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Since this is Arrington you have to take things with a grain of salt. The technical reason seems like a very bogus reason. Its true that the TC design could us

by pavs 16y ago

Since this is Arrington you have to take things with a grain of salt. The technical reason seems like a very bogus reason. Its true that the TC design could use some help and the general site layout and speed could use some improvement. But any half-decent developer and a designer who is worth his balls could solve this problem. After all they are running on wordpress using PHP. In regards to the speed of the site, its no so much of a technical problem as it is a "widget problem" they have more external JavaScript widgets pulling in than the site itself. The only solution to that problem is a reduce the number of external calls. The other reason he used was that he is tired. I can understand that, it is very much possible to get tired of something that you have been very involved with for several years, even if the project is the love of your life. It can be both mentally and physically taxing. But he is not going anywhere... he is staying with TC even after the sale. What responsibility is he offloading other than the technical aspect of the site? And it isn't much offloading because its not like he is sitting behind the computer and developing the site, he would be hiring someone to that job. The only thing that he doesn't mention and doesn't talk about (anyone else in his position would have done the same), is money. It is possible that AOL offered something that was too good _for him_ to refuse or he really needed the money. Everything else he mentioned sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me.

cletus 16y ago
Not sure why you got down voted so +1. You're right about the technical. As for what he's offloading I guess that's running TC as a business. Ad sales, budgets and so forth. On a side note it's very strain to me to run something so intertwined with the valley from... Seattle.
napierzaza 16y ago
Financial backing is a huge weight off his back. Not necessarily for his personal cash flow, but the business itself. The company now has a much better cash flow that can allow them to branch out to do other things. But it should also be a payday for him, a more reliable one at that.
bad_user 16y ago
> The technical reason seems like a very bogus reason That reason isn't a technical one. As an administrator of your small company you have to hire people that are good enough and keep them happy. All small companies have this problem. Programmers don't want to work for small wages, feel unappreciated, work on uninteresting problems forever, or be second-class citizens. Those that do and are half-decent, would rather prefer the job security of a big company. Another reason would be the stress of any small business to be profitable. Not only that, but you've started the business partly to get rich. If what he's saying is true, and AOL can't interfere with their writing, and it's in the contract, and he also earn a handsome sum of money, then I can see why they agreed.
- shadowsun7 16y ago
  To be honest, both the TC blog and Crunchbase aren't that complicated to do. Arrington could theoretically hire contract programmers to do upgrades to the software if and when they need them. Perhaps what Arrington means is that it's really hard to find programmers willing to work on these two products for the long term. It is a blog and a database, after all, and the nature of the software doesn't make for terribly exciting work.
  - pavs 16y ago
    Thats exactly what I was thinking, besides independent contact workers (in my experience) doesn't care much if the work is boring as long as they are getting paid. Thats why to me the excuse seemed empty and makes no sense.
    - roel_v 16y ago
      But you always need someone who cares. Someone who pulls everything together, not technically, but who thinks of how things should work, what's best for the users or business goals. This you cannot subcontract because subcontractors don't care. They will do whatever you tell them to, to spec. You need someone with a connection to the company to make great things, someone who values the long-term benefits, not just the amount he's paid this week. Day-laborer programmers are easy to find, rent-a-code is full of them. But while you can use them to do menial tasks, or specialized ones, or absorb a demand spike, you can't count on them to drive your business. Sounds like that came all on him, he didn't want to do that anymore. Same is true for other industries btw. I'm living through this in the real estate sector right now and sometimes I want to punch people in the face for not just thinking for one freaking second before blindly doing what some other non-invested person wrote on a spec sheet or plan, but then I remind myself that they're all mercenaries who just do what I (directly or indirectly) tell them, and that I need to be on top of every little detail and double- and triple check everything. That's what driving (not just running) a business is about.
Mystalic 16y ago
You'd be shocked how many technical challenges and headaches go into operating a major technology blog. Trust me, I should know.
- pavs 16y ago
  I trust you. But how much of that is Arrington's headache? The server is hosted by Wordpress VIP, and they mostly like down't have a full-time developer and sys-admin like Mashable does. Does the editor and founder of Mashable maintain the server and fixes software issues? I hope not!

by pavs 16y ago

cletus 16y ago

Not sure why you got down voted so +1. You're right about the technical. As for what he's offloading I guess that's running TC as a business. Ad sales, budgets and so forth. On a side note it's very strain to me to run something so intertwined with the valley from... Seattle.

napierzaza 16y ago

Financial backing is a huge weight off his back. Not necessarily for his personal cash flow, but the business itself. The company now has a much better cash flow that can allow them to branch out to do other things. But it should also be a payday for him, a more reliable one at that.

bad_user 16y ago

> The technical reason seems like a very bogus reason That reason isn't a technical one. As an administrator of your small company you have to hire people that are good enough and keep them happy. All small companies have this problem. Programmers don't want to work for small wages, feel unappreciated, work on uninteresting problems forever, or be second-class citizens. Those that do and are half-decent, would rather prefer the job security of a big company. Another reason would be the stress of any small business to be profitable. Not only that, but you've started the business partly to get rich. If what he's saying is true, and AOL can't interfere with their writing, and it's in the contract, and he also earn a handsome sum of money, then I can see why they agreed.

shadowsun7 16y ago
To be honest, both the TC blog and Crunchbase aren't that complicated to do. Arrington could theoretically hire contract programmers to do upgrades to the software if and when they need them. Perhaps what Arrington means is that it's really hard to find programmers willing to work on these two products for the long term. It is a blog and a database, after all, and the nature of the software doesn't make for terribly exciting work.
- pavs 16y ago
  Thats exactly what I was thinking, besides independent contact workers (in my experience) doesn't care much if the work is boring as long as they are getting paid. Thats why to me the excuse seemed empty and makes no sense.
  - roel_v 16y ago
    But you always need someone who cares. Someone who pulls everything together, not technically, but who thinks of how things should work, what's best for the users or business goals. This you cannot subcontract because subcontractors don't care. They will do whatever you tell them to, to spec. You need someone with a connection to the company to make great things, someone who values the long-term benefits, not just the amount he's paid this week. Day-laborer programmers are easy to find, rent-a-code is full of them. But while you can use them to do menial tasks, or specialized ones, or absorb a demand spike, you can't count on them to drive your business. Sounds like that came all on him, he didn't want to do that anymore. Same is true for other industries btw. I'm living through this in the real estate sector right now and sometimes I want to punch people in the face for not just thinking for one freaking second before blindly doing what some other non-invested person wrote on a spec sheet or plan, but then I remind myself that they're all mercenaries who just do what I (directly or indirectly) tell them, and that I need to be on top of every little detail and double- and triple check everything. That's what driving (not just running) a business is about.

Mystalic 16y ago

You'd be shocked how many technical challenges and headaches go into operating a major technology blog. Trust me, I should know.

pavs 16y ago
I trust you. But how much of that is Arrington's headache? The server is hosted by Wordpress VIP, and they mostly like down't have a full-time developer and sys-admin like Mashable does. Does the editor and founder of Mashable maintain the server and fixes software issues? I hope not!