The Future of Real-time Sharing: Twitter’s Periscope Debuts

One of the most exciting days for a venture capitalist is when he gets to see an early-stage investment grow up and fly. So this is a great day, as Menlo Talent Fund company Periscope announces its debut on Twitter.

When Menlo invested in the company, founder Kayvon Beykpour was reworking an idea he’d had success with as a student at Stanford. He designed a mobile site that allowed students to navigate the campus. His original idea was a platform called Bounty—where anyone who wanted a photo of a location anywhere in the world could reach out on the platform and ask for it. If you wanted to see what was happening on the streets of Cairo right now, with Bounty you could.

Soon that original idea morphed into the sharing of live video experiences, the product that Periscope is today. The platform allows the users to share live experiences with their followers, who can then comment and interact. Kayvon and his team understood that the future of sharing is rapidly changing—no longer just text and photos, the future of sharing is video.  With platforms like Periscope, we will be able to see baby’s first steps live—even if we can’t be there in person—or see an incredible sunset over the ocean in the Maldives—even if we’re sitting in our living room.

We’re extremely proud of Kayvon and his team for building a great product, and congratulate Twitter on its debut today. We can’t wait to see where the company goes from here!