Fanchatter
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
Some sections are still being researched2 / 4
Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
FanChatter was a Minneapolis-based mobile social network for sports fans, launched in 2007 by Marty Wetherall, a former Fallon advertising producer. It began as a website where fans talked about sports and shared cell-phone photos, then pioneered displaying fan photos on stadium Jumbotrons — the Minnesota Twins were the first client in 2008, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild. Its ChatterBox widget aggregated tweets and blog posts about a game or event (used by E! Online for the Grammys and Golden Globes), letting teams embed real-time fan conversation on their own sites. The company was selected for Y Combinator's Summer 2009 batch, the first Twin Cities startup to make the program.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Marty Wetherall launched FanChatter in 2007 with Slantwise Design as a mobile social network for sports fans, debuting on NBA draft night.
- Jumbotron photo sharing
The Minnesota Twins became FanChatter's first Scoreboard Photo Sharing client, displaying fan cell-phone photos on the Metrodome Jumbotron at home games.
- Y Combinator; ChatterBox
FanChatter joined Y Combinator's Summer 2009 batch (with Bump and Mixpanel) and launched ChatterBox, a widget aggregating tweets and blog posts for teams like the Timberwolves and the University of Oklahoma, plus E! Online's awards coverage.
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
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.