Fred Vogelstein decided to begin his article about me in Wired last year with the story about the Dutch entrepreneurs who broke into my house, with Starbucks, hoping to pitch me. Since then, at least once a month an entrepreneur shows up hoping to pitch us, usually bringing their saddest eyes and the most extravagant gifts available at the local convenience story.
Usually they manage to get in the front door while I flee out the back, and one of the TechCrunch writers then meets with them. Every once in a while we find an interesting story that way, but we do not encourage random shows ups. And if you break into the house at night time, I’m likely to swing my aluminum baseball bat first and interview you second.
Yesterday Martin Obert showed up at the house and unfortunately I was in the living room – meaning he could see me from the front door and the team couldn’t lie about my whereabouts to protect me. Besides, he brought beer, red bull and dog treats. We let him in for a few minutes to demo Gloofi.
Loren from 1938 Media was here talking with Steve Gillmor, and was immediately on edge. He took the video interview of the whole thing above.
I still say it’s best to make an appointment before stopping by the house. And if you must just show up randomly, prepare to be harassed on video.
So what’s Gloofi? Its a poorly designed but nifty search tool that needs some work. We interviewed him properly on video (not the one above) and it will be put up on their Crunchbase page next week.