At the end of 2005 my partners and I started a company called Fleck.com. It garnered a lot of attention even before it launched, we raised some funding, started a conference to launch it at and grew that conference into the blog you are now reading.
Today, almost 5 years later, the adventure ends with the sale of Fleck.com to an undisclosed new owner.
A sad day? Not at all. We’ve only recently started to realize how much Fleck brought us personally over the past couple of years: the attention we got, the people we’ve met and the lessons we learned have been priceless.
Suffice it to say we had a hell of a ride. Do you remember Fleck and the adventures we experienced? Share them with us in the comments for a nice trip down memory lane…
An early screenshot:
Fleck Swag:
Fleck cake (sent to us by a fan):
The Screencast Patrick made for the last version (3 or 4? I forgot) of Fleck:
The movie in which we woke up Michael Arrington (in white Fleck suits) that made it to Wired Magazine:
“Michael Arrington was sound asleep in his bedroom in Atherton, California, when three men burst in. Naturally, he was startled. His first reaction, he recalls, was to tell them to “get the fuck out.” But he quickly realized they meant no harm. Clad in white business suits and speaking English with a Dutch accent, the apologetic men looked more like dandies on their way to a garden party than criminals.”
Check out the patent for Fleck here: (WO/2007/042076) A COMPUTER PROGRAM AND SYSTEM FOR NAVIGATING THROUGH ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
Fleck was cool. Since fleck I encountered at least 5 other companies pursuing the same vision. I think we were on to something, but we couldn’t find the holy grail of web annotation.
Even Google tried similar stuff with Google Sidewiki.
I remember the fun times we had in New York at TC8, San Francisco. The talks with investors in Luxembourg, the tough times, the no income times. We had many ups and downs, but unfortunately more downs than ups in the end.
Bye Fleck
One of my fondest memories for Fleck was the time we launched it at the Techcrunch party in New York. That alone should be worth the whole venture :)
Yeah, Patrick and I were looking at the old photos of all of us working from a bar in New York. You were there too. Great times!
Surely we will miss Fleck. Remembering when i was graduating pass my happy online moments with my Fleck friends.
I will miss you Fleck.
http://www.thearticleuniverse.net/
Jammer van het concept maar TNW is een mooi kindje van de venture geworden. Op naar de volgende!