What the hukk?
Lala Land When you plunk down $18 million in hard-won settlement earnings on an 8,000 sq. ft. manse with "a jetliner view of L.A." you don't just around on the couch watching Bravo. Especially not if your names are Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The strapping venture capitalists recently hosted two parties at their new Hollywood Hills home. The first was feting Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell, cofounders of the fashion startup Hukkster, which recently scored a $1 million seed round from the duo. Guests included actor Jason Lewis (Samatha's boyfriend to the rest of us).
They followed that up with a fundraiser for Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, a Democrat. According to LA Weekly, Mr. Garcetti is, "the candidate who pulls out his iPhone and brags that he 'has an app for that.'" Something tell us Silicon Beach found its new mascots.
Movin' on up Looks like fledging startup Branch is taking a flying leap from its betaworks nest. Founder Josh Miller took to Instagram to share the following picture of the company's spacious new digs. The new office is on 23rd Street and 3rd Avenue, and though it will technically be the Branch office, employees of Ev Williams' new startup Medium will also work out of it. "Say hi!" tweeted Mr. Miller. "We have extra desks for creative engs, designers, & writers."
Anti-Social Media Mixel cofounder and former NYTimes.com design director Khoi Vinh has 295,000 some Twitter followers and plenty of clout/Klout. Startups take note: this is not how you want him to tweet about your company.
Disrupt litter The employees at Square--who apparently refer to themselves as "Squares," because that's the kind of place Silicon Valley is--gave their neighbors a little holiday present earlier this week. Jack Dorsey reported on Twitter that 30 people spent 30 minutes collecting trash around their office. "Over 300 pounds cleaned up," he added proudly.
Please note that a filter was used in the making of this picture.
Your own dog food Speaking of filters: While doing a little casual perusing of Instagram's relatively new web profiles, we noticed something interesting: It appears that in the month of December, Kevin Systrom has posted exactly one photo (a snapshot from Paris) to the service he founded.
Holidays, Google Style Say what you will about GOOG, but the company knows how to throw a swanky ass party. This year's New York holiday party was a carnival-themed soiree at the Waldorf Astoria, and featured glow in the dark games like Pacman and foosball 3D glasses as party favors. "Google knows how to throw down, wrote one attendee. "Masquerade masks, ridiculous decor, & epic food/booze selection."
(Photo: Instagram/Shaila)
