Pulse
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Pulse was a news-reader and mobile content-distribution startup founded in 2010 by Stanford students Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta as a class project at Stanford's d.school (Alphonso Labs). Its apps aggregated news from 750+ publications plus social networks into a visual, image-rich reading experience, winning an Apple Design Award and a place on TIME's top 50 apps of 2011. It reached over 30 million users across iOS and Android in 190+ countries, and raised $10 million from Redpoint Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Greycroft, Lightspeed, NEA and Lerer Ventures.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta founded Pulse (Alphonso Labs) as a Stanford d.school class project; the iPad app launched in May 2010, was praised by Steve Jobs, and hit the top of the App Store charts.
- Acquired by LinkedIn
In April 2013 LinkedIn announced the acquisition of Pulse for about $90 million (90% stock, 10% cash), expecting to close in Q2 2013. The Pulse team moved to LinkedIn's Mountain View headquarters and the apps continued under LinkedIn's content strategy.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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