Almost missed Boost deal
Altman talks with CNBC partner site Re/Code about working with Y Combinator, and how he pitched Loopt’s deal to Boost, which had already chosen a different partner:
I had one of the many heart-sinking moments in the history of Loopt. Whoever Boost works with, Sprint will work with. And whoever Sprint works with, Verizon and AT&T will as well. So, they told us on the phone — this one thing they really wanted, the partner they were working with was not going to build. To this day, I don’t know who the partner was. So we stayed up all night, and we built that feature. It was status messages. I think I went to sleep at four, I slept till six, I got on a flight at seven to Orange County where Boost was. And I just got to that office and sat there, and the guy was like, ‘Weird, you’re in my office.’ I said, ‘Just meet me for 10 minutes, and let me know what you think.’