I met David Karp, the founder/ceo of Tumblr when he was 19. I was immediately taken with his passion and drive to create wonderful things.
Those days, David was building within his consulting company called Davidville. My friend Fred Seibert made the intro and I’m forever grateful for that.
Not too long after that David launched Tumblr to the world and I became one of it’s earliest users. I fell in love with the product. It was something I wanted to use every day and I have done just that.
During the summer of 2007, David and I spent a bunch of time together and getting to know one another. And we spent time discussing what it would be like to start a company fully focused on one thing — Tumblr.
By the end of the summer we had an agreement and we put together a first round of capital to get things going. Here is David’s post back in 2007 announcing a slew of new product improvements and that first round towards the end.
Over these years, being an investor and board member in Tumblr has taught me many things. I learned the importance of a founder led company. I learned that it’s best working with people you admire and care for. And I learned there is more than one way to build a company.
Today is a huge day in the history of Tumblr. Tumblr is joining Yahoo and the future together is incredibly exciting. A deep and heartfelt congratulations to David and the entire Tumblr team.
I am grateful David took a chance on me & we had the opportunity to work together closely for the past 6 years. Also the entire Tumblr team is simply extraordinary, from the leadership team to everyone that works each day to make Tumblr such a special place. It has been a heck of a ride and it’s bittersweet to think about getting off this ride together.
I am also thankful to this wonderful and positive community here on Tumblr. The friendships I’ve made with people all over the planet changed my life.
I’ll end this post by reblogging a line from my friend David Karp.
Fuck yeah.