David Karp. Union Square, NYC. April 2017.
Tag: David Karp
The best place for creatives to express themselves
Last night my dear friend David Karp was honored at the NYSCI gala. I didn’t know much about NYSCI but it was an event to honor David and I felt compelled to be part of the celebration. It turns out that the NYSCI is a very cool organization that is deeply part of New York City’s history for the last 50 years.
Our table at the event was awesome. The early members of the Tumblr team came out and I even got to see Marco Arment wearing a suit and tie :)
David gave a wonderful speech that started with a few fun jokes. But then he passionately went into why Tumblr exists.
David wanted to build the very best place for creatives to express themselves. To create and share their art with the world. And that would make the world a better place because the world needs more art.
I had all these flashbacks of David telling me the same thing, ever since he was 19. It deeply matters to him. You can just feel it in his words, his eyes and his work.
And the best part? He did it. I believe Tumblr is the best place for creatives to express themselves and I am reminded of that every day.
David’s rad motorcycle project, under development.
Yahoo + Tumblr
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.