This week I caught up with Ethan Diamond, one of the co-founders of email startup Oddpost, which in 2004 was sold to Yahoo and became the Ajax-y interface for Yahoo’s Mail. I first met Ethan that same year, when I was researching my “The New Road To Riches” story for Business 2.0. It was back in the early days of Web 2.0, when everyone knew everyone.
I was introduced to Ethan, Oddpost’s other co-founder, Iain Lamb, and former Oddpost CEO Toni Schneider by Anil Dash. Long story short, but that meeting essentially set off a chain of events that led to me leaving my job, going solo and getting financial backing for GigaOM from True Ventures, where Toni is now a partner.
Today, Toni is also an investor in Ethan’s new startup, BandCamp, which rather than email is focused on music. While Iain isn’t part of this reunion, Shawn Grunberger, also from Oddpost/Yahoo, is.
So what is this four-man startup — which is currently completely virtual — doing? Ethan was coy when I first met him, and he hasn’t changed. The first offering from his new company is ClubWiki, a venue info and booking wiki. He explains why they started it on the company blog. It seems to be getting good reviews from the musical crowd, despite early days.
3 comments so far
9:53 AM PT
Here, here, Om. I was so enamored too with how these guys started their business. Every day I would browse their photo collection of them working in libraries and coffee shops for inspiration. I just had to try and accomplish my startup dreams with the same perseverance. They’ve been a huge motivator in how we got started at Inkling.
10:30 AM PT
It’s so cool how those connections play out over the years. The best thing is that everybody you’ve mentioned is still out there trying new things and being entrepreneurial, including you! :)
2:11 PM PT
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