In lieu of further VC, have you considered other funding sources that might tap into your most enthusiastic users? Bounties especially might be a good fit to your open source development practices, and help to keep NewsBlur Pro fresh as you devote attention to NewsBlur.
I would be eager to chip in for
* private Share feed / comments
* full-featured Android app
Congrats on an inspiring product and business!
–Michael, fellow Y Combinator alumnus (HighlightCam, S09) and former Google Reader user
Awesome idea! This could help NB stay user-directed and give us a clever way of buying into premium features. I’d be very interested to chip in for any of:
* mobile-optimized site
* much longer story retention
* search (of my feeds)
* powerful privacy controls for shares/comments
All of this is coming regardless of Kickstarter backing. (Except for the mobile optimized site … we just launched an iPad app today!)
The official Android app is a couple weeks away, I’m working on permanent story retention as we speak, which also bring search, and finally privacy controls in the form of shared pools are on the near-term horizon. Thank goodness for the start fund, as I can now work on making something outstanding without the worry of investors demanding a return.
Also, a re-design for both web and mobile is coming. Looking like November, since that’s when my designers have available time.
Great news on all fronts. Can’t wait!
I would be willing to pay (as well as the yearly subscription) for certain features to be implemented. For me to use this as a replacement to Google Reader, I really do need some features added to the Android app.
Try using “blar” - it’s on google play. It’s almost a 100% clone of google reader (with the great newsblur stuff) and it’s FAST.
I have installed blar as well… It also lacks some features I need, and others I want…