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Entrepreneur Jeff Pulver who started Vonage, Twitter and Zula is now investing in FeverUp, a party finding app.
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Born and raised on long Island, Jeff Pulver, 52, has already had a long history in high tech. He was an investor and co-founder of Vonage, a voice over internet protocol telephone company based in New Jersey, and Israel’s Zula, a mobile app that enables work communications while on the move founded in 2011. Pulver also had the foresight to help start Twitter.
Vonage led to breakthroughs in Americas telecommunication regulations. America’s FCC ruled in 2004 that VOIPs are not the same as regular telephone services and as such cannot be regulated in the same way. This became known as “The Pulver Order.”
Now, along with fellow investor and Flickr Chief Executive Officer Bernardo Hernandez, Mr. Pulver has invested $3 million in a new event finding app called FeverUp. Developed by Fever Labs in San Francisco, the new application will help people find a party or night club nearest their location. Interestingly, the company’s founder, Pep Gomez, only recently turned 21, the minimum drinking age in most American states.
The new app was launched in Europe six months ago and is now available for use in new York City. Some of the new funding will go to the necessary networking in order to expand into more areas. FeverUp plans to distinguish itself from similar apps already on the market by offering the recommendations of known party people as to the best parties in town.
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A user’s personal history will be utilized by the app to give recommendations based on his preferences. Users will be able to reserve spots and buy tickets to events through the app with a credit card.
Pep Gomez says that they already have more than 45, 000 active users and that they intend to offer events that can only be attended by booking with FeverUp.
Originally from Spain, Gomez’s relationship with Hernandez began when the young entrepreneur worked for the later at Google. Mr. Hernandez was responsible for bringing Jeff Pulver on board.
Most recently, Jeff Pulver invested in two new Israeli high tech start ups that are part of Haifa’s publicly supported high tech accelerator Hi Center. Pulver attended a conference there last October and comes to Israel several times a year to hold breakfast meetings around the country which he sponsors. The breakfasts allow potential Israeli entrepreneurs the opportunity to network and to learn from Pulver.
When he arrived in Israel last fall, Jeff Pulver was proud to show off how he had lost more than one hundred pounds. When speaking to the conference in Haifa, he compared his commitment to dieting to his commitments in business.
“As hard as it was, I had to remain focused on my goal. I couldn’t let my lack of experience get in the way of success. The biggest cause of failure in fitness, and in start-ups, is giving up. Just because you didn’t get an investment it doesn’t mean you don’t have a good idea. Never give up.”
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