The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Jan 2014

Just.me, now Just.me, Inc., has repurposed its retired mobile messaging platform into an app development studio focused on standalone messaging products. Its first release, Chance, connects users with random strangers for private chats with disappearing texts and images; images are blurred and require a tap to reveal, and users can skip matches with a “Next” button. To curb abuse Chance relies on community self-policing with blocks and graduated bans (24-hour ban after five blocks; permanent after three 24-hour bans). The company plans multiple spinouts from the platform, with a second app expected within a few months, and will iterate to find product–market fit. Operational costs have fallen sharply: Chance runs at about $5,000/month versus the original Just.me’s $250,000/month. Previously Just.me auctioned its assets to address $1.5 million in venture debt, and Keith Teare (via his incubator Archimedes Labs) won the auction and reclaimed the assets; the small founding team (Teare and designer Alex Komarov) now run the business full-time. The company is actively fundraising on AngelList and has raised $200,000 so far; prior investors Google Ventures, True Ventures and other individuals are shareholders. Just.me is a U.S. mobile messaging startup that aims to be a one-stop messaging-cum-social-sharing platform. Its apps (launched on iOS in April, later expanded to Android) emphasize quick selfie messages, placing a selfie option first in the compose screen. The app includes Instagram-style filters, a movable blur effect, automatic #selfie hashtagging for public browsing, and privacy controls to restrict visibility to specific friends or only yourself. Just.me reported about 250,000 users in its first three months on iOS and has added iPad-optimized and Android tablet interfaces. Founder Keith Teare (partner at Archimedes Labs and TechCrunch co-founder) said the selfie feature responds to existing user behavior on the public feed. The article notes Android users will presumably get the quickie selfie feature in due course. Just.me launched its first iOS app after a beta and offers a spectrum of messaging: private one-to-one, contained group chats, public broadcasts on a public just.me cloud, and a private journal/storage mode. The app is available in 155 countries and 32 languages on iOS, and the team planned an Android release in six to eight weeks. The company is positioning itself as a distributed, open alternative to centralized social networks and aims to collapse multiple app functions into one interface. Its design leans toward a clean, professional look intended to appeal to older, professional power users rather than a youth market. Just.me is a 14-person startup and faces user-acquisition challenges common to messaging apps, since usefulness depends on friends adopting the platform. Financially, it raised a $2.7 million Series A in 2011 from a syndicate of well-known investors. just.me is a stealth social mobile startup focused on building a post‑PC social network. The company emphasizes known identities, mutual trust, controlled levels of intimacy, and boundaries of shared information. It was born from Keith Teare’s incubator, Archimedes Ventures, and is led by Teare, a serial entrepreneur and co‑founder of TechCrunch. Teare previously co‑founded RealNames Corporation and The EasyNet Group and declined to give specifics about the product. just.me has raised seed funding and plans to launch later this year. Michael Arrington is disclosed as a shareholder.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2013

Retrace is a meeting-focused iPhone app that integrates with Google Calendar to create shared workspaces around each meeting where participants can share notes, photos, tasks and contact profiles (LinkedIn/Facebook). The product emphasizes post-meeting follow-up—summaries, action items, and searchable notes—while also supporting preparation and location/direction features. Retrace launched in a limited beta after debuting at Disrupt NY’s Startup Battlefield and has been developed since June by founders Austin Marusco (CEO) and Kenan Pulak (CTO). The company plans to expand to other platforms including desktop web and to integrate with Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive for document sharing. Its business model is freemium: the basic app is free, with premium features such as profile customization and integrations (for example, Salesforce) behind a paid tier. Early interest reportedly comes from VCs and salespeople, who the founders expect to be early adopters.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2012

M.dot offers an iOS app that enables small business owners to create and manage standalone mobile websites using templates and simple on‑device controls for features like photo galleries, blogs, store hours, logos and social sharing. The app is designed with a mobile‑first mindset and lets users add pages on the fly or scrape photos and text from an existing website to populate a predefined mobile template. The company positions itself as a standalone mobile presence solution rather than a mobilizer that layers mobile CSS onto an existing site. M.dot is based in Redwood City and operates with a team of five co‑founders Dominik Balogh and Serbajlo Pavel among the team. The startup is currently free to users; future monetization plans call for a yearly subscription that would include hosting on the M.dot domain and promotion on third‑party services. The company also plans to work on mobile promotion, third‑party integrations, creating distribution channels, and building apps for Android, iPad and possibly the web.