Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0

Industry Leaders Interview Brad Feld - "Fundamentally, it’s about being open, honest, direct, respectful, and humble"

2012-05-24T19:10:00.004-07:00

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
1. In a recent interview you were asked “What challenges should startups be tackling that they’re not?” and you answered:
“I don’t think enough people have accepted that the machines have already taken over. They are patiently waiting for us to catch up with them. The next time you are in front of your computer, notice how much information you are entering into it. It’s unclear whether we will have a computer-enhanced human future or a human-enhanced computer future, but it doesn’t matter. Our world is now interdependent with the machines, and more entrepreneurs should be working on the symbiosis between the two entities.”
Q’s: How did you come to this conclusion?
Brad Feld:
I read a lot of science fiction and am constantly thinking about the future, both from the context of the present, as well as the context of the past (say – writing 40 years ago about today). When I let my mind run free, it’s clear to me that the machines have already taken over. From this has emerged our human computer interaction theme.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
What are the smartest entrepreneurs doing in this space?
Brad Feld:
Some examples of companies we’ve invested include Oblong, Fitbit, Makerbot, Orbotix, Sifteo, and Occipital. We think the entrepreneurs behind these companies are extraordinary.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
What criterion do you use to evaluate their work?
Brad Feld:
We focus obsessively on the product and the people involved. Do we think the product is transformational in the context of HCI? Do we think the entrepreneurs involved can create something amazing that plays into the transformation? If yes, then it’s interesting to us.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
What do you see as some of the dynamics and size of this market?
Brad Feld:
I don’t think about things this way. We believe the macro of everything we invest in is enormous, so we aren’t constrained by markets.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
2. Brad, in 2011 Business Insider placed you #1 on its list of the most respected VC’s. In your mind, Brad, what are the characteristics of the VC’s that you most respect and consider to be most effective?
Brad Feld:
1. Putting the entrepreneur first. 2. Taking an approach of working for the entrepreneur, instead of viewing the entrepreneur as working for the VC. 3. Having a clear strategy. 4. Being incredibly open, transparent, and TAGFEE about what you do. Fundamentally, it’s about being open, honest, direct, respectful, and humble.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
3. You have an amazing blog, FeldThoughts, where you’ve written across over 100 topics (from Venture Deals to Robots to Relationships to Failure - one of my favorite of your topics is pet peeves. The site boasts a healthy community, with typically several dozen comments per post.
Q's: How did the blog start?
Brad Feld:
I started writing the blog to learn more about two technologies I was interested in – RSS and user generated content. I wanted to understand (in 2005) what it was like to be a content producer as I viewed it as an area I was going to be very interested in investing in. I had no expectations around who would read it or get benefit from it – I just started.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
How has it evolved?
Brad Feld:
I’ve always loved writing and at some point the blog became my outlet for exploring thoughts, sharing experiences, talking about things I was involved in, and thinking out loud.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
What functions does it serve for you and you hope for your audience?
Brad Feld:
I[t] doesn’t serve a specific set of functions for me – it’s just part of me and how I lead my life. My hope is that anyone who reads what I write finds some value in it somewhere.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
What is its role within the context of your total activities?
Brad Feld:
I don’t think about it this way – I write whenever I feel like writing, about whatever I want to write about, which is often.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
4. In one relatively recent blog post, “What I’m Obsessed About At Work” you wrote “I found myself easily saying no to a wide variety of things that – while potentially interesting – didn’t appeal to me at all. I took a break, grabbed a piece of paper, and scribbled down a list of things I was obsessed about. I didn’t think – I just wrote. Here’s the list.

 Startup communities
 Hci
 Human instrumentation
 3d printing
 User generated content
 Integration between things that make them better
 Total disruption of norms

