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The Real History of TechCrunch

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Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#51

Post by vidarh »

telltruth wrote: post #41
vidarh wrote: post #18

I won't say a huge deal about this, as I now work with Keith again, and haven't spoken to Mike for years, but I'm extremely surprised to see this version of events, as when I worked on Edgeio (I built the prototype, and managed the dev team for a while and continued to build the system) while Edgeio's and Techcrunch's offices were both in the house Mike rented in Atherton (Edgeio was largely built from the bedroom ac…

This is exact same pattern that gets repeated everywhere: Winklevoss hires Zuckerberg to do some sort of campus meetup site. While working on this, Zuckerberg crystalizes related idea of profiles and messaging among students - but only shared among friends. Winklevoss does not participate in vision, engineering or anything else but claim the credit for Facebook anyway. I can understand that in early days it would be…

When I was brought in to work on Edgeio, Mike (who I knew from before) introduced Keith as his partner in Archimedes Labs, not as his employer. And he discussed the work they were doing to launch more companies under that umbrella. He firmly gave the impression on multiple occasions over the following year that Techcrunch grew out of the research he did as part of that partnership, and never once suggested it was somehow a separate, personal project.

What he told me and what went on behind closed doors may very well be very different and I'd rather not jump to conclusions about it, but at least to me it seems like a very different situation in that he himself presented it differently at the time.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#52

Post by fredoliveira »

vidarh wrote: post #18

I won't say a huge deal about this, as I now work with Keith again, and haven't spoken to Mike for years, but I'm extremely surprised to see this version of events, as when I worked on Edgeio (I built the prototype, and managed the dev team for a while and continued to build the system) while Edgeio's and Techcrunch's offices were both in the house Mike rented in Atherton (Edgeio was largely built from the bedroom ac…

> Here [1] is an archive.org link from 2005, that lists Mike and Keith equally, on a post posted by the web designer who also did a lot of early work on Edgeio

Well it's been a while (long time no speak, too) and 12+ years are known to change memory and bits, but I remember those times. I remember the tension between Techcrunch and Edgeio because I lived it, and I'll say that the resurfacing of these this subject is not surprising.

Because I know I would be biased and I have fond memories of those times, I don't think it would be fair to put my version of events forward. I will say this: despite his flaws, I have to give Mike a ton of credit for sticking with Techcrunch - he put a ton of energy into making it what it eventually became, even if that meant less energy spent on other projects.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#53

Post by alien_at_work »

telltruth wrote: post #41
vidarh wrote: post #18

I won't say a huge deal about this, as I now work with Keith again, and haven't spoken to Mike for years, but I'm extremely surprised to see this version of events, as when I worked on Edgeio (I built the prototype, and managed the dev team for a while and continued to build the system) while Edgeio's and Techcrunch's offices were both in the house Mike rented in Atherton (Edgeio was largely built from the bedroom ac…

This is exact same pattern that gets repeated everywhere: Winklevoss hires Zuckerberg to do some sort of campus meetup site. While working on this, Zuckerberg crystalizes related idea of profiles and messaging among students - but only shared among friends. Winklevoss does not participate in vision, engineering or anything else but claim the credit for Facebook anyway. I can understand that in early days it would be…

That's a pretty pro-Zuck view you have there. I think the courts are in a better position to decide and they found for the Winklevoss twins. Yes, they didn't get a lot of money but they got what they asked for.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#54

Post by alien_at_work »

telltruth wrote: post #22
verytrivial wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound come across as competent. If you don't feel justly compensated for this loss of credit, you need to walk.

I hear this advice all the time from my friends. If I was working on just another web development project, yes, I could walk away to yet another web development project. But if I was working on sending space crafts to Mars, then what other choices do I have in the world? Working on improving search results by 0.0001% at Google? Or identifying state actors at Facebook? Ewww....

You only live once, personally I would pick the one that offers the most money. That way, if you find it boring you can always save up enough to live off of a year or two and then do your own thing.

What is your alternative here? Keep getting exploited and keep being frustrated? You need to consider yourself in, say, 20 years. Consider you decided to stay, how do you feel in 20 years? Consider you decided to try something else, how do you feel in 20 years now?

