Caterina Fake
Born 1969 · Age 56
American entrepreneur and investor; co‑founder of Flickr and Hunch, longtime builder of online communities, angel investor and board member (Etsy, Creative Commons, Sundance), cofounder of Yes VC; recognized on Time 100.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Caterina Fake was born in Pittsburgh, PA to an American father and a Filipina mother.
Graduated Choate Rosemary Hall (prep school)
Completed secondary education at Choate Rosemary Hall (source states graduation in 1986).
Graduated Vassar College (BA, English)
Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Vassar College.
Various post‑college jobs (film crew, dive shop, etc.)
Worked a range of odd jobs after college including on a film crew (interstitials on Seinfeld) and at a dive shop in Arkansas; described as peripatetic post‑college period.
Began working in web development; art director at Salon.com
By 1994 she was involved in web development and worked as an art director at Salon.com; taught herself HTML and early web technologies.
Managed community forums at Netscape
Worked managing online community/forums at Netscape, gaining experience building online communities.
Co‑founded Ludicorp (company start)
Co‑founded Ludicorp (Vancouver) with Stewart Butterfield and Jason Classon to build an online multiplayer game; sources give 2001–2002 as founding timeframe.
Worked on 'Game Neverending' (multiplayer online game)
Ludicorp developed a web‑based multiplayer product called Game Neverending; attempted to raise financing but faced post‑dotcom‑bust funding scarcity.
Received unexpected Canadian government grant to keep company afloat
Ludicorp received a Canadian government grant (application filed earlier); she recalls a Dec 23 letter that provided funds (she states original award ~ $150,000 but they collected only a fraction, ~ $50,000) which helped buy time to pivot to Flickr.
Launched Flickr (product launch)
Ludicorp launched Flickr, a photo‑sharing and online community website, early in 2004; marked a major pivot from the game project.
Community‑building practices at Flickr (manual moderation/high touch)
Founders including Fake actively seeded and engaged the early community (posting in forums, greeting new users) to shape norms — high‑touch approach in early months.
Flickr acquired by Yahoo! (exit)
Yahoo! acquired Flickr (Ludicorp) in 2005; sources in the provided text cite an acquisition price of approximately $30 million.
Named in BusinessWeek's 'Best Leaders' list (recognition)
Included among BusinessWeek's 'Best Leaders' (source lists 2005 BusinessWeek Best Leaders as an award she received/was associated with).
Joined Yahoo roles: worked on MyWeb, Yahoo! Answers and Technology Development
After the acquisition she worked at Yahoo on MyWeb and Yahoo! Answers and ran the Technology Development group (Hack Yahoo!, Brickhouse rapid dev environment) during her time there.
Named to Time 100 (most influential people)
For her role in creating Flickr, Caterina Fake was named on Time magazine's Time 100 list in 2006.
Featured on Newsweek cover (recognition)
Profiled/featured on the cover of Newsweek in connection with her role in Flickr and web communities (cited in interview profile).
Co‑founded Hunch (company founding - cited date)
Multiple sources state Fake co‑founded Hunch — one source cites 2007 as the founding year for Hunch (a decision/recommendation engine).
Divorced Stewart Butterfield
Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield divorced in 2007; the two had been married and Butterfield was a Flickr co‑founder.
Birth of daughter, Mint Butterfield
Her daughter, Mint Butterfield, was born in 2007.
Early angel investment in Kickstarter (angel investor)
Reportedly one of the first angels to invest in Kickstarter — Tim Ferriss notes she invested when it was still a PowerPoint deck (Kickstarter founded 2009).
Hunch public launch (end of 2009)
In late 2009 Caterina stated Hunch would launch publically by the end of the year; the product centered on helping people make decisions and tailoring answers to users.
Hunch enters private preview
Hunch went into private preview in March 2009; described as a collective intelligence decision system that uses decision trees to give personalized recommendations.
NCWIT interview about Flickr and Hunch (speaking engagement)
Appeared as interviewee on the NCWIT 'Entrepreneurial Heroes' interview (recorded/released Nov 16, 2009) discussing Flickr, Hunch and entrepreneurship.
eBay acquires Hunch (exit)
Hunch was acquired by eBay in 2011; one source in the provided text cites an $80 million sale price.
Launched Findery (founding/product launch)
Caterina launched Findery (a location‑based note and local knowledge sharing service); some sources give 2012 and others 2014 as creation/launch years (both cited in profiles).
Findery cited as created (alternate source date)
Alternate profile lists creation of Findery in 2014; included to reflect differing source claims about product timing.
Listed as a paid/available public speaker (Champions Speakers profile)
Profiled by speakers' agencies and booked as speaker to discuss Flickr, Hunch, Etsy, algorithms and social networking.
Public relationship noted with Jyri Engeström (personal milestone)
Profiles note Caterina entered a relationship with Jyri Engeström starting in 2015 (per Mabumbe profile).
Received Silicon Valley Visionaries Award
Awarded the Silicon Valley Visionaries award (cited in multiple sources as being given in 2018).
Honorary doctorates from the New School and RISD (acknowledged)
Profiles and interviews note she has received honorary doctorates from the Rhode Island School of Design and The New School (dates not specified in provided texts).
Board roles (reported): Public Goods, Sundance Institute, McSweeney's
As of the 2019 Tim Ferriss profile/interview she sits on the boards of Public Goods, the Sundance Institute, and McSweeney’s (board memberships noted in the interview).
Reported frequent travel issues due to surname 'Fake' (anecdote)
Recounted multiple incidents where airlines (KLM and Northwest) cancelled tickets or gave trouble because her last name is 'Fake' (recounted during 2019 interview).
Guest on The Tim Ferriss Show (podcast interview)
Featured on The Tim Ferriss Show podcast (episode published Feb 21, 2019), discussing careers, investments, time management, and startups; transcript published on tim.blog.
Co‑founder, Yes VC (investment fund) — acknowledged role
Listed as a co‑founder of Yes VC, a pre‑seed and seed fund investing in early stage startups focused on elevating collective humanity (timing cited in Tim Ferriss profile; exact founding year not given in provided text).
Founder partner / founder partner roles at Founder Collective (prior role)
Served as a founder partner at Founder Collective (timing described as prior to Yes VC in Tim Ferriss profile; exact years not specified in provided text).
Continued advocacy on technology and humanity (podcast host)
Launched/hosted the podcast 'Should This Exist?' (discussing technological impacts on humanity) — mentioned in Tim Ferriss profile as active project; ongoing through 2019+.
Longtime trustee and non‑profit board service (ongoing)
Described in profiles as a trustee for nonprofit organizations and a board member of Creative Commons and the Sundance Institute (ongoing philanthropic/board involvement).
Net worth reported ~ $25M (profile)
A 2025 profile (Mabumbe) estimates Caterina Fake's net worth at approximately $25 million, citing proceeds from Flickr and Hunch exits and subsequent investing.
Key Achievement Ages
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