Investment disclosures

Here at kottke.org, we’ve invested in a couple of “start up” companies and thought it was time to disclose that information. We’re happy to announce that we’ve participated in a friends-and-family angel series-α round for Vooza, a “mobile web app that’s realtime, cloud-based, social, and local.” Joining us are several other great investors like Tim Conway, Paul Grayjoy, Mark Anderrssonn, Freddy Dubs, Denim Roberts, Katrina Faux, and Petrus T. Heel.

We also invested in a follow-on crowdfunded round for Ponzify several months ago.

Forget Facebook. Forget Groupon. Forget everything you know about Silicon Valley. Because Ponzify isn’t like other tech companies. We don’t promise results. We show them to you, on a piece of paper, that has your name and a monetary figure that increases every month.

Our business model is simple: Attract users, advertisers, positive press and a corporate buyer; then, pull the chord on that golden parachute and have cable news book you as an expert on startups from time to time. There may be a book deal in there, too. We haven’t decided.

Users love our product because it’s something free. Venture Capitalists love it because they can imagine themselves talking about it at T.E.D. or on Charlie Rose. Trust us: Once you invest in Ponzify, you’ll have a difficult time investing your money anywhere else ever again.

Such is the pace of technology and business at the intersection of technology and business that we’ve forgetten who else invested in Ponzify but rest assured that it didn’t include any women. Both these companies are going somewhere, you should check them out or you might miss them.