If you are a regular reader of this blog, I expect none of these are a surprise to you. When I reflect on the investments I’m most involved in, including Oblong, Fitbit, MakerBot, Cheezburger, Orbotix, MobileDay, Occipital, BigDoor, Yesware, Gnip, and a new investment that should close today, they all fit somewhere on the list.”
Q: Brad, what are the “points of intersection” or “sweet spots” that connect your varied investor interests and how are they reflected and optimized in your investments?
Brad Feld:
We filter everything we look at based on our themes. If something doesn’t fit in a theme, we say no in 60 seconds. If something does fit in a theme, we go really deep on the people and product to determine if we want to be long term partners with the entrepreneurs.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
5. In 2007 you co-founded the successful VC firm Foundry Group, having earlier co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and founded Intensity Venture (you also are the co-founder of leading tech incubator TechStars (now a network of programs).
According to http://foundrygroup.com/about/, Foundry Group has invested in over 100 companies as an institutional investor and over 50 companies as an angel investor. Foundry Group’s latest venture fund, closed in October 2010, is $225 million.
“As true early-stage investors, we are comfortable making small seed investments (as little as $250,000 - $500,000)… Regardless of the size of our initial investment, the size of our fund allows us to continue to support our portfolio companies through their entire financing lifecycles… We believe that success comes from building a collaborative and supportive relationship between Foundry Group and the entrepreneurs and executives in whom we invest. Having walked the proverbial mile in the entrepreneur’s shoes, we understand where we can add value—such as helping build out a management team, thinking through strategic business development and growth opportunities, or providing advice on exit strategies—and we aren’t afraid to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty…
Foundry Group’s investing activity is largely driven by a thematic approach. The themes we pursue tend to be horizontal in nature and are often driven by underlying technology protocols and standards or emerging market trends and customer needs. Rather than looking for short-term hits, we focus on themes that have the ability to drive a cycle of innovation (and hence provide multiple investment opportunities) over a period of five to ten years or more.
Examples of the investment themes we are currently pursuing include Human Computer Interaction, Implicit Web, Email, Glue, and Digital Life. As one might expect, we are always in the process of evaluating current themes and investigating new ones. That said, we don’t strictly limit our investing activities to our themes—great entrepreneurs with great ideas still count for a lot in our book. In fact, our thinking about these themes can be born from and evolve as a result of our investment in an entrepreneur at the leading edge.”
Q: Brad, can you explain a bit in regard to how these investing themes are developed and evolve, and how they interact with the collaborative focus that you have with entrepreneurs across the funding lifecycle?
Brad Feld:
The themes are areas that we are intellectually interested in. We try to focus on broad horizontal technologies or shifts in the technology landscape. We then go deep in a handful of the themes. Our goal is to become thought leaders in each area with a view to investing in the theme over a 20 year period. Part of becoming thought leaders is working closely – and deeply – with the entrepreneurs in the themes we invest in.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
6. Thefunded.com, a well known site in which entrepreneurs can anonymously share their experiences with investment firms lists Foundry Group as the second highest rated fund on the entire site. One rating, entitled “Foundry Rocks” reads “We pitched to 30+ firms for our B-Round in 2009 and got a good dose of the VC world. Some good, some not so much. Foundry was the only firm where we did not have a direct intro. I started reading Brad's blog and felt that they really understood our space. An email, a phone call, a meeting with Brad, then a meeting with everyone and a term sheet within a month. The best part, a year+ into the investment - they really are who they appear to be on their blogs.”
Another, entitled “Brad Feld is a VC Rock Star” states in part ‘I have known Brad Feld since about 1990, when he was recently out of MIT and running Feld Technology. He has a deep technical background in software and IS design, and he became convinced as early as 1994 that "the Internet will take change the world."… WIth most VCs an introduction is almost a necessity. An introduction would obviously help with Brad but is much less necessary, I think. The reason is that Brad has already done a lot of pre-thinking and already knows the sectors he is interested in and the approach that he thinks people should take. So more than most VCs, he will already be up the learning curve… Brad is very product oriented. Rather than talking about the product, show it to him. If your site is not yet functional, show him a mockup. He likes entrepreneurs who are passionate about the product (e.g., Steve Jobs).
Brad tends to look at things from the point of view of the entrepreneur, in part because he has been one.”
Q's: Brad, describe some of the critical components of successfully dealing with entrepreneurs. You are highly visible and accessible. How do you find the best entrepreneurs, and what are the key factors in regard to locating, maintaining and managing deal flow?
Brad Feld:
I try to respond to everyone, I try to be direct, offer something of value when I can, and just be myself. I don’t think hard about finding the best entrepreneurs – I just get involved in the mix, engage deeply, and good things emerge.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
7. I’ve purchased two of your books, Venture Deals (with Jason Mendelson) and Do More Faster (with David Cohen) and can tell you (as I hope you’ve realized by now) that you are a genius. Venture Deals is subtitled “Be smarter than your lawyer and venture capitalist”. Common-sense insightful wisdom is contained throughout.
One nice feature is “The Entrepreneur’s Perspective” in which the ideas under discussion are presented through the eyes of the entrepreneur. One “The Entrepreneur’s Perspective” reads “Managing directors or general partners have the mojo inside venture capital firms. If you have anyone else prospecting you or working on the deal with you (associate, senior associate, principal, venture partner or EIR), treat him or her with an enormous amount of respect, but insist on developing a direct relationship with an MD or a GP as well. Anyone other than an MD or a GP is unlikely to be at the firm for the long haul. The MDs and GPs are the ones who matter and who will make decisions about your company”.
Another “The Entrepreneur’s Experience” reads “’Less is more’ when it comes to an investor presentation. There are only a few key things most VCs look at to understand and get excited about a deal: the problem you are solving, the size of the opportunity, the strength of the team, the level of competition or competitive advantage that you have, your plan of attack, and current status. Summary financials, use of proceeds, and milestones are also important. Most good investor presentations can be done in 10 slides or fewer”.
Q: Brad, not that it so easy by any means, but in one paragraph how would you distill what you have learned in the VC business so far, and what you would most like entrepreneurs to know?
Brad Feld:
There is no single VC archetype – every VC, and every firm, is different. Do you[r] research in advance so you know who and what you are dealing with. Be direct and honest all the time. Only work on things you are incredibly passionate about. Recognize that there are lots of ups and downs and failure in the entrepreneurial process – embrace the chaotic part of it. Nothing is easy so don’t embark on the journey unless you are willing to work incredibly hard on it.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
8. In “Do More Faster” you wrote a chapter entitled “Two Strikes And You’re Out” (Alex: Thankfully I still have both strikes to go) in which you write in part: “I live my life by a simple rule that I call the ‘Screw Me Once Rule’. I permit everyone I work with to screw me over once. When this happens, I confront them, forgive them, and move on. However, if they screw me over a second time, then I’m done with them forever…like a yellow card in soccer, you only get to trigger the Screw Me rule once. If it happens again. We’re done. Forever. I’ve handed out plenty of yellow cards and received a few. In a number of cases, my strongest relationships are with people who have gotten yellow cards. Fortunately, the list of people who have gotten the equivalent of a red card from me is very short.”
Q: I love this, because it strikes a productive balance between strict accountability, growth and even reconciliation. I love also your emphasis on process and relationship building, and, as they say, not letting a crisis go to waste. Can you say a little bit more about how this has worked for you?
Brad Feld:
I’ve used this approach over many years to make sure I spend time with people who I trust. I don’t have to agree with them, and they don’t have to agree with me, but the relationship has to be one of mutual respect and trust. This rule allows we to eject the people who don’t follow it from my life.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
Also, how do you prescreen people to begin with, eliminating from the beginning those who would be more likely to wind up in the red card category over time?
Brad Feld:
I don’t prescreen people – I just start working with them and give everyone the benefit of the doubt on the front end of the relationship. I believe you learn the most about people by doing things with them.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
9. I watched a sampling of videos of you. In this one you develop a very direct but common sense, even kind, basic set of rules of thumb for entrepreneurs to approach and interact with investors. Here you are on “This Week in Startups” (I love “This Week in Startups”, Jason is very good - I found out you also have a place in Alaska, “Angel group practices that make me vomit”, Jason walked through walls, you’ve invested in over 300 companies, being comfortable with and wearing your idea, etc.)
Q's: For entrepreneurs that may be interested in working with you and are thinking of approaching you to gauge your interest, what are some things that they should most keep in mind as they do their due diligence on you to assess potential compatibility?
Brad Feld:
There’s an enormous amount about me on the Internet – just go read it as a starting point. It’s easy to get to people who know me, or ask me directly and I’ll connect you if it makes sense. And don’t be bashful about asking me direct questions.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
Who are a few people in the industry that you would most like to interview if you were to sit on the other side of the table (who are you most curious to learn more about?)
Brad Feld:
I don’t have a list – I work hard to connect with whomever I’m interested in getting to know better. When I think about this question, it’s more in the context of people who are dea[d]. I would have loved to spend time with Einstein, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Feynman, and FDR.
Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
and what would you ask them?
Brad Feld:
I don’t know – I’d want to just have a long dinner with them and see where it goes.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
10. Brad, you have run 21 marathons as you work on your goal of running a marathon in all 50 states (I’ve run two marathons and haven’t even visited all 50 states). What does running mean to you, and what motivated you to take on this exciting goal?
Brad Feld:
Running is my form of meditation. It’s a chance to be alone, enjoy the planet, and let whatever thoughts are in my head wander around. I decided to go after the goal about a decade ago as a long form plan for getting into and maintain a high fitness level.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
11. Brad, finally, how do you get everything done? You serve on the boards of (from http://foundrygroup.com/team/bradFeld.php) BigDoor, Cheezburger, Fitbit, Gnip,MakerBot, MobileDay, Oblong, Orbotix, SEOMoz, Standing Cloud, and Yesware.
And that’s just the start. “In addition to his investing efforts, Brad has been active with several non-profit organizations and currently is chair of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, co-chair of Startup Colorado, and on the boards of Startup Weekend and the Application Developers Alliance. Brad … writes the widely read blogs Feld Thoughts and Ask the VC.”
In addition, Brad, you are very active in regard to tech community events and interviews, have a strong social media presence (https://twitter.com/#!/bfeld, http://www.facebook.com/bfeld, http://www.linkedin.com/in/bfeld), as noted run marathons, of course meet regularly with entrepreneurs and are quite accessible and who knows what else? The amazing thing is that you are a leader and maintain such a high level of quality across your professional pursuits.
Oh yes, in 2012, you published two new books as well (and you blog occasionally for The Huffington Post.
On Tuesdays and Fridays you spend two hours each helping little old ladies cross the street. Ok, I made up just the part about the little old ladies but the rest is true. Which of course begs the obvious question: Are there several Brad Feld clones running around helping you get all this done??
Brad Feld:
I work hard. I try to have a lot of structure around how I spend my time and I’m constantly experimenting with new approaches when I feel bored or burned out. Overall, it’s easy, because I love most of the things I do.

