Caterina Fake is known for founding such Internet successes as Flickr (acquired by Yahoo for $25 million) and Hunch (acquired by eBay for $80 million), and now is promoting Findery, a new geotagging app for user discovery.
"It was really about place," Fake told Press:Here. "It seemed to me that all the products out there were about . . . venues, restaurants, readings, reviews and recommendations. 'Where can I eat tonight?' has been solved. What we're trying to sole is the meaning and history of the place."
Findery can tell users that Elvis had a fight on a specific spot in Madison, Wis. or that Kim Jong Ill sat on a particular rock in North Korea. It can also tell people where to find mulberry bushes or the history of the area in which they live.
When asked about why she stayed at Yahoo for three years, Fake stated that she was was required because of "golden handcuffs," she said. "You have to stick around because it's written in the contract."
Fake said that she spent a year trying to integrate Flickr into Yahoo, but later decided that it was better to make Yahoo more like Flickr and work on other projects. "It was like Yahoo University," she said. "I learned a lot about search."
