Mike Ghaffary left Social Capital in August, shortly before the firm announced it would no longer raise outside capital.
View More Canvas Ventures hires former Social Capital GP Mike GhaffaryCategory: Yelp
Trump fans look for safe spaces with an app avoiding ‘MAGAphobic’ restaurants
Donald Trump supporters are turning to a Yelp-like restaurant review app in search of safe spaces.
Dubbing the society-wide repulsion to the president’s signature red hats as “MAGAphobic,” Trump fans are using the app “63red Safe” as a guide to conservative-friendly restaurants. The Daily Beast reports that the app’s users rate businesses based on if the owners “make political social media posts” and if customers are allowed to carry weapons.
63red Safe founder Scott Wallace told the Daily Beast that he’s “trying to position it as an everyday ‘where can I go to eat safely’ app” — similar to the Green Book that African American drivers used during the Jim Crow era to determine what establishments were safe, except it’s to protect people from name-calling and getting their hats taken, not keeping them safe from hate crimes. Read more…
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View More Trump fans look for safe spaces with an app avoiding ‘MAGAphobic’ restaurantsKhosla GP launches Bling Capital to help seed-stage startups build products
Ben Ling, a Khosla general partner until next month, is closing in on $60 million for his debut fund.
View More Khosla GP launches Bling Capital to help seed-stage startups build productsSequoia leads $10M round for home improvement negotiator Setter
You probably don’t know how much it should cost to get your home’s windows washed, yard landscaped or countertops replaced. But Setter does. The startup pairs you with a home improvement concierge familiar with all the vendors, prices and common screwups that plague these jobs. Setter finds the best contractors across handiwork, plumbing, electrical, carpentry […]
View More Sequoia leads $10M round for home improvement negotiator SetterEnvoy raises $43 million to digitize your office
The office might not seem like an area in desperate need of disruption, but Envoy — a Silicon Valley company used to sign in over 100,000 visitors at offices across the world each day; and a TechCrunch SF office neighbor! — has raised $43 million to do just that. The company started life five years […]
View More Envoy raises $43 million to digitize your officeGoogle Maps just made it way easier to plan group dinners
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Group dinners can be a drag. Not because your friends and family are terrible, but because deciding on a place to go can be such a struggle.
But in Google’s latest move that encroaches on Yelp, Google Maps will now let you decide where to eat out with a shareable list of restaurants, bars, or clubs to choose from — whether it’s a birthday dinner or ladies night out.
Starting Wednesday, Google Maps will let users add restaurant options to a list that can be shared via any messaging platform. Others in the group message can add or remove ideas and vote on favorite places in the list — all within Google Maps on Android or iOS. Read more…
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View More Google Maps just made it way easier to plan group dinnersDonald Trump just basically Yelp reviewed Michael Cohen
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Donald Trump has finally spoken out about his former lawyer Michael Cohen, and it appears he’s not very pleased with his services.
After Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight counts and Michael Cohen reached a plea deal and implicated Trump of campaign finance crimes, Trump decided Wednesday morning to offer a tongue-in-cheek review of Cohen’s legal services.
The president hopped on his own personal version of Yelp, Twitter, and gave his former lawyer the equivalent of a one-star review.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” Trump tweeted. Ouch. Burn. Read more…
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View More Donald Trump just basically Yelp reviewed Michael CohenWhere’s the Pulitzer prize for these reviews of New York City beaches?
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More than any other city on Earth, New Yorkers are uniquely adept at complaining — and putting up with shit.
It’s what makes the city great. New Yorkers won’t settle for a mediocre piece of pizza, but they’ll happily sit on urine-coated subway plastic, just so they don’t have to stand. They’ll refuse to eat at a chain restaurant, but they’ll gladly crowd into an un-air conditioned attic “loft” in Bushwick to have their birth charts read.
When it comes to ranking beaches, no one has sicker, more disturbing standards than New Yorkers. Their rude reviews show them for who they are: masters of the form. Read more…
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Yelp partners with event management startup Gather to make planning your next party easier
Event management software company Gather today announced the introduction of its Gather Booking Network, and inaugural partners Yelp and EVENTup. The network is designed to help party goers, venues and event planners connect more easily and start celebrating sooner. Gather was founded in 2013 by CEO and co-founder Nick Miller, Alex Lassiter (SVP of Sales) […]
View More Yelp partners with event management startup Gather to make planning your next party easierYelp can’t be forced to delete your terrible, mean comments, court rules
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While Yelp will forever be a battleground of hot takes and battles between business owners and customers, the site won a legal skirmish that, for now, protects it from liability over negative reviews.
So sayeth the California Supreme Court, anyway, who ruled 4-3 this week in favor of the online review site, affirming that the site was free from liability when people who are Mad Online™ say mean things about a place of business.
The case, reports the New York Times, stemmed from a San Francisco attorney who claimed a former client’s Yelp posts about his business were defamatory. A San Francisco Superior Court judge agreed and ordered the posts taken down. When the client didn’t delete the posts, the attorney got a court order for Yelp to delete them. But Yelp continued its fight through the legal system. Read more…
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View More Yelp can’t be forced to delete your terrible, mean comments, court rulesRestaurant bombarded with Yelp reviews after refusing to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders
The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, is being bombarded with online reviews after refusing to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Donald Trump’s press secretary, and her family.
On Friday night, Jaike Foley-Schultz, who claims to be a waiter at T…
How Yelp (mostly) shut down its own data centers and moved to AWS
Back in 2013, Yelp was a 9-year old company built on a set of internal systems. It was coming to the realization that running its own data centers might not be the most efficient way to run a business that was continuing to scale rapidly. At the same time, the company understood that the tech […]
View More How Yelp (mostly) shut down its own data centers and moved to AWS