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#55

Post by vidarh »

fredoliveira wrote: post #52
vidarh wrote: post #18

I won't say a huge deal about this, as I now work with Keith again, and haven't spoken to Mike for years, but I'm extremely surprised to see this version of events, as when I worked on Edgeio (I built the prototype, and managed the dev team for a while and continued to build the system) while Edgeio's and Techcrunch's offices were both in the house Mike rented in Atherton (Edgeio was largely built from the bedroom ac…

> Here [1] is an archive.org link from 2005, that lists Mike and Keith equally, on a post posted by the web designer who also did a lot of early work on Edgeio Well it's been a while (long time no speak, too) and 12+ years are known to change memory and bits, but I remember those times. I remember the tension between Techcrunch and Edgeio because I lived it, and I'll say that the resurfacing of these this subject is…

Yes, a very long time!

I absolutely agree it's clear that Mike deserves a lot of credit for sticking to it, whatever one thinks about what else went down and who is right or not about specific details.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#56

Post by wastedhours »

birken wrote: post #43
cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say he really deserves the 10%. That doesn't make him a "cofounder". That only makes him a shareholder. If owning some shares in a company made you a cofounder, by that logic any angel investor or VC is a cofounder of ever single company they funded. And even if the law says you're technically a "cofounder", it's pathetic to call yourself that for a decade and use that false reputation for your personal gains i…

FWIW I never said anything about the guy deserving the title of co-founder or not. Arrington is claiming the guy had literally nothing to do with Techcrunch, which is directly at odds with the one piece of information we know: the guy owned 10% of Techcrunch. As for the co-founder title, my point is if you are investing in some business because an advisor is either a real co-founder or a fake co-founder of Techcrunch…

Agree the blog post paints neither of them in a good light, but would have thought a 10% cut could just be compensation for developing a new IP whilst "employed" by someone else?

Depending on the agreements in place at Edgeio, sounds like it could just be an IP deal rather an an acknowledgement of increased involvement?

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#57

Post by smoyer »

telltruth wrote: post #13

This gets played out in all companies every day: You do something interesting in your spare time, your manager jumps on it out of nowhere to take credit and soon enough he is the visionary leader while you get transformed in to dude doing engineering implementation of his ideas. Lot of big projects where you will see one of the executives or managers attached, the real work - including vision - is many times done by…

I'm not saying your situation is at all fair but ... the word "hate" makes you a slave. You're obviously thinking about this situation as you're reading this thread and I hope you're not obsessing on it at other times. The down-side to a situation like this is that your psychopath manager isn't spending any time thinking about you (outside using you to create value for himself). If you're obsessing over him, he's won. As someone else said, get yourself out of there. And once you have, forgive and forget (for your own piece of mind).

Note that I don't mean that you should forget enough to end up in this situation again ... or go back to work for him for some reason. Just enough to let you go on with your life without obsessing over the past.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#58

Post by [deleted] »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #40
erikb wrote: post #4

This is a very important lesson for Michael Arrington and many people reading this can learn from it without losing too much emotions or money themselves: Someone, who claims this to be a cofounder of your business even once, is not your friend! Don't support their claims, don't pity them. They try to exploit you. This kind of person is really good at keeping you emotionally hooked, and therefore even let you find ex…

Based on the comment below yours, it seems like a good way of lying to yourself. Not all situations call for what you are saying. Sometimes they are right and you are in the wrong, and you need to correct it. Not necessarily this situation, but many. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16411597 We're really good at justifying our actions. Really, really good. I'd imagine Keith is on the other side of that, and corre…

[deleted]

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#59

Post by yc-kraln »

telltruth wrote: post #13

This gets played out in all companies every day: You do something interesting in your spare time, your manager jumps on it out of nowhere to take credit and soon enough he is the visionary leader while you get transformed in to dude doing engineering implementation of his ideas. Lot of big projects where you will see one of the executives or managers attached, the real work - including vision - is many times done by…

Many people would tell you to quit. Don't quit. Go on a sabbatical, or an unpaid vacation. First, it'll help you get in a better place, mentally, and second, it will show exactly who is contributing to this idea/work. Either you will be educated, or they will.

Re: The Real History of TechCrunch

#60

Post by gumby »

erikb wrote: post #4

This is a very important lesson for Michael Arrington and many people reading this can learn from it without losing too much emotions or money themselves: Someone, who claims this to be a cofounder of your business even once, is not your friend! Don't support their claims, don't pity them. They try to exploit you. This kind of person is really good at keeping you emotionally hooked, and therefore even let you find ex…

Is the same true of Musk who was an A round investor in a company already founded by Eberhard and Tarpenning?
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