Comments on: Facebook, Accel and Founders Fund Launch fbFund; To Give Grants To Facebook App Startups

By: Ashutosh Nilkanth’s Blog | It’s Time to Tap the World’s Biggest Marketplace

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:58:13 +0000

[...] (18/09): Facebook has announced a $10 million fund for Facebook application developers. Posted under Business, Featured [...]

By: Facebook Platform, One Year Later

Facebook Platform, One Year Later — Sat, 24 May 2008 08:28:48 +0000

[...] September at TechCrunch40, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced fbFund, a joint funding venture from Accel and Founders Fund that would earmark $10 Million for Facebook apps. The project got off [...]

By: The iFund Has Competition: $150 Million Blackberry Fund To Be Announced Soon

The iFund Has Competition: $150 Million Blackberry Fund To Be Announced Soon — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:39:55 +0000

[...] to dangle money in front of startups to attract them to their platform these days? (See also the fbFund for Facebook startups and and the MySpace incubator spinoff Slingshot Labs). What ever happened to simply building the [...]

By: Facebook is a fad! « Abhishaken

Facebook is a fad! « Abhishaken — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:28:27 +0000

[...] of my friends. So when I see so many more people joining Facebook and hear about VCs excited about funding Facebook apps, I’m truly surprised. Every time I login, I feel overwhelmed with useless [...]

By: Entrepreneur 27 Singapore: Web 2.0 Unconferences, Sites & Cool Tech » Blog Archive » Kleiner Perkins jumpstarts iPhone Apps industry with $100m Fund

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:39:22 +0000

[...] are also other similar, but smaller funds announced to invest in Facebook Apps - $10 million fbFund and a Facebook-only fund from Bay [...]

By: Kleiner Perkins Anounces $100 million iFund for iPhone Applications

Kleiner Perkins Anounces $100 million iFund for iPhone Applications — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:54:02 +0000

[...] is in line with similar, if smaller, funds announced to invest in Facebook apps, the $10 million fbFund and a Facebook-only fund from Bay [...]

By: Deft Labs » Blog Archive » Chapter 3.0: The Platform Wars

Deft Labs » Blog Archive » Chapter 3.0: The Platform Wars — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:54:49 +0000

[...] is how do you attract developers to your platform? Facebook and their VC partners announced a $10M fund and claim that over 80,000 developers have registered so far. This is an impressive number but [...]

By: MySpace Answers Facebook’s fbFund With Incubator Slingshot Labs : New Web 2.0 Magazine

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:19:27 +0000

[...] months after Facebook announced the formation of the $10 million fbFund to provide seed capital for startups building Facebook apps, MySpace is responding with its own [...]

By: Web Apps As Platforms « Jimmy Z

Web Apps As Platforms « Jimmy Z — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:40:40 +0000

[...] and web app platforms are now finding value. In September, Facebook, Accel and Founders Fund launched a Facebook fund to give investment money to the most promising Facebook App ideas. Why code up a new social network [...]

By: Tom Krieglstein

Tom Krieglstein — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:03:45 +0000

I really don’t think it’s in the long term interest of FB to steal anyones idea. It would be like ebay seeing what business do well on their platform and then internally replicating it for a profit. It’s just not the business model of the platform.

The success of the platform is UGC, and if FB pisses off it’s users then it has no platform.

By: EyeWash - Jonny Wing » Blog Archive » Facebook Mass Rejects All fbFund Applicants And Starts Over

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:39:17 +0000

[...] Facebook announced fbFund, a new program to give grants to Facebook application developers, at TechCrunch40, they clearly [...]

By: Facebook Mass Rejects All fbFund Applicants And Starts Over

Facebook Mass Rejects All fbFund Applicants And Starts Over — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:16:54 +0000

[...] Facebook announced fbFund, a new program to give grants to Facebook application developers, at TechCrunch40, they clearly [...]

