Jonathan Abrams-TWiST #303

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Jason travels to Founders Den in San Francisco to sit down with its founder, Jonathan Abrams. In addition to Founders Den, Abrams is famously known as the founder of Friendster. On this episode we hear first hand about the history of Friendster, Jonathan's latest project, Nuzzel, and the ambiguous future of entrepreneurship as seen from 2012.

1:20 Let's welcome Jonathan Abrams of Founders Den
2:00 Thanks to SnapTerms for their sponsorship. We use their products and they use witty funny language, it's a great service. Enter the term TWIST and you will get a free NDA with your order
5:30 What was the moment you got the idea for Friendster?
6:20 What was San Francisco like in those dark days for you? What were the streets like?
8:20 At the time of Friendster the idea of using your real name on the internet was wild?
9:00 Explain what a bulletin board system was.
12:45 Some of the relationships were strange back then though right? People didn't understand why married people should be connecting
13:15 How fast did Friendster grow though? It was the first thing that went viral.
14:20 When did you know that the viral loop had started?
16:55 Who was the first investor and what was their reaction?
19:45 How long were you CEO for? What did it peak at in terms of employees?
19:20 Did you want to be replaced as CEO at that time?
21:40 How do you reconcile the disruptive VCs and the revolving door of CEOs as an entrepreneur?
22:00 MAILCHIMP. Thanks to mailchimp for their partnership. It's the Gold Standard. The free plan is always free.
25:00 How do you reconcile the disruptive VCs and the revolving door of CEOs as an entrepreneur?
25:45 Did you get anything out of the deal?
28:20 Was it a great feeling when you found success again with Friendster?
25:20 What was the bad technological decision that hurt Friendster?
29:45 Why was it so bad to switch between technologies?
31:10 Even though Zuck basically stole Friendster, he was at least a great technologist right?
31:45 Did Zuckerberg ever try and hire you?
32:40 Please explain what Founders Den is to us.
33:15 When and why did you want to start this coworking space?
34:00 So people aren't coming to Founders Den to get your advice?
35:20 So how does the pricing work at Founders Den
35:45 Who are the sponsors?
37:30 Tell me about Nuzzel.
40:00 So you coded this entire service yourself?
41:00 Did you feel like to a certain success Friendster's success came from your coding?
43:00 How is Nuzzel going so far?
43:30 How exactly does it work?
45:00 What do you have to worry about if you're entering the market not as the first company?
50:10 What do you think of Path?
51:10 What do you think about Facebook now, as it approaches its 10th birthday?
53:10 What has Facebook done that is innovative? They are really just executors, not innovators.
54:45 What do you think the key of entrepreneurship is?
58:30 Do you think it's too easy to be an entrepreneur today?
58:55 Why would someone lie about founding  a company they didn't found.
63:40 Where do you think the value will be in 10 years? Is entrepreneurship is over?
64:55 I'll say a company and you tell me what you think about it.
69:45 Thanks to the sponsors See you next time.

FOLLOW ON TWITTER

Jason: @jason
Jonathan: @abrams
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Special thanks to the members of the TWiST Backchannel Program!

Executive Producers

• Louis-Eric Simard
• Benjamin Gifford
• Jacek Artymiak
• Octavian Mihai
• Will Paoletto
• Geoffrey Clapp
• Jeff Hoffer
• Austin Miller
• Rashaun Sourles
• Robb Kunz
• Greg Berry
• Sean Lynch
• Mary Ann Halford
• Jim Joyce
• Morgan Howard
• Margaret Johns
• Kyle M. Brown
• Paul Cole
• Nick Duncan
• Magnus Ingvarsson
• Amir Ayalon
• Carlos Zaidenweber
• Avery Keitt
• Joshua Shipsey

Producers

• Eli Coler
• Ted Inoue
• Radek Rybicki
• Hunter Owens
• Ildar Khakimov
• Matti Hallanoro
• Rodrigo Dauster
• Rodrigo Fuentes
• Anthony Ortenzi
• Daniel de la Cruz
• Michael Hofmann
• John Meneses
• Mike Sunyich
• Sami Rageb
• Michael Lustig
• Alex Deli
• John Davies
• Mark Burcher
• Morgan Howard
• Jeffrey Yan

Associate Producers

• Brad Pineau
• Kat Ganesan
• Nicholas Christian
• Mau Frontier
• Kyle Braatz
• Serena Ehrlich
• JD
• Alex Lotoczko
• James Kennedy
• Benoit Curdy
• Asher Nevins
• Mike Kaltschnee
• William Doom
• David Lee
• Jake Kerber
• Sarp Coskun
• Giuseppe Taibi
• Tyrone Rubin
• Keno Vigil
• Paul Peters
• Jamal Waring
• Nick Ostroff
• Alex Binkley
• John MP Knox
• Bryan McCormick
• Marcos Trinidad
• Allen Cordrey
• Daniel Mich
• Joshua Rosen
• Grant Carlile
• James Smith
• Christopher Rill
• Elliot Myhre
• Nihon Giga
• Nathan Gielis
• Greg Meadows
• Rick Cartwright
• Jacques Struwig
• Robert Ward
• Adam Gering
• Shelley Gaskin
• Jim Shute

Supporters

• Ryan Hoover
• Michael Cranston
• Josiah Thomas
• João Fernandes
• Petrus Theron
• Michael Wild
• Dale Emmons
• Tim de Jardine
• Alejandro Vasquez
• Milan Babuskov
• Chris Rowe
• Nelson Melo
• James Dawson
• Toddy Mladenov
• Daniel Torres
• Chris Macke
• Piotr Zuralski
• Armand Konan
• Brian Vogel
• Paul D
• Jennifer Sun
• David Kolb
• Sue Marrone
• Eugene Granovksy
• Will Blackton
• Ryan Dodds
• Brett Arp
• Jason Cresswell
• Edwin Orange
• Daniel Bradley
• Shawn Daniel
• Priidu Kull
• Patrick Desroches
• Alex Lam
• Paul Secor
• Ryan Urabe
• Madhu R.
• Paul Ardeleanu
• Ian Thomas
• Manny Alarcon
• Charlie Osmond
• Christopher Smitley
• Roshan H.
• Barcy Cordrey
• Matt Beaubien
• Matthew Smith
• Oscar Bueno
• Tim Hoyt
  
• Ian Gerstel
• Taphon Maddison
• John Bradley
• Luigi Armogida
• Dave Ferrara
• Janus Lindau
• Chris Mancil
• TR Ludwig
• Giles Thomas
• Jason Cartwright
• Michael Del Borrello
• Joshua Rosen
• David Karlberg
• Marcus Schappi
• Justin Furniss
• Mike Hauck
• Jess Bachman
• Isaac Hill
• Robert Haydock
• Dan Sfera
• Flaviu Simihaian
• Kiko Cherman
• Chandra Siva
• Kasper Andkjaer
• Zach Woodward
• Chris Galasso
• Chad Olsen
• Michael Grabham
• John Shiple
• Gregory Hoffman
• Chris Rickard
• Eskil Steenberg
• Jay Moran
• Karim Sarkis
• Michael Davidovich
• Petru Marchidan
• Sam Drzymala