Interactive Video - Hey Robert Scoble - It's all about the curation

2011-10-21T11:14:00.001-07:00

Super Angel Ron Conway: A good deal in a bad company is a bad deal

2011-09-17T14:51:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt part ways

2009-08-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

See also:
Why Schmidt Had To Go Washington Post
Who will replace Eric Schmidt on Apple's board? - CNNMoney.com

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt part ways The Money Times
Excerpt:
"Move to evade investigations

Apple and Google attribute the resignation to the increasing rivalry between the Silicon Valley behemoths. Experts, however, the resignation has its roots in the Trade commission’s investigations. They claim that the resignation would pre-empt a long drawn scrutiny by the commission.

Charles Golvin, principal analyst with Forrester Research said, “Google is interested in making sure that any scrutiny it may be getting from the regulator's perspective is as diminished as possible.""

Robert Scoble Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0 Interview: "Microsoft gave me an extraordinary opportunity"

2008-06-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
1. Robert, you are one of the world's most recognized and productive individual bloggers and Internet figures/personalities. A partial listing of where others can find you on the web:
Scobleizer TV (at FastCompany.TV)
Your blog, Scobleizer
Friendfeed
Friendfeed Scobleroom
Twitter
Google Reader Shared Items
Facebook
Qik
Upcoming
Flickr
Google Calendar
Pownce
Disqus
Digg
YouTube
Del.icio.us
Seesmic

You know the first question “Who are you?”

Robert Scoble: A guy who likes both new things and the people who build them. I got that love from my dad who was an engineer in Silicon Valley for 30 years.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: What drives Robert Scoble in his work across the Internet? What can you tell us about your online experiences and the roles/effects that you are seeking?

Robert Scoble: I started out in the 1980s playing with computers and hanging out at a small user’s group where we had a BBS in one of the members’ garages. There were something like six Hayes modems (really fast ones, too, that worked at 2400 kbps and cost more than $500 each) that answered calls from around the world. I thought it was the coolest thing. Ever since then I’ve been involved in online communities. I’m always seeking out what early adopters and developers are doing. What are the trends, what are they using, etc?

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Have you heard of a service called Friendfeed? What do you think of it?

Robert Scoble: I’m addicted. It’s where everything I do on the Web gets aggregated and then people can talk about that stuff. I love seeing people’s photos, videos, blogs, Twitter messages, and a lot more coming in there and how people react to it all.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Which of the above services (and others) might you use in a typical day, and for what purposes?

Robert Scoble: I use a variety of online media. Start with my blog at scobleizer.com where I write longer posts. Twitter is for short thoughts or telling people what I’m doing. Qik is for doing video with my cell phone. FastCompany is for more professional, longer videos. You’ll also find me reading feeds at Google Reader and talking with people on Seesmic and Stickam.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: What is the World Wide Talk Show? Why is it important?

Robert Scoble: If you watch FriendFeed you’ll see that it goes on 24 hours a day every day. It includes photos, audio, video, text, pictures, and more. But then you can comment on all that stuff. So, it’s like having a multimedia talk show that goes on all day long.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: You're known for being extremely personable (also in real life), and engage in online conversations/comments with others seemingly all day (and night?) long. Tell us a bit about your communications and how it ties into the work that you do.

Robert Scoble: Thanks, I try to touch as many smart people as possible in a single day. My goal is to have a longer conversation with someone interesting every day. I do that and try to video them for FastCompany.tv.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: In terms of your background (source) your experience has included (from first to present) all of the following (partial listing only): sales in a discount camera shop; multiple roles for Fawcette Technical Publications (your wife Maryam also worked there); assisted in co-chair of the Visual Basic SIG for SDForum; webcam manufacturer Winnov (where you were named a Microsoft MVP); Dave Winer's UserLand Software; NEC Mobile Solutions (a position you found via Craigslist and where your blog was discovered by Microsoft); Microsoft (detailed below, Channel 9 MSDN Video team); Podtech.net (VP of Media Development); to your current position at FastCompany.TV (Managing Director/Scobleizer TV – also reported (at Revision3) WorkFast.tv)

Can you provide us a sense of some of your professional experiences on the way to where you are now, what things have impacted you and why, and what you've taken away from this collection of work? Also, what have been your most and least enjoyable work roles or situations?

Robert Scoble: The most important to me, I think was helping run a camera store back in the 1980s. That’s where I really learned customer behavior, how to compete vigorously with other stores, how to get attention, how to get people to talk about the store to their friends. Microsoft certainly gave me the most attention, because so many people know and use Microsoft’s products around the world.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Of course your most famous employer by far has been Microsoft.

The Economist in 2005 wrote about you:
“Impressively, he has also succeeded where small armies of more conventional public-relations types have been failing abjectly for years: he has made Microsoft, with its history of monopolistic bullying, appear marginally but noticeably less evil to the outside world, and especially to the independent software developers that are his core audience. Bosses and PR people at other companies are taking note.”

“Ballmer's Microsoft Loses Admired Tech Evangelist”. Forbes' article when you left Microsoft declared:

“For the last three years, one man has shown how a blog, plain-spoken and irreverent in its tone, could be a tool to significantly help soften the monopolistic bullying image of a corporate giant like Microsoft. Now, however, it has come to an end.

Millions of tech geeks have religiously visited the blog of Robert Scoble, one of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people )'s many so-called technical evangelists, and producer of mini-films for its Channel 9 video division. Scoble however, has never been a blatant propagandist....

But far from being put off, readers and industry watchers came to appreciate both Scoble's honesty and his inside look into the traditionally insular world of software development. That his blog would occasionally mention a chat with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer or Jonathan Schwartz, the boss of Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ), only added to his guru-like status, leading up to unofficial titles like "Chief Humanizing Officer."”

