[andrewacove]

I lived in New York for a good chunk of Foursquare's life, and while it was magical, at least half of the population hated the concept, for good reason. Every woman I knew who had used it was terrified by the privacy and safety risks engendered by making their location public. The ones who did check in somewhere would typically only do it as or after they'd left. The "magical power" to see through walls that Dennis touted was a nightmare for women, who already deal with constant harassment and stalkers in the city. Which was a shame, because it really could feel magical to meet up with friends because of where you'd checked in.

For a while, Foursquare also had the most reliable review data – or at least its users tastes better aligned with mine. It was refreshing to get useful content about a restaurant without reading through paragraphs of self-indulgent drivel on Yelp. But after the launch of Swarm, the reviews more or less rotted over time.

The founders of Foursquare got to take a lot of money off the table in a relatively early round, ($8M each? Series C?), which is something I'd love to get the present perspective on from investors and employees who were there along the way.