"Crowley is a rare breed of founder obsessed with the problem he's trying to solve."

This is really interesting:

But Crowley has never been more convinced of his mission--or more pugnacious in responding to critics. "Over the last couple of years, we've had to build a lot of stuff just to fight for survival, so we don't get crushed by a Facebook or Google," he says. "It's been like working our way through [video game] Mike Tyson's Punch-Out." Since securing $41 million in debt financing in April, Foursquare has reinvented itself as a local search and discovery engine, distancing itself from the check-ins and virtual badges it had become known for. It's finally opening up its advertising tools to the 1.4 million merchants already using the platform. And its location data are powering a slew of services such as Uber and Path, making Foursquare a dangerous competitor to the $2.2 billion Yelp (and perhaps explaining why Rabois, who declined an offer to comment for this story, has been so rabid in his attacks).

If Foursquare is essential to Uber, then it is just a matter of time before Uber buys Foursquare.

I'm still not quite sure what problem Foursquare is trying to solve.