Robert, how would you detail your Microsoft experience, both in terms of what was involved for you, your thinking during this work (and following) and what you feel that you were and/or were not able to accomplish?

Robert Scoble: That’s impossible to say in just a paragraph or two. But Microsoft gave me an extraordinary opportunity: a chance to study one of the world’s great corporations from inside and it let me do that with a video camera and, further, let me put the videos up in pretty much unedited form.

I got to see a huge amount of Microsoft. There were very few things I wanted to do that I couldn’t. If there’s one thing I wish Microsoft were a lot more aggressive about getting into Web 2.0 stuff. I asked Bill Gates and the leadership team to “go shopping” and buy companies like Flickr. They refused and the answer I got back from Steven Sinofsky had the words “business value” repeated 13 times. Basically they told me to go away until I could prove these things had real value. Too late now.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: In 2006 you co-authored a book with Shel Israel (a colleague of yours now at FastCompany.TV) entitled
Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers

An excerpt from Amazon:
“Bloggings' Six Pillars: There are six key differences between blogging and any other communications channel. You can find any of them elsewhere. These are the Six Pillars of Blogging:
1.Publishable. Anyone can publish a blog.You can do it cheaply and post often. Each posting is instantly available worldwide.
2.Findable. Through search engines, people will find blogs by subject, by author, or both. The more you post, the more findable you become.
3.Social. The blogosphere is one big conversation. Interesting topical conversations move from site to site, linking to each other. Through blogs, people with shared interests build relationships unrestricted by geographic borders.
4.Viral. Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a newsservice. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog.
5.Syndicatable. By clicking on an icon, you can get free "home delivery" of RSS- enabled blogs into your e-mail software.
RSS lets you know when a blog you subscribe to is updated, saving you search time. This process is considerably more
efficient than the last- generation method of visiting one page of one web site at a time looking for changes.
6.Linkable. Because each blog can link to all others, every blogger has access to the tens of millions of people who visit the blogosphere every day.
You can find each of these elements elsewhere. None is, in itself, all that remarkable. But in final assembly, they are the benefits of the most powerful two-way Internet communications tool so far developed.

Tell us about the book, in terms of its content and what it is trying to say, the book writing process and what that was like for you, how the book has been received, and how it has sold.

Robert Scoble: The book was an interesting process. A couple of friends, Buzz Bruggeman (CEO of ActiveWords) and Andy Ruff (works at Microsoft) thought it’d be good for me to write a book and paired me with Shel Israel, who is a guy who’s helped dozens of companies startup in Silicon Valley. We were in the right place at the right time, but also did something that turned out to be smart: we put the book up on our blog and let the readers tell us what they thought. That made the book much better and got us lots of PR that really helped the book’s sales, even to today. Even today, two years after it’s been out, it’s still in the top 10,000 on Amazon out of millions of books, so we’re pretty happy.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Anybody that follows you closely can tell that you really enjoy being a dad. Tell us, to the degree that you feel comfortable, what family life means to you and adds to your life, and what you wish for the next generation including your children.

Robert Scoble: It’s a lot of fun helping kids grow up and become adults. Patrick is 14 now and is entering high school. He’s really a geek and a lot of fun to hang out with. Milan is nine-months old and just starting to really crawl around and get in trouble. It’s interesting having kids in two separate generations like that. Patrick never knew a world without Netscape. Milan will never know a world without an always connected device in your pocket. I wonder what the world will be like when they get into the workforce. Heck, when Patrick was born the average PC only had 16 megabytes of RAM. Now they regularly have four gigs – heck, my cell phone has eight gigs of memory. What a world. What do I wish for my kids? That they solve global warming before it really becomes a huge societal problem. I doubt we will, though. USA is still building coal plants and doesn’t have a decent plan to stop doing that.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Your own parents worked in technical/technology related fields, including your Mom who worked for Apple (you were born in New Jersey but grew up around a mile from Apple – you reportedly learned how to solder a motherboard at age 11 and had a summer job with HP) and your Dad has a Ph.D. in materials engineering. The love and experience with technology in the broad sense must be pretty deeply ingrained in you?

Robert Scoble: Oh, yes. My dad always had a garage full of electronic components and gadgets and stuff. Plus lots of kids in school were really into this stuff too. In High School I hung out with some really geeky kids who went on to write video games and other stuff. Heck, even my first girlfriend in high school now is a director of marketing at Plantronics.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: What are some of your personal (or professional) goals for the future. What are three things that most people do not know about you that might be surprising to our readers?

Robert Scoble: I’d love to interview Barack Obama, he inspires me and has had interesting experiences lately. I’d love to sit down with Steve Jobs and have a bottle of wine. But really I’d just like to make interesting videos that get people talking. My goals? Get the most interesting businesspeople and tech innovators on FastCompany.tv. Three things? 1. I used to play saxophone in the high school band. 2. I failed college-level chemistry. 3. I was in Physics class when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit

Interview: Chris De Wolfe: CEO, MySpace:? No Third-Party Distribution Partners

2008-04-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Image from Wikipedia

Interview: Chris De Wolfe: CEO, MySpace:? No Third-Party Distribution Partners
Excerpt: "I spoke to Chris De Wolfe, the CEO of MySpace, on the JV announced today, and the rationale for forming a separate company on it, instead of being part of the main MySpace.

-- Why a separate JV and why not just be part of MySpace: The rationale was to unify the music industry, and that we are all aligned in the same direction. There are a lot of different projects we will be working on..it is not just a function of them giving us their music content and us making it available for playlists. We will be working with them on original content and other things. We want to create a long term relationship."

Arrington: ‘Demo needs to die’

2008-04-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaRelated articles on bottom, plus see also:
Imitation Is Flattery? Or Just Bad for Entrepreneurs?
and

Let’s Get Real: Business is Not Personal
http://guidewiregroup.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/lets-get-real-business-is-not-personal/
and

Michael Arrington - Talking (Too) Tough At Times - By Alex Hammer

and
Taking the payola out of DEMO-ing: The TechCrunch 20 Conference (or, I'm back in the conference business baby!) (2007)
http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/31/taking-the-payola-out-of-demo-ing-the-techcrunch-20-conference/
and
Demo verses Techcrunch - Strategy Flaw for Techcrunch

and

Memo to Chris Shipley: Luca Brasi Sleeps With the Fishes!

and

Demo and TechCrunch50: Something By Euripedes?

and

You only get to lose your virginity once

Arrington: ‘Demo needs to die’
Excerpt:
"The scheduling of the TechCrunch 50 conference, which was announced Wednesday, has pit it directly against DemoFall, a long-standing event geared toward entrepreneurs and their products.

And while TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and CEO Heather Harde insisted in interviews late Wednesday that their selection of September 8-10, 2008, as the dates for TechCrunch 50 was about the availability of an affordable San Francisco venue, Arrington also made his feelings about Demo clear.

