About

What is foursquare?

Foursquare is a mobile application that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. It is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things, and rewards them for doing so. Foursquare lets users "check in" to a place when they're there, tell friends where they are and track the history of where they've been and who they've been there with. For more information on how foursquare works, see our searchable FAQ.

When was foursquare founded?

Foursquare co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai met in 2007 while working in the same office space (at different companies) in New York City. Working from Dennis' kitchen table in New York's East Village, they began building the first version of foursquare in fall 2008, and launched it at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas in March 2009.

How many users does foursquare have?

As of December 2010, foursquare had over 5 million users worldwide.

How many businesses are offering Specials through foursquare?

Tens of thousands of venues are currently experimenting with Special Offers on foursquare. For information on how businesses can work with foursquare, check out this page.

Where is foursquare's office located?

We have a team of around 40 employees located in the East Village of New York City.

Who are foursquare's investors?

We're funded by Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and a handful of angel investors.

I have a cool idea for a social service. Is there a way to build this onto foursquare?

Yes! Just like Twitter, foursquare has an API that allows developers to build their ideas on the foursquare platform. Developers have already used the API to build new check-in functionality, cool games, and interesting data visualizations. Browse through the hundreds of apps and read up on the documentation here.

Dennis Crowley

Dennis Crowley is the Co-founder and CEO of foursquare. Previously, Dennis founded Dodgeball, one of the first mobile social services in the U.S., which was acquired by Google in 2005. He has been named one of the "Top 35 Innovators Under 35" by MIT's Technology Review magazine (2005) and has won the "Fast Money" bonus round in the TV game show Family Feud (2009). His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time Magazine and Newsweek. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

Dennis holds a master's degree from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and a bachelor's degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Download headshot.

Naveen Selvadurai

Naveen is Co-founder of foursquare. Prior to founding foursquare, he was Lead Architect at Socialight and was a Senior Software Architect with the Global Digital Business group at Sony Music Entertainment. In this role, he oversaw and developed various applications that dealt with content management and distribution of mobile products and was the lead developer of Sony's Music Box mobile application. Before Sony, he consulted for New York-based Run Tones and enjoyed software engineering stints at Sun Microsystems and Lucent Technologies.

Naveen holds a master's degree in computer science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Download headshot.

Evan Cohen

Evan is the General Manager of foursquare, where he is responsible for corporate development, business development, marketing, operations and finance. Prior to foursquare, Evan worked at Bebo in London (and then AOL, post-acquisition) as SVP of Strategy and Operations. In this role, he worked to identify, assess and push forward commercial growth opportunities. While in London, Evan also worked as a strategy consultant specializing in the television industry. Evan began his internet career in 1996, when he joined Jupiter Research as an analyst, forecaster, and market research specialist. Evan holds an MBA from INSEAD and a bachelor's degree from Harvard College.

Alex Rainert

Alex is Head of Product at foursquare. Alex brings 12 years of product development experience and a multidisciplinary background to his work, with a focus on mobile, social and emerging technologies. Previously, he co-founded Dodgeball, one of the first mobile social services in the U.S., and sold it to Google in May 2005. He is a lifelong New Yorker currently living in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter and dog. Alex holds a master's degree from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Trinity College.

Harry Heymann

Harry is the Engineering Lead for foursquare. Before joining foursquare, he spent five years at Google where he worked on Google Checkout, Dodgeball and various backend advertising systems. Previously, he held roles at Microsoft and Intel. Harry has a bachelor's degree in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to pursuing his obvious interest in mobile technologies, Harry is currently obsessed with exploring the Scala programming language.

Tristan Walker

Tristan is Director of Business Development for foursquare. In this role, he has led partnership efforts with various media entities and large retailers, including Bravo TV, MTV, CNN, The New York Times, NBA and Starbucks. Tristan was featured in The Hollywood Reporter's Digital Power Top 50 list in 2010. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Stony Brook University, where he graduated as valedictorian, and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He currently lives in Palo Alto with his family and is originally from New York.

Holger Luedorf

Holger is VP of Mobile Partnerships for foursquare. He has held positions in internet and mobile services since 1998. Before joining foursquare, Holger worked at Yahoo Mobile as a Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for all of Yahoo's strategic partnerships with global OEMs. Prior to Yahoo Mobile, Holger worked at T-Mobile International and Red Message. Holger holds a German Diplom in Business and Japanese from Hochschule Bremen and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

And...

Mike Singleton, Tim Vetter, Peter Nofelt, Mark Wyszomierski, Anoop Ranganath, Chrysanthe Tenentes, Mari Sheibley, Jason Liszka, Jon Hoffman, David Wasserstrum, Eric Friedman, Jorge Ortiz, Justin Moore, Erin Gleason, Siobhan Quinn, Anna Frenkel, Sean Salmon, Kushal Dave, Jonathan Crowley, Sam Brown, Jon Steinback, Bryan Bonczek, Susan Loh, Brian Chase, David Blackman, Matthew Healy, Neil Sanchala, David Birdsong, Josh Adams, Matthew Rathbone, Nina Yiamsamatha, Leo Kim, Carol Rosario, Tim Julien, Jake Furst and Charles Birnbaum.