By: Facebook To Launch Friend Grouping

Facebook To Launch Friend Grouping — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:09:33 +0000

[...] developers will probably wonder if getting a cash grant from Facebook’s just-announced fbFund will lessen the likelihood of direct competition from the company. Only time will [...]

By: fbFund - What does it mean for Facebook?

fbFund - What does it mean for Facebook? — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:55:05 +0000

fbFund - What does it mean for Facebook?…

So about a week ago Mark Hendrickson at Tech Crunch reported that Facebook (along with a number of high profile VCs) will be launching a $10 million fund for Facebook application developers……

By: If Facebook Just Wastes Time, Can’t It Be Easily Replaced?

If Facebook Just Wastes Time, Can’t It Be Easily Replaced? — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:11:09 +0000

[...] At TechCrunch40, everyone got super excited when Mark Zuckerberg announced the new venture fund they’d be starting to spur on the growth of Facebook applications. They have apparently set away $10 million for this. I guess this means I can apply to get $25k to build the next generation in Zombie biting Facebook applications. [...]

By: Jimmy Huen

Jimmy Huen — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:46:16 +0000

Does anybody know if taking the grant, will it confine the growth of the app within facebook only and not allowed to extend to an external site later?

Let’s say if I apply and got accepted and the app grew, and I wish to have its own external website like I originally wanted to, will taking part in the “grant” kill that?

By: IntrudersTV

IntrudersTV — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:49:17 +0000

Here is the video of Michael Arrington interviewing Mark Zuckerberg at TechCrunch40 including the fbFund announcement

By: ramkumar

ramkumar — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:41:35 +0000

I think its a good idea by Facebook idea to fund applications built on its own platform but I wonder whether its a reaction to Bay Partners initiatives.

By: chrisco

chrisco — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:40:33 +0000

@ Trey (#22): Thanks… dhoo! I just right clicked the link in #4 and pasted and hit send… and the right click picked up the “.”

By: aguytryingtofinishhisspaghetti

aguytryingtofinishhisspaghetti — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 03:24:23 +0000

I’m not convinced, yet, that there are a bunch of ideas out there left to be discovered. FB has 60+ of the smartest developers around and they aren’t coming up with anything better than a politics app. Also, running popular apps may be expensive, but creating them isn’t and not many of these creators are holding back because of what it could cost if it becomes popular… i don’t think. And you know, there have already been a few socially smart/successful apps that have been built but have done horribly (digg and delicious). Maybe the platform is there, but nobody’s figured it out yet…including fb.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 03:08:02 +0000

This only make sense considering the high costs of running popular FB apps that companies have reported. Whether or not this is a good move on Facebook’s part, is another question.

As pointed out, there are far too many annoying or useless apps out there that dilute the content of the site. The aim of funding is to increase the quality of the applications and make it a viable option for startups. But will Facebook users accept the further influx of apps that will result from this announcement?

By: aguytryingtofinishhisspaghetti

aguytryingtofinishhisspaghetti — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:22:21 +0000

I’m going to burst everyone’s bubble just a sec.

This is simply a last hope at getting some really good ideas on fb. The fb team doesn’t have any (or else they would make them) And the majority of ideas thus far, are, for the most part, useless. The platform is going to have to change or app sickness will surely set it.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:46:14 +0000

Has anyone that applied to Bay Partners received any funding? Their supposed “fast track” approval process has been anything but to me and my team.

This will no doubt undermine the popularity and viability of Bay Partners program, as facebook can and will likely give preferential treatment to its “in house” projects.

For this reason alone, maybe its a good thing Bay Partners has been so slow, as I’d much rather get funding by fbFund…

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:57:39 +0000

Does anyone know what type of confidentiality agreement, if any is involved in the process? Isn’t this a way for facebook to harvest the ideas then take them for themselves, at least the good ones?

By: Trey Philips

Trey Philips — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:55:42 +0000

@ chrisco (#18): remove the period from the end of that email address (.com., with the period, is not a domain)