"Demo needs to die," Arrington said in the interview. "It's just an old-school model...It clearly involves pay to play, and what we're offering is better.""

Larry Page and Sergey Brin on Virgle

2008-04-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaLarry Page and Sergey Brin on Virgle - YouTube
"Want to live on Mars with the Virgle team? Post a video response explaining in 30 seconds why you should be a Virgle Pioneer.
http://www.google.com/virgle "

From
http://www.google.com/virgle :
"

An invitation.

Earth has issues, and it's time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars."

YouTube Virgil Channel: http://www.youtube.com/projectvirgle

Google News: Virgle:
Google, Virgin Launch Hoax Mars Settlement
Red Herring

Punk'd by Google and Virgin?
TIME

Google and Virgin Team Up to Spell 'Virgle'
Wired News

Feeds added to this website: TechMeme, TechCrunch, Fake Steve Jobs, Digg, Boing Boing, Mashable!, Valleywag...

2008-03-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaFeeds added to Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0: Techmeme, TechCrunch, Fake Steve Jobs, Digg, Boing Boing, Mashable!, Valleywag, ReadWriteWeb, Sobelizer, Ars Techina, Gizmodo, Endagadget, All Things Digital and GigaOm Network.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) … - Wired

2008-03-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Source: WikipediaFuturist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) …
Excerpt:
"Ray Kurzweil, the famous inventor, is trim, balding, and not very tall. With his perfect posture and narrow black glasses, he would look at home in an old documentary about Cape Canaveral, but his mission is bolder than any mere voyage into space. He is attempting to travel across a frontier in time, to pass through the border between our era and a future so different as to be unrecognizable. He calls this border the singularity. Kurzweil is 60, but he intends to be no more than 40 when the singularity arrives.

Kurzweil's notion of a singularity is taken from cosmology, in which it signifies a border in spacetime beyond which normal rules of measurement do not apply (the edge of a black hole, for example). The word was first used to describe a crucial moment in the evolution of humanity by the great mathematician John von Neumann. One day in the 1950s, while talking with his colleague Stanislaw Ulam, von Neumann began discussing the ever-accelerating pace of technological change, which, he said, "gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs as we know them could not continue.""

John Battelle Mirrors Alex Hammer in TechCrunch comments

2008-03-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Related:
Michael Arrington’s Rant - Good but What’s Missing? The User

John Battelle Mirrors Alex Hammer in TechCrunch comments
In today's Michael Arrington TechCrunch post: Federated Media’s Battelle Slams Rival, Hints At Investing In Publishers

TechCrunch comment #18 below is mine and comment #19 below is John's. Michael's response (#24) ignores both of us. (Note 1: the mirroring refers to ad networks generally vs. one company Note 2: I wish there was spell check within comments. I could cut and past into a spell checker but I do not normally take the time to do this).
Alex Hammer
March 21st, 2008 at 7:56 am
I don’t think the first half of this TechCrunch title is accurate in regard to the Battelle interview, to my mind. I read it that Battelle was talking about general industry issues, not at all picking any fight whatsoever with one company (that company he cites I read as indiciative of the general issue, nothing more).

Also, this may be off base (I don’t know) but this TechCrunch piece to me, in places really feels like airing of “dirty laundry”. Not that issues can’t or shouldn’t be aired. It’s not a value judgment, just an observation (perhaps a theory).

John Battelle
March 21st, 2008 at 8:02 am
Hey Mike & all on this thread,
Thanks for the thoughtful coverage. I wanted to clarify one thing, which is in my answer to Stefanie about Glam, I was referring more broadly to all ad networks. We represent, as you know, a portfolio of brands. Ad networks more broadly sell categories - demographics, behaviors, etc. That’s what I think is the flavor of the month. I wrote a very long diatribe about this on my site:
http://battellemedia.com/archives/004330.php
As for deals & rev shares (which Cnet got wrong, the spilt was reversed), I can’t comment on specifics save to say we have given the majority to our partners as you know. It’s very expensive to run a fully scaled, national brand sales and service force, as well as all the technology and infrastructure (finance, ad serving, reporting, biz dev, etc.) a high quality media company needs to run. And it’s true we don’t own our publishing partners. I think that’s a motivator for most of our partners. Happy to talk more at any time, of course!

Alex: Note 3: I could see that the CNET split was wrong (that's a pretty important error in a story on this topic!) but I didn't want to point that out to embarrass anyone until I now see Battelle has corrected that information above.

Michael Arrington’s Rant - Good but What’s Missing? The User

2008-03-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

See also:
Michael Arrington - Talking (Too) Tough At Times - By Alex Hammer

Comment #95 to: More Bloggers Raising Money. Here Come The Politics. And Here Comes My Rant.
Alex Hammer
March 19th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Michael Arrington’s Rant - Good but What’s Missing? The User
Michael Arrington is - I believe - a brilliant individual. Success speaks for itself and TechCrunch is highly successful. I watched his recent interview on Charlie Rose, and it felt like seeing a master at work (each of the two individuals above, actually).

As with Michael’s postings generally, this one is thoughtful, nuanced and insightful (no doubt infused by personal experience). Michael generally can provide greater insight than most authors (bloggers or otherwise) first because he has more of substance to say, and second because he is better at saying it. But to my mind this Arrington post focuses too exclusively on competitors and political, venture and competitive dynamics to really explain fully enough the significant success of blogs, and blog companies. Blogs are popular, obviously, as are all successful businesses fundamentally, because they service a consumer need (in the case of blogs this is a quickly growing, perhaps previously un or underserved consumer need). Blogs are more immediate than is the mainstream media (MSM) clearly as a whole, more personal and subjective, and you could I think well argue also more authentic in their voice collectively as well. Users flock to blogs (at least a growing number of highly popular blogs) for these and similar reasons, which is what makes the valuations, the blogging competition, the blogging salaries and all the rest of it possible. Without the user none of these things - significantly highlighted in Michael’s post as key factors - would ever be possible. I think most all of us could agree most likely on that.

Realizing anything less than this - and stressing it in an examination of blog and blog companies success - is putting the proverbial chicken before the egg, in my view, and thus ultimately either incomplete (if a relative omission, post does not ignore consumers completely) or short-sighted. That having been said, blogs are increasingly a business, and a big business for some. In addition to serving users as a primary focus blog businesses must also, of course, be well attuned to these other important factors as well. Those blogs that integrate best these diverse focuses in efficient, effective and productive manners will be most successful in the long run.

