Sorry, NYC, Tumblr selling to Yahoo was not the "win" we needed
By Erin Griffith , written on May 20, 2013  From The News Desk
New York has advertising in its DNA. But somehow the city's two
most promising startups -- Foursquare and Tumblr -- have failed
to capitalize on it.  We're not surprised when Silicon Valley
startups focus on product and eyeballs and then waltz into an ad
agency's office assuming advertisers are desperate to give them
money. Valley startups are not supposed to understand how
advertising works. Or so the stereotype goes.  What is
surprising is the fact that Facebook and Twitter built large
advertising businesses from the Valley, while Foursquare and
Tumblr struggled to do so just two miles from Madison Avenue.
Foursquare had a difficult round of fundraising earlier this
year, narrowly avoiding a down round by taking on debt. And
while Tumblr has crossed the symbolic $1 billion line with its
sale to Yahoo, it did so with a gargantuan user base and
pathetic $13 million in 2012 revenues