Outtakes: In Silicon Valley, Investors Are Jockeying Like It’s 1999 – Wall Street Journal, 19 April 2011

May 9, 2011

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, communicates using his iPhone while sitting at 1369 Coffee House in Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011. Fishback meets with colleagues, potential investors, and others in coffee shops. “My life is in coffee shops now,” said Fishback, “I haven’t spent more than two nights in a place in 6 weeks.” Fishback also attributes the potential for Zaarly’s success, in part, to the ubiquity of smartphones. Zaarly’s function will make extensive use of location-aware digital devices. Fishback relies on his iPhone for his business, too. “The great thing about these things [smartphones] is that you can work anywhere,” said Fishback. Zaarly is a startup founded in mid-February 2011 and intended to launch May 10, 2011. Fishback calls the company “a proximity based, real-time buyer powered market,” and it will allow users to advertise what they need, at what price they are willing to pay, and in what timeframe they need it. The service will allow the exchange of goods, services, and experiences. The company raised $1 million in the first 48 hours after pitching the idea at a technology conference. Fishback traveled to Cambridge to meet with potential investors, marketing partners, and get introductions to influential people in the Boston-area startup and entrepreneurship communities.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, meets with colleagues and potential investors at Picante Mexican Grill, a restaurant in Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, communicates using his laptop while sitting Voltage Coffee & Art in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011. Fishback conducts much of his business in coffeeshops. Here, Fishback is meeting online with developers and staffers for Zaarly, many in different locations around the country, to make product decisions.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, travels between meetings in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, demonstrates a prototype of Zaarly iPhone app while speaking with Andrew Magliozzi, the Boston-based entrepreneur behind Veritas Tutors and FinalsClub.org, in The Co-Op Cafe in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Portrait of Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, at Voltage Coffee & Art in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, communicates using his iPhone before a meeting at Picante Mexican Grill, a restaurant in Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, meets with Andy Mitchelides, an entrepreneur and Business Development Manager at E Ink Corporation, at Voltage Coffee & Art in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Portrait of Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, at 1369 Coffee House in Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

Bo Fishback, CEO of Zaarly, waits to catch a subway train at the Kendall Square T stop in Cambridge, Mass., on 13 April 2011.

I love it when assignments take me into a world that I've never visited. In this case, a day following Zaarly.com CEO Bo Fishback, I spent about 6 hours photographing going along to meetings necessary to the launch of a multi-million-dollar startup. The story was difficult to photograph, if only because the subject of the photos was people sitting in coffee shops talking. It was a fun challenge and a great chance to meet someone as enthusiastic as Bo. My contribution to the story, which involved 3 photographers in different locations, was used in the print edition of the April 19, 2011, issue of the Wall Street Journal and at the top of the front page of WSJ.com. You can read the story in the Wall Street Journal here: In Silicon Valley, Investors Are Jockeying Like It's 1999.