TechCrunch is highly attentive to users, and I believe that this is a great part of its success. Just never forget to highlight that, if you wish, in any discussion detailing such blogging successes.
Finally, it goes probably without saying that the huge (or significant depending upon your financial perspective and circumstances) capital influxes into blogs could well prove a major competitive threat to TechCrunch, should they decide not to go down that same road. As a result, some might argue that this Arrington post might be self serving in that regard. It may also be (or a combination of factors) that Arrington wishes others - even competitors - to do what he truly feels is beneficial for their long term growth and well being. And of course not every blogging company is a direct competitor with every other, to be sure, there are niches etc. (so I am not saying all those that were named are directly competitors).

Friendfeed co-founder Bret Taylor - API weeks, not months away; Duncan Riley criticism "completely valid"

2008-03-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Friendfeed co-founder Bret Taylor - API weeks, not months away; Duncan Riley criticism "completely valid"
http://www.lastpodcast.net/2008/03/17/interview-with-bret-taylor-from-friendfeed/
Podcast: 21:24

Excerpt from posting accompanying podcast:
"An API is coming “within weeks”...They are listening to feedback about comments and feeding them back into blogs and twitter, but are mostly focused on the conversation among friends"

Eric Schmidt / Official Google Blog: - We've officially acquired DoubleClick

2008-03-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Eric Schmidt / Official Google Blog: - We've officially acquired DoubleClick
Excerpt:
"I'm pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it's been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market.

Because we have been waiting for regulatory approval for our acquisition, we've been limited by law in the extent to which we could conduct detailed integration planning to map our way forward. That work will begin in earnest now. Although we don’t have detailed plans to announce today, we will communicate regularly with you about our progress in integrating our two companies."

Zuckerberg on Facebook's Future

2008-03-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

Zuckerberg on Facebook's Future - In a conversation with BusinessWeek.com, the social networking site's CEO holds forth on recent hires and going public
Excerpt:
"What are your plans for an IPO? I gather this may not happen until 2010. Why are some of the most promising Web companies, like Facebook, Slide, and LinkedIn taking longer to go public these days?

We're not even thinking about an IPO right now. I know the guys who run Slide and LinkedIn, and they're smart. In the past, a lot of companies viewed it as their goal to go public. We're focused on building a company for the long term, something that can really deliver a lot of value for everyone. Going public is a secondary thing, and we'll do it when it makes sense for us.

What's your perspective on the outlook for the online advertising? Some experts predict a slowdown in revenue growth and question the efficacy of advertising on social networks in general.

We just launched the last iteration of our online advertising product in November. I can't speak to broader market trends as a whole, but we're in a rapid growth phase right now. Even if there is some broader slowdown, we'll continue to grow over the next year. All the metrics we're seeing point in a positive direction."

Love Him or Hate Him, Fortune Cannot Make Up Its Mind About Steve Jobs

2008-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

Love Him or Hate Him, Fortune Cannot Make Up Its Mind About Steve Jobs
Excerpt:
"Once again, Steve Jobs is on the cover of Fortune magazine. He is there because Apple is the most admired company in America. No, wait. He is there because investigative reporter Peter Elkind wrote a 12-page takedown of his Steveness. It turns out both are true. Jobs is steering the most admired company in America and he is a “reckless” CEO whose “behavior put the company and its shareholders at risk.”"

Ballmer: IT is entering another period of revolution

2008-03-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

Ballmer: IT is entering another period of revolution
Excerpt:
"IT is about to undergo another revolution, this time allowing us to interact with it in more natural ways, Steve Ballmer predicted at the opening ceremony of the Cebit trade show in Germany.

Ballmer recounted seeing the IT industry undergo four revolutions since he joined Microsoft 28 years ago: the arrival of affordable personal computers, the development of graphical user interfaces, the rise of the Internet and "the Web 2.0 revolution," which was just beginning when he last visited Cebit in 2002, he said."

Eric Schmidt launches Google Health

2008-02-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Eric Schmidt launches Google Health
Excerpt:
"During a news conference after the keynote speech, Schmidt said that if the government tries to subpoena Google for the consumer records, the company would have to comply, but he hinted in answering a follow-up question that patients could circumvent that by deleting their records.

"We are subject to U.S. law. In the case where we are forced by court to turn over information, we would do it," he said. "If the information were not there, it would be (hard) to subpoena it," he added."

Steve Jobs’ jet, earthquake, SNL in Vegas, Thompson - Los Angeles Times

2008-02-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

Steve Jobs’ jet, earthquake, SNL in Vegas, Thompson - Los Angeles Times
Excerpt:
"Curious how Apple’s Steve Jobs travels? Wired tells us he flies in a Gulfstream V and spent $550,000 on air travel in the last quarter of 2007, “three times as much as the average amount spent over the past year and a half.” [Wired]"

Ted Leonsis Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0 Interview: "I loved my time at AOL ... I have now moved on and am investing in many web 2.0 companies..."

2008-02-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

Ted Leonsis Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0 Interview: "I loved my time at AOL ... I have now moved on and am investing in many web 2.0 companies..."

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
In 1983 following your survival in a plane crash, you came up with a list of 101 things that you wanted to complete in your life, 71 of which, according to ESPN, you have now completed. Tell us about that.
Ted Leonsis:
The defining moment of my life -- surviving a plane crash -- I became a student of happiness and self actualization. I have supported with cash and resources and company efforts multiple studies on happiness. Happiness as defined by the quality of relationships with family members, co-workers, partners, how productive one can be, longevity and positive outlook - defining success as a life without regrets. Based on my research I believe there is a definite science to what happy people share in common
A) They are active participants in multiple communities of interest
B) They personally express and create balance in their lives
C) They show gratitude and empathy for others
D) They give back and show high levels of volunteerism and "we" instead of "I"
and
E) They pursue a higher calling

That's it, the 5 pillars of happiness and self actualization. Most of the work I have done in my life and career -- Internet at AOL, filmanthropy work on Nanking and now kicking It, my investments, my sports teams and my charitable work have all been in pursuit of happiness. I believe we are all in the happiness business.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
Tell us about your film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Nanking (http://www.nankingthefilm.com/).
Ted Leonsis:
Filmanthropy is important as it uses film and new media to shine a light on a tough subject, usually in a way that a major studio would not touch. It helps to right a wrong. It helps to activate volunteerism and charitable donations. And it works as a work of art and piece of commerce. There is a triple bottom line to measure: good work and good commerce and critical review.

My first two films, Nanking -- in theatres now (and) on HBO early summer -- and Kicking It -- which was just bought by ESPN and Netflix -- meet the triple bottom line criterion. I am proud of these works and think they will help people "get"' tough subjects and be worth the price of admission.

I am now going to turn my attention to a new way to distribute film and create a new window for indy film makers. The traditional business is fairly broken and as an outsider I think I can add value by using what I have learned in community building and internet media to help get money into the hands of filmmakers so they can make even more filmanthropy projects.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
In 1993 America Online purchased your marketing company Redgate Communications Corp, beginning your 13 year run with the company during which time you held positions including the audience group's president and vice-chairman (you are currently vice chairman emeritus). Guide us through the heady days of the AOL-Time Warner merger as well as the follow-up in regard to the highlights and challenges that the company experienced.

