Jason said in the closing remarks of LAUNCH something to the effect of "I am so happy, let's go to the W and get drunk." After arriving at the W, I checked my phone and saw the article on Google's blog - some timing! I feel for him and all of the people that lost their jobs.
A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
11–20 of 124 posts
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#12I think this only the beginning of the bad news due to this algo change. There are many legitimate businesses that have been seriously impacted by traffic drops and we'll probably see many more layoffs and budget cuts.
I think this is only the beginning of good news due to this algo change. There are many legitimate businesses that have been positively impacted by traffic gains and we'll probably see more hiring and raises.
Absolutely. SEO really is a zero-sum game.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#13Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light.
Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#14I feel for the cut staff and Mahalo has plenty of dough in the bank but reminds me of Jason's article "What to do if your startup is about fail (or "Don't Stop Believing")" http://calacanis.com/2009/02/27/what-to-do-if-your-startup-i... Applicable lesson I learned the hard way - better to make cuts early in the face of a serious shift vs. burn cash, see morale dip, etc.
Any time you go through a round of layoffs the morale is going to dip amongst the survivors for a little while. This is particularly acute when the company is small, and those being let go are perceived to have added value (usually culturally more than direct ROI). It can slowly chip away at the soul of a place.
Crunchbase shows Mahalo at 40 employees pre-cut.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#15Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light. Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
You should check out some of his shows on http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/ - you can get a sense of who he is from watching a few.
The general consensus on HN is that he doesn't treat people well or is somehow not very "honest".
Personally, I'm a big fan. I watch every episode and I generally agree with most of what he says.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is only the beginning of good news due to this algo change. There are many legitimate businesses that have been positively impacted by traffic gains and we'll probably see more hiring and raises.
Absolutely. SEO really is a zero-sum game.
That isn't true. For any particular search, yes, if one site goes down another site will necessarily go up. However, in aggregate, SEO creates value. Think of StackOverflow, for example: the primary mechanism for success isn't taking traffic from ExpertsExchange -- that is just a much-remarked side effect. The primary mechanism for success is successfully incentivizing the creation and distribution of answers for a broad universe of expert questions to which no responsive answers have ever appeared in the SERPS before.
Similarly, an algorithmic change in Google which cleans up the long tail can help businesses in a variety of fashions. I mean, I'm not actually seeing major changes yet, but if my rankings for five thousand variations of "how do I make X bingo cards" over the universe of ten Xs which content farms deem valuable to target, that gives me additional resources to develop value-producing things elsewhere (like, e.g., subsidizing the development of AR, or ramping up my publication efforts from my current speed of ~250 to year to a higher number on progressively more obscure topics which real teachers really do want to teach lessons on tomorrow).
Similarly, improving the value of the SERPs for any field of endeavor or user community results in an increase in the aggregate number of searches as user behavior changes. That is a change that lifts all boats.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#17Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light. Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
He was an early Web 1.0 entrepreneur who founded Silicon Alley Reporter (which failed) and Weblogs, Inc (which got bought out by AOL). He's sort of a "startup celebrity" in the sense that he's (a) opinionated and (b) good at getting those opinions into people's faces. He's involved in a wide range of stuff in the startup-support ecosystem, and he's also the founder of Mahalo. He describes Mahalo as "people-powered search", as in you search for something on Mahalo and you get a professionally written page, but detractors think he's about one step removed from a content farm.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#18Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light. Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
If only there wasn't some sort of machine that indexed a vast electronic knowledge base...
And no I'm not trying to troll.
OK, you got me.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#19Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light. Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
Mahalo is equated with spam in the eyes of many HNers (including me), and JC is seen as the promoter of said spam.
EDIT: Why the hell is this getting so many upvotes? Because it's easier to read? Upvote, instead, some of the comments with actual fucking content.
EDIT2: Also, while I think (much of) Mahalo is spam, I respect Jason and his business, and wish him the best of luck.
Re: A Week After Google Changes Algo, Mahalo Fires 10% of Staff
#20Could someone tell me more about this Jason Calacanis fellow. He seems to be a very polarizing figure on this site. Really all I know is that he seemed to have a falling out with Michael Arrington and alot of articles seem to mention him in a slightly negative light. Is there some reason for this, and no I'm not trying to troll.
The guy is just controversial. He pretty much says what people think and do not say. Jason sounds rude lots of time, and I think people here have a problem with that and his Mahalo which they refer to as a content farm.
Now with all this being said, you have to respect the guy. He has built and sold businesses (so he actually knows something). He tells it to you like he sees it. That gets my vote all the time. I watch all his shows at TWIST and he does a neat job at giving constructive feedback to entrepreneurs. I frankly think that he likes to act tougher than he really is. This is just his defense mechanism.