Tumblr founder Karp discusses Yahoo deal
In a discussion about that decision, Karp talked about his thoughts on Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, how Tumblr came about, and how he and Yahoo will make money.
What made you decide that this was the right time to sell - and that Yahoo was the right buyer?
If it was an instrument I wanted to learn, my dad would get me lessons; if it was robots, he'd take the train up to Boston and we'd go see the MIT robot competitions.
[...] as soon as my dad got the sense that I was curious, he showed up with a stack of books this tall of every Web development language he could find.
[...] I found myself increasingly frustrated with the direction that the technology was going, which was less and less creative.
It was more and more about these restrictive tools, where you put your photos in this directory, you put your articles over here.
Hopefully it's an increasingly large, flexible, creative canvas for some of the most creative people in the world.
Every day find new ways to stretch that canvas and give people more room to make their best work.
Just think about the role technology has played in enabling creative people and pushing art and media forward.