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"Dave McCLure…pls try not to blog about this and cause silicon valley more embarrassment with your unprofessional classless writings" OUCH
by bretthellman 16y ago
"Dave McCLure…pls try not to blog about this and cause silicon valley more embarrassment with your unprofessional classless writings" OUCH
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- lotusleaf1987 16y agoI seriously don't understand how people were defending his writing style. Anyone over ninteen would realize the use of multi-colored text, "drop a cap in yo ass" lines, and lack of capitalization looks like you're lazy and incompetent. I realize he's done fairly well in his investments, but does he not have an extra 2-3 minutes to capitalize and think out more coherent analogies?
- bretthellman 16y agoIt makes him standout from the crowd which is his goal IMO...
- lotusleaf1987 16y ago...It makes him look childish, impatient, immature, and less credible. If you're a professional, act like one. You wouldn't turn an essay in looking like that in junior high or high school, so why is it acceptable for him?
- bretthellman 16y agoI don't disagree with that.
- philwelch 16y agoI'd be afraid of the answer if I asked an actual junior high school teacher which side of "average" that writing style would actually land him on in terms of a school essay.
- iamwil 16y agoThere's many things that make a man. His dress, his words, his actions, and these are all suppose to be a reflection of his character and integrity. Be careful which one you pick to judge a man. I'm not defending Dave's actions at this meeting, merely his writing style. I'm glad the Valley has room for the likes of Dave's writing style. The day the Valley values professionalism over actual value give is the day I leave, since I can go to Wall Street for that. Suits and the Whole Nine Yards. The second time I'll invoke Tara: "The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act." - Tara Ploughman
- techiferous 16y agoActually, being a polite gentleman will make you stand out more nowadays.
- desigooner 16y agoeither McClure is a really good troll, just trying to gain attention or just trying to "fit" in with the young entrepreneurs/founders .
- codexon 16y agoLet's be honest here. If you had as much money as Mcclure, would you waste as much time trying to please people by bending over backwards with perfect grammar, lack of slang, and an apologetic tone? Everyone starts writing to please other people through resumes, cover letters, thank-you cards, and apologies. But once you have enough money like Mcclure, you can say "Fuck you" when you want to and not worry about losing your job. And that's exactly what he did.
- lotusleaf1987 16y agoYes, I would. It doesn't take that much more effort. Your argument is that he's too busy for punctuation to be worth his time? What about people who are more wealthy than him who manage to do so? What would you think if Warren Buffett wrote like this? He's acting like the kids in junior high who thought they were being rebellious by shopping at Hot Topic and dressing punk. He's just replaced one style for another. He's not text messaging his rant, he published it online. If he's so rich and too busy, then pay an assistant to edit it. Everything you do is a representation of yourself.
- codexon 16y agoMaybe you would, that's why you're complaining about it. But my whole point is that there's more people like him that don't feel like writing perfectly. As you just admitted, it takes extra effort to write for your audience instead of writing for yourself. And why would he bother to hire an assistant to edit it? That also takes effort. Warren Buffet obviously has the choice to behave in the same manner. He also has the choice to be reckless like Larry Ellison and fly jet fighters, or be like the Koch brother's and spend millions on libertarian think-tanks to anger a large democratic populace. Or conversely, why does Buffet choose to anger countless libertarians by saying he and other billionaires should pay a higher tax rate than his secretary? If he was a truly wise businessman, he would refrain from political statements like that. My point is that wealth makes people more confident in revealing their idiosyncrasies. Whether or not you like their true personality is another story. Amusingly and relatedly I've lost over 20 karma points for telling what people don't want to hear even though I do not support Dave McClure's behavior.
- zaidf 16y agodoes he not have an extra 2-3 minutes to capitalize and think out more coherent analogies? The same way, I fail to realize how people don't understand that he writes in that style not because he lacks a few extra minutes but because that is a style and persona he's built over time.
- evgen 16y agoHow is it that someone as sharp as McClure and his posse claim him to be cannot realize that no matter how well-crafted the the persona may be, if it personifies douchebag then maybe you need to dial it back a bit.
- zaidf 16y agoif it personifies douchebag It may personify douchebag to you and 82,482 other irrelevant strangers on the internet. More important, though, is what it personifies to the entrepreneurs looking to raise money. What you see as douche, many see as no-bs straightalking angel investor(whether accurate or not is irrelavant). At the end of the day, his blog is a sales pitch to entrepreneurs. And from all that I can see, he has done pretty well. ie. he's scored many deals where the entrepreneurs see him as the no-bs guy; I'm not aware of any where an entrepreneur blatantly turned him down due to his writing style. Most that claim they would never raise money from him have never raised money and never will. Conclusion: it's his style, it works for him and his goals, so he continues.
- Devilboy 16y ago'Asshole' is not a style
- zaidf 16y agoDon't listen to rap, then. Stick with pop.
- nocman 16y agoYou make it sound like pop is the only alternative to rap. I happen to like some of both (along with a lot of other styles of music), but am not interested in the rants of people who are acting like jerks from either musical style. Dave McClure is free to write with the tone of a jerk all he wants. I don't know anything about him other than the post in question, but regardless of whether that's just his "style", I certainly wouldn't want to do business of any serious kind with him if it could possibly be avoided.
- dmoney 16y agoHis writing style's certainly drawing attention away from the issue at hand, so I'd say it works for him.
- girlzhack 16y agoIt's crazy that even with Ron telling Dave to stop embarrassing the tech community with his unprofessional classless writing - he still did it! That in itself is truly classless
- shadowsun7 16y agoI believe this email was written after Dave posted his defense of the meetup.
- jeffb 16y agoYes, but Dave's accidental tweet to the whole world came after Ron's email, didn't it? That's what really makes Dave look like a webtard - Ron told Dave not to "cause silicon valley more embarrassment with your unprofessional classless writings", and then Dave sent out a tweet doing exactly that!
- binomial 16y agoThat was a mistake, meant to be a direct (private) message to someone on twitter, probably a fellow "super angel".
- gommm 16y agoYes but he still did it with his tweet...
- davidmurphy 16y agoI gotta say, I find his profanity and weird formatting off-putting. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.