What adjectives come first to mind to describe your time there?

You're (now) Chairman of Revolution Money, a new high-profile online payment company from Steve Case that is seen as a competitor to PayPal and Google Checkout. At the Web 2.0 conference you are reported to have said: “We want to become for social networks what PayPal is for EBay". What does that involve?
Ted Leonsis:
I loved my time at AOL -- I helped the company get tens and tens of millions of people online. AOL built communities of interest, built a great brand (and) launched lots of other great brands like AIM, TMZ, Mapquest, Moviefone etc. etc. and was pivotal in introducing consumers to the internet in a safe, affordable and easy to use manner.

I have now moved on and am investing in many web 2.0 companies. I am also Chairman of two that I am very excited about, Revolution Money and Clearspring Technologies.

Revolution Money is positioned as Paypal meets Mastercard without the high fees. It is (the) first payments platform to integrate online payments transfer with an offline card that is a credit card, pre-paid card and ATM card. And when the card is used at a merchant site we only charge merchants half a basis point in interchange compared to some competitors that can charge between 1.5 to 4.5 percent. The interchange business is now a $60 billion per year industry based on 1980's technology awaiting transformation by an attacking competitor.

And we have an opportunity to be to social networks what Paypal was to Ebay. We believe we can transfer interchange savings to help merchants' bottom line and put money back into consumer's wallets -- where it belongs. We raised $ 50 million in VC dollars from Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Duetcshe Bank.

This company will be a big and important force in payments and new financial services segment of industr(ies).

I am also excited about Clearspring Technologies, the leader in widget syndication. We provide a platform, a reporting mechanism, an ad network. We recently reached 107 million monthly uniques, up from 45 million in June of 2007. (I foresee) exponential growth as web 2.0 syndication of media "atoms" prove themselves out in the market.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
Through Lincoln Holdings LLC you own the NHL's Washington Capitals, the WNBA's Washington Mystics and portions of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the Verizon Center. You were born in Brooklyn but attended Georgetown University. How did your love of sports develop and your interest in Washington?
Ted Leonsis:
Winning a championship in sports is the hardest thing to do in business. There are 30 other people just like you --well capitalized, smart (and) competitive that you compete with. There is the alchemy between the coach, GM and players that needs to coalesce - an injury to a key player at the wrong time can be devastating to a team. And then there is a third party, a ref. And you must also have luck on your side. For it all to come together at the same time is pure magic--say hello to (the) magic NY Giants.

I love owning the Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics and I am a minority owner (44 percent) in (the) Washington Wizards and Verizon Center.

The teams appreciate in value every year, the content is Tivo proof, and there is no high like a big win at home.

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0:
Tell us about Ted's Take (http://ted.aol.com/), your blog. It is not uncommon for you to do several posts in a day. What kind of a release or communication (or marketing?) medium is it for you??
Ted Leonsis:
Blogging makes me happy. I blog myself every day. It also helps me to control the Google algorithm for my own personal brand. AIM makes me happy. Go to Aimfight.com and take me on. Being on Facebook keeps me relevant and connected. And I read and respond to all of my own email.

Sky Dayton Steps Down As CEO of Helio

2008-01-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

Sky Dayton Steps Down As CEO of Helio
Excerpt:
"After a tough year in which partner Earthlink pulled back from its commitment to Helio, the virtual mobile carrier is now losing its CEO, Sky Dayton. (Dayton was also the founder of Earthlink). Although Dayton will become chairman, Helio’s remaining corporate partner, Korea’s SK Telecom, appears to be consolidating its control over the company (perhaps in an attempt to stem its losses). Dayton will be succeeded by Helio’s current president and COO Wonhee Sull, a former executive at SK Telecom."

Cramer on Why You Need to Dump Tech

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Cramer on Why You Need to Dump Tech
Excerpt:
"Has tech had it? Apple (NASDQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) simply didn't do that well. Google's (NASDQ: GOOG) (Cramer's Take) stock is floundering even if Google isn't. Garmin's (NASDQ: GRMN) (Cramer's Take) been pretty much destroyed. Microsoft's (NASDQ: MSFT) (Cramer's Take) in the same place it started after that great quarter. Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) (Cramer's Take) surprises to the upside and does nothing; same with Corning (NYSE: GLW) (Cramer's Take). VMWare's (NYSE: VMW) (Cramer's Take) simply awful, dragging down EMC (NYSE: EMC) (Cramer's Take), which I unfortunately own for Action Alerts PLUS, to a below-market multiple on 2008 earnings. IBM (NYSE: IBM) (Cramer's Take) preannounced up and then beat the preannouncement and nobody cares, and Intel's (NASDQ: INTC) (Cramer's Take) just awful."
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/29/cramer-on-bloggingstocks-why-you-need-to-dump-tech/

Will IAC CEO Barry Diller Get the Boot?

2008-01-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

Will IAC CEO Barry Diller Get the Boot?
Excerpt:
"Never underestimate John Malone when it comes to getting what he wants. The billionaire onetime cable baron has been hot on the trail of Home Shopping Network for months, eager to pressure its current owner, IAC/Interactive Corp., into selling it to him. But insiders say that Barry Diller , IAC's CEO, is asking for too much. So Malone and his Liberty Media are moving to oust Diller and stop a planned breakup of his online commerce company."

Michael Arrington - Talking (Too) Tough At Times - By Alex Hammer

2008-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

See also:
Four previous Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0 stories on Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington - Talking (Too) Tough At Times - By Alex Hammer

They say that you can't argue with success, and the growth of TechCrunch is impressive.

But the site is still, relatively speaking, a newer kid on the block (I'm newer still I do realize).

Often it is true that it can take (as one variation of the saying goes) "a lifetime of work to become an overnight sensation".

Q: So what was the straw breaking the back to my view of Arrington being perhaps too tough in his words at times leading me to write this post?
(Disclosure: Arrington is a Facebook friend and I have no complaints at all in regard to how he has treated me personally)
A: This TechCrunch post yesterday by Arrington:
Scoble Sells Out
which takes Scoble to task for changing his stance on accepting advertising on his blog.

I'm not disagreeing with Michael (Arrington: "This isn’t the first time Scoble has run into issues around financial conflicts of interest") in regard to scrutiny of Scoble. I am, however, noting the title etc. of Michael's post given the obvious fact that TechCruch's rise has been marked by advertising (Michael does note in the post: In 2005, when we first put ads on TechCrunch...").

More importantly, the Scoble post is, for me, just a very very mild example in an Arrington trend. Specifically, while I do in fact pride Arrington for calling them as he sees them (as I believe that this provides the type of valuable information upon which TechCrunch readers have grown accustomed), Arrington, in my view, tends to carry this at times a couple of steps too far, waxing vitriolic against those he feels miss the mark. Consider a few recent possible examples:

1) Wikia Search Is A Complete Letdown.

