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Interesting Greg Nemeth is listed as on WakeMate's about page http://www.wakemate.com/about/ http://www.wakemate.com/about/ as a cofounder of the company that p
by csmeder 14y ago
Interesting Greg Nemeth is listed as on WakeMate's about page http://www.wakemate.com/about/ http://www.wakemate.com/about/ as a cofounder of the company that produces WakeMate.
"Greg Nemeth is Co-Founder and President of Perfect
Third, Inc. He manages WakeMate’s finances,
communications, and marketing strategy. Greg
studied business at Boston College until he left
to pursue WakeMate full-time."
According to this blog post he seems to have secretly started a competing company and used WakeMates email list? http://www.indiegogo.com/MiLifePlus http://www.indiegogo.com/MiLifePlus
Its a shame WakeMate didn't end up succeeding, it was one of my favorite YC startup ideas.
- spydertennis 14y agoOops, the information on that page is outdated. Greg is a co-founder of WakeMate. Edit: as per swombat's comment below changed "was" to "is"
- swombat 14y agoThere's no such thing as "was a cofounder". Once you're a cofounder, you always are, even if you're kicked out of your company or leave for any reason. Steve Jobs was still cofounder of Apple when he was kicked out of it.
- Alex3917 14y agoNot entirely true. There are many cases where someone joins the business but then leaves after a couple months, before any of their equity even vests.
- staunch 14y agoFounding a company is an act. Those who found a company are its founders. It can't be undone.
- jaylevitt 14y agoNo.. having founded a company is a decision made and re-made by historians. Steve Case was VP of Marketing when AOL was founded as Quantum Computer Services. As his role grew, early employees left, and time passed, he became the co-founder.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- rdl 14y agoI thought it was wakemate which "was".
- alanh 14y agoWhat about the reverse? If one co-founder leaves, does that make you “founder” and not co-founder?
- technotony 14y agoI've been wondering this as this is exactly what happened to me and I'm never sure how to introduce myself!
- eli 14y agoIn my mind "co-founder" is a type of founder. I don't think you are doing anything wrong by calling yourself founder.
- coda_ 14y agoDon't you mean: Steve Jobs IS still cofounder of Apple when he was kicked out of it. ;)
- wglb 14y agoKind of like "former alumnus?" I'm trying to figure out how one can do that transition...
- paulgb 14y agoIf you really want to be pedantic, if he is a cofounder, he was a cofounder too. As Mitch Hedberg said, "I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too"
- JonnieCache 14y agoHe doesn't any more. :(
- JonnieCache 14y agoHmmm. Just in case I am being misunderstood - I'm not sad because he stopped doing drugs. I'm sad because the reason he stopped doing drugs was because he died of a heroin overdose.
- jhund 14y agoCheck out the name of Greg's new company. I'm sure it's designed to sound like the original company: * Wakemate: By Perfect Third Inc. (http://wakemate.com/about/ http://wakemate.com/about/) * MiLife+: By Three Thirds Inc. (http://www.indiegogo.com/GregNemeth http://www.indiegogo.com/GregNemeth) Somehow this all reminds me of the JooJoo tablet (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/crunchpad-tablet-joojoo/ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/crunchpad-tablet-jooj...). Picking the right Co-founders is so important! I would not start a company with a person unless we have a proven track record and have built trust over several years and having worked together on a number of projects.
- technotony 14y agoThat is easy to say, but often you don't know exactly the right person with the right skill set at the time you need them. If you only work with people you have known for several years you are going to have a slow time growing your company.
- jhund 14y agoI was referring to co-founders only in my comment about trust and track record. I agree that at some point you will have to bring people on board that you haven't known for that long, but then the risk is also a lot smaller since they won't be co-founders.
- veemjeem 14y agoSo you'll only bring on people with a proven track record of having multiple past exits? That severely limits your options... plus why would someone with multiple successful exits want to work with you?
- swombat 14y agoNo, he's saying the exact opposite of that. Bringing people on board doesn't require as much pickiness as choosing cofounders.
- 14y ago
- kurtvarner 14y agoHe got a hold of their Twitter account too. Check the stream, as the interactions are hilarious. https://twitter.com/#!/wakemate https://twitter.com/#!/wakemate (but hurry because I'm sure the tweets will be gone soon).