Report: Facebook 'issues mulligan' on developer grant application process
Three weeks after announcing an incentive fund for developers who want venture cash for their Facebook Platform applications, an e-mail posted on a blog indicates that the company has asked that all prior applicants re-start the process.
According to an e-mail copied to the CenterNetworks blog, Facebook's much-touted developer grant program may be off to a rocky start. The FBFund initiative is apparently restructuring its application process and is asking that all previous applicants re-submit their materials. Initially, applications were to be submitted via e-mail; now, a submission form is available.
"To make sure that everyone understands the conditions of submitting a grant application, we will not review any materials you have sent via email, and any materials you may have sent have been deleted," the copy-pasted e-mail read. It's apparently to ensure that applicants know that the company "can't promise that any materials or information (they) submit here will be kept confidential, or specifically that (Facebook) or others might not develop similar or identical products or services."
Presumably, it'll also streamline the process. CenterNetworks blogger Allen Stern noted that he "couldn't imagine for a minute the management via email" and noted that if Facebook had to reorganize the process, at least the company "called a mulligan" within a few weeks of the fund's debut.
Representatives from Facebook have not yet responded to an inquiry asking to confirm the contents of the e-mail posted to CenterNetworks.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the FBFund incentive program at the TechCrunch40 conference last month, designed as a way to provide venture cash to developers who want to create applications for the uber-hyped Facebook Platform. With an initial $10 million flowing in from Facebook investors Accel Partners and the Founders Fund, approved developers can net from $25,000 to $250,000 to develop their apps.