CrowdRise + GoFundMe

“We only have two rules at CrowdRise. No yawning and no sorries”

That was one of the earliest things the CrowdRise CEO and cofounder Robert Wolfe said to me in response to my question, “sorry, can I ask you a dumb question?”

In many ways that captures the attitude and spirit of the company that Robert and his other cofounders Jeffrey Wolfe, Edward Norton and Shauna Robertson built. And when you combine that spirit with a company on a mission to help people, non profits and charities, well you get something truly inspiring.

Today is a big day for CrowdRise. After a successful seven year run,the company signed a merger agreement with GoFundMe yesterday. The combination is an exciting one — both organizations have a shared mission, values and purpose.

In many ways CrowdRise feels like family. Jeffrey and Robert are brothers. Edward and Shauna are spouses. Many folks on the team came from the Wolfe’s previous company. My fellow board member Fred Wilson is a dear friend for over ten years (and I am especially grateful to him for introducing me to the company). The bond within this company is quite special and I am happy to see such a great outcome.

Thank you to the CrowdRise founders and team. And congratulations, it’s going to be exciting to watch.

Bangkok, Thailand, Part I

Last month our family made a trip to Thailand and Cambodia.

The photographs above and the next post is from our first few days in Bangkok.

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All images taken on Kodak Portra 400 film and developed and scanned by the kind folks at Richard Photo Lab in California.

Trello + Atlassian

Over the weekend, the Trello board signed a merger agreement with Atlassian. The deal was announced earlier this morning. It’s an exciting moment for both companies.

It wasn’t very long ago when we invested in the first and only round of capital at Trello. My partners and I were blown away using Trello and we were already big fans of cofounders Michael and Joel — as Spark is also investors in their other company Stack Overflow. I wrote up my thoughts at the time here

In less than three years, the team at Trello created a very special company. A company focused on building beautiful products, a fantastic culture and true operational excellence.  

It has been my absolute pleasure to serve on the Trello board. Thank you Michael and Joel and the rest of the Trello team. And congratulations.