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18 May, 2014

Almost missed Boost deal

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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.’

9 Mar, 2012

Talks about Loopt acquisition

Interview0 Comments

Altman discusses the $43.4 million cash buyout by Green Dot, which includes $9.8 million set aside in retention payments for key Loopt employees. Loopt’s services will be shut down and its Silicon Valley team will develop mobile services for the payments provider. Altman:

Many of the companies in the mobile location space are trying to figure out different ways to tie what they’re doing to commerce … We’ve all realized the critical piece is how you tie in commerce and payments.

20 Apr, 2011

Where 2.0 interview

Interview0 Comments

Altman tells O’Reilly Media online managing editor Mac Slocum that Loopt is shifting from its focus on connecting people socially:

A big change over the last year has been an expansion of that to connect people to the places around them as well

Sam Altman interviewed at Where 2.0 2011

13 Mar, 2011

SXSW interview

Interview0 Comments

Altman tells CrunchGear about Loopt’s plans, saying the company is aiming to focus on data over the coming year:

[…] we’ve really been focused more and more on [Facebook] Places, this hyper-specific data layer

He says the deals that work best for the company are things like free stuff being given away on a street corner for a limited time, or 50% off a restaurant for one night only:

The things that work the best are what we call flash deals, these are very, very time-limited, high-value, and they are pushed to the user.

CrunchGear: Interview With Loopt's Sam Altman At SXSW 2011

14 Nov, 2006

Announces Boost deal

Announcement0 Comments

It will allow users of the Sprint subsidiary to share location, status updates, and other information, and is aimed at young and social subscribers.

Boosts tagline asks the question Where you at? And now Loopts social mapping service can answer that question for every Boost Mobile user.

16 Aug, 2005

Loopt joins Y Combinator

Fundraising0 Comments

Loopt joins the inaugural batch and receives a reported $6,000. Altman says the money-saving culture at Y Combinator, which extends to things like readymade meals, helps develop the location-based mobile app company develop:

That culture of frugality and discipline is really important for the Y Combinator mindset. The start-ups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.