairly unique. It’s far more reliant on realtime chat than the others which can be fun, but also leads to its own set of problems. For example, what if you don’t know anyone else in the chat room you’re in and you need something to talk about? That’s where a new feature called “Pondering” comes in.
Launching today alongside… → Read More
“We spoke to investors in October but many people doubted that Yobongo would work. So we went and kept working on the product,” Yobongo co-founder Caleb Elston says. “A few weeks ago we got the product into peoples hands and literally 10 minutes from sending the beta to one of our investors he called, emailed, texted, and Yobongo messaged me. ‘I get it, I’m in.’,” he continues.
And that one… → Read More
If you are a group texting startup worth your salt, you’ve got to have a new app ready for the upcoming SXSW conference in Austin. GroupMe, Beluga (which was just bought by Facebook), Kik, TextPlus, and offshoots like Yobongo will all be strutting their stuff. Not to be outdone, Fast Society just pushed out a completely revamped iPhone app and an Android app is coming out today as well.
I… → Read More
We’ve written about Yobongo a couple of times now. It’s an interesting concept (location-centric realtime mobile chat) with great execution. But that execution has so far only had to withstand 140 or so beta testers. Starting today, the app goes live to everyone in three major cities: San Francisco, New York, and Austin, Texas.
The last one is key, as part of Yobongo’s launch strategy is clearly… → Read More
A month ago, we detailed a new location-based realtime chat service called Yobongo. At the time, co-founder Caleb Elston didn’t want us to show shots of the app in action because it was still a work-in-progress. But now he’s finally comfortable enough with everything that he’s asking beta testers to do just that. And he should be, as the app both looks great and needs to be ready to go for the… → Read More
Believe it or not, in the 1990s, it used to be considered fun to go into a chat room on the Internet and talk to complete strangers. We all did it, if only to see what exactly was going on out there. The fundamental idea of being able to connect instantly with anyone around the world is an interesting one. Then spammers, creeps, and weirdos came and ruined everything. This is something Caleb… → Read More
It was just over a year ago that Caleb Elston announced he would be leaving Miami and heading to San Francisco to become the VP of Product for Justin.tv. As of today, he’s out to commit himself to his new startup, Yobongo, a stealth startup centered around mobile communications and sharing, we’re told. And Elston is taking a fellow Justin.tv employee with him — David Kasper, a software engineer… → Read More
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Menlo Park, CA
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San Francisco, CA