Excerpt:
"it may be one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing....Absolutely no one is going to use this to search the web, until (and if) it is greatly improved....Wikia search would be a disappointment even without the massive hype we’ve had to endure. And taking that hype into account, this product is an inexcusable waste of time."

I do not claim to be a search expert, but I do know that Jimmy Wales is an industry icon (and perhaps even more well known than Arrington). If it is true as Arrington details that Wales' initial search efforts are lacking, I still wouldn't bet against Wales' search product necessarily - on the truism that the best predictor of future success is past success - in regard to the long run. Also, just as an interesting note, by my quick count Arrington has six comments in the comments section and Wales has 3, so perhaps some nerves were struck, I don't know. Wales does what seems to be the smart move when you're on another person's turf, he proceeds gently and after putting forward a few points relents.

2) Michael Arrington - The Fact And Fiction Of Sam Sethi - Crunchnotes

Industry Leaders of Tech 2.0 provided this excerpt from Michael's long Crunchnotes piece:
The Fact And Fiction Of Sam Sethi

""So Sam Sethi, former TechCrunch UK editor, announced the closing of his Blognation blog network today. He lays 100% of the blame for the failure on me personally....

Sam is, in my opinion, a classic confidence man....

At the time it served Sam to say he was fired to get people to sympathize with him. Later, he says he quit, which is actually the truth....

But Sam made some very dumb decisions in the early days of Blognation. First, he booted the guy that actually came up with the idea, Lee Wilkins. It was probably not legal, but Wilkins, who lives in Romania, had little legal recourse. But Wilkins did tell potential Blognation investors what Sam had done, prompting Sam to lose his cool and threaten to kill him. I found out about this fairly quickly back in the Spring of 2007, but didn’t post on it....

Second, Sam said from the start that he had venture funding even though he didn’t. This was even written on the About page of Blognation....

In those intervening months Sam and some of his editors continued to take shots at TechCrunch....

Sam claims that my posting of that term sheet killed the financing, and blognation. That’s just not true. What is much more likely is that the term sheet was a fake created by Sam...

In his final post, Sam forgets to thank his editors who worked for free, or express any regret for lying to them during the entire process. I hope that some day Sam fixes that and tells the real story of Blognation."

Here's an excerpt from Sethi's version:

Here’s to You Mr(s) Arrington, Goodbye and Good Luck Startups (Sam Sethi)

"For the last 6 months Arrington has threatened to publish, private and confidential emails that were sent to him, knowing it would create fear uncertainty and doubt (FUD) around blognation within the angel/VC community, whether the content was factual or not! The merest whif of litigation whether true or not caused our the potential investors to run for the hills back in July.

Arrington had made it very clear that he would withhold this information from the public domain but like the Sword of Damocles he would use this information at the right time. From that point on (yet with hindsight I deeply regret) I decided to keep up the pretense that blognation had closed funding to put Arrington off the scent and to prevent him publishing, in order to buy just enough time to raise new funding.

Sadly someone in blognation sent Arrington an internal email which he decided to publish along with the previously damaging part of the now four month old email thread between Lee Wilkins and I. This spooked the new VC and further delayed the funding process. Knowing that Arrington would love nothing better than to hear news of editors leaving blognation, I chose not to tell the editors the funding was once again delayed. That was wrong and I should have been honest with the team."

There's no way for me, unknowledgeable about the specifics, to even attempt to separate fact from fiction here. But it does seem a little messy (not that life or business may never become messy at points).

3) Hey Facebook, WTF? Stay Away From TechCrunchers (December 6 2007)

"Congratulations to Ben, who will be missed but will do well in his new job (and, I hope, give us internal access to Facebook’s admin system ).

But I am not happy at all with Facebook about this. Stay the hell away from our employees, Facebook, and fill your employment quotas elsewhere. Anyone else, and I declare war.

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone has a lead on a highly negative Facebook story, send it our way. Unfounded rumors and pure speculation are encouraged. Jerks. (Update: this is exactly the kind of stuff I’m looking for)"

I'm sorry, but I really believe that there is no excuse (that I can think of, fill me in if you see one) for Arrington to speak in this manner. Not that it is a compliment for a company of Facebook's stature to be hiring one's employees, but seeking to recruit another company's employees is nothing new (I'm not making a moral judgment in either direction). Arrington is a lawyer and I am not, so in my opinion if he ever feels (and I'm not saying that he does, only making the general statement) that there is anything illegal that ever goes on he should take legal remedy if he so chooses.

Not a tirade with the questionable content above.

Followed on January 11 by

Facebook - Why Not Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?

(I'm not sure what else, pro or con in regard to Facebook Michael may have written in the interim). Two events, as we all know, do not indicate a trend, but it is interesting (I find it so).

4) Shannon Terry Is Pissed Off, Threatens Lawsuit Against TechCrunch

In which Arrington posts on TechCrunch legal correspondence received (I've heard of others doing that, so maybe that is becoming more of a response tactic or journalistic approach, I don't know).

Back to Robert Scoble. Scoble seemed to have been, until now, overall an Arrington favorite(almost as much as Arrington's associate (if that is the best word) Jason Calacanis - disclosure regarding Jason: who goes after me (I like comment #2, no one I know, underneath Calacanis post).

I'm newer to this circle, so I'm open, as I would be anyway, to the observations of those who have seen a few more revolutions in this space.

I'm not jealous of Michael Arrington. Perhaps not to his level, but I have also done well (I wouldn't expect that TechCrunch would have covered my company, it's still much too small).

I like TechCrunch. TechCrunch and Techmeme are my go-to technology sites (the TechCrunch feed is prominently on this site) for industry news.

I'm happy for Michael Arrington in regard to his success, and I hope that it continues.

I'd just like to see him bring it down an octave.

My personal philosophy is (for whatever it's worth) "Don't look for trouble, don't run from trouble". And never be a bully, because there is always a bigger bully out there somewhere.

Michael Arrington, it seems safe to say, is a highly intelligent individual. He has more resources than I do and if he decided that he wanted to take me on for writing this I'd likely be the proverbial "dead meat". But sometimes, if he and others agree, there is more power in picking one's battles carefully. They don't suffer from dilution that way.

A final saying of which we're all aware, "Discretion is the greater part of valor".

EBay Chief Whitman Plans to Retire - The Wall Street Journal

2008-01-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

EBay Chief Whitman Plans to Retire - The Wall Street Journal
Excerpt:
"A decision about her departure could come within weeks, though the situation remains fluid, say these people.

John Donahoe, 47 years old, whom Ms. Whitman recruited in 2005 to become the president of eBay's auction business unit, has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed her, added these people."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120097256037505741.html