8 ms·
On To Google Ventures
- Splendor 13y agoI can't wait to read more unbiased "news" from MG and the team at TechCrunch.
- cleverjake 13y agoHow is that comment relevant to this article?
- Lightning 13y ago"As for my writing… I wouldn’t expect much to change. I’ll still be writing columns for TechCrunch and I’ll still be writing here and elsewhere as time permits. Obviously, there will be some knowledge that I become privy to that I won’t be able to share — but that’s not any different than it has been with many of the startups I’ve worked with over the past 19 months. The difference now is that some of that knowledge will be about one of the most successul startups of all time: Google. Yes, they’re letting an Apple fanatic into the building — wild, I know. But as I said, I left the reporting path long ago. I’m on a new path now. Don’t worry, I’m bringing my iPhone with me."
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bdowney 13y agoGoogle just paid him so no more anti-Google articles will be written. Very clever of them.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ok_craig 13y agoThis kinda makes me want to puke.
- Lewisham 13y agoCouldn't have said it better myself. There hasn't been a more unashamedly biased "reporter" than MG Siegler in recent memory. At least Gruber never tried to be anything approaching legitimate. I don't understand how he could be expected to be even-handed as you would hope a VC managing a large cash pool would be.
- tptacek 13y agoJust some feedback. When I read the first part of your comment, my brain was engaged with what you're saying. "How do we feel about MG Siegler's overlapping careers as investor and writer, and about that trend, and about the TechCrunch legacy, and" thud a Gruber comparison. Then I stopped thinking, because I don't think I can learn anything from someone who thinks John Gruber and MG Siegler are comparable; the only thing they seem to have in common is an appreciation for Apple products. So... your issue is, you don't like Apple fanatics. Got it.
- Androsynth 13y agoapple fans who are biased against anything non-apple who both act as journalists (to a differing degree). There are similarities.
- gallamine 13y agoIt could be that their bias is a legitimate bias. Or, it could be that it isn't. Rather than attacking someone for a bias, wouldn't it better to prove it by writing about it ... just like they do?
- mwfunk 13y agoI don't think Gruber makes any pretense of acting as an objective journalist at all, he's just a guy that writes about things that interest him. It's true that the things he chooses to write about frequently fall into the "Apple gets this right, everyone else is on crack" category, but (usually) he's got a valid observation to make. If there's any pro-Apple bias, it's in the specific topics that he chooses to write about (things that make Apple look good) as opposed to bias in the content itself. There's a difference between being selective when you choose what to write about and actually being biased in how you present a topic once you've committed to write about it. I think he's guilty of the former but (usually not) the latter. The fact that he spends so much time countering what he sees as invalid criticisms of Apple by market analysts ends up making a huge difference in the mix of topics he covers. I totally think DF would be a lot more interesting if he actually tried to cover a much wider swath of topics and perspectives though. There are weeks on end that are nothing but "claim chowder" articles and harrumphing about dumb analysis by other people, which can be justified sometimes but it seems like he could be doing so much more.
- mikekij 13y agoAt the risk of sounding jealous, I can't quite see how MG could be that helpful to startup tech companies. I would think partners at funds like Google Ventures should have experience building things (e.g. Kevin Rose), or at least being part of a management team that facilitates the building of things. That said, I enjoy(ed) MG's Apple coverage at TechCrunch, and wish him the best at GV. I just hope he stays long enough to make a meaningful impact on the companies he's writing checks to.
- OGinparadise 13y agoMaybe he's there to hype the crap out of the companies they invest in? Hyping and writing is all he does.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- kin3tic 13y agoAnd shit talking Android and reluctantly admitting in each review that it's basically perfect but then stilling digging at it and boasting about how iOS can cure cancer.
- OGinparadise 13y agoI expect he will learn "to love" Android, like another recent Google employee did http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226164 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226164
- awkward 13y agoRemember when he unabashedly ran positive press for Path while they were getting reamed for rummaging through people's contact data without asking? And didn't announce that he had significantly invested in them? Maybe he could do that for other people.
- alekseyk 13y agoAnd credibility of Google Ventures went down today. His posts were filled with clueless rants with a side of his small minded ego. The guy is full of him self without accomplishing anything that would warrant that. It actually annoyed me so much I wrote a grease monkey script years ago to block his garbage from TechCrunch (before they redesigned): https://github.com/AlekseyKorzun/TechCrunch-Douchebag https://github.com/AlekseyKorzun/TechCrunch-Douchebag
- arbuge 13y ago"The guy is full of him self without accomplishing anything that would warrant that." This would unfortunately describe alot of the VCs out there very well indeed.
- dkuntz2 13y agoI agree. Every time I see that he's now a part of something, or been placed somewhere that should warrant some form of accomplishment I try to see what exactly he's done. The only thing I can find is that he's written a lot of rather biased articles that don't actually have any content in them. If anyone can cite some accomplishment, please do, because I'm just really confused by how he keeps being put in these positions.
- drivebyacct2 13y agoGruber took ad money from Microsoft. This is just Siegler's one-up.
- brown9-2 13y agoWhat problem do you have with that?
- drivebyacct2 13y agoI wondered if I should have noted that it was meant purely as joke.
- frisco 13y agoI guess deal flow trumps everything else. MG Siegler can almost certainly generate significant deal flow (I assume this was the same thesis behind getting Kevin Rose on board). Yeah, he's seen as a goofball of the internet, but I guess all that really matters here is finding the interesting deals and getting them through the door. I have no problem believing that MG can do that. As they'd say, "MG has substantial visibility."
- jcampbell1 13y agoIn addition to visibility, I can imagine having an advisor that worked in and is well connected in the tech press world would be beneficial to many startups. I think he can offer some insight into a blindspot for many startups. While his reporting was too biased and too often linkbait for my taste, his writing never led me to believe he is stupid.
- ChuckMcM 13y agoThat people have these sorts of ties/influences seems challenging at best and unprofessional at least. I do not believe you can make a product successful by driving rage views to the sign-up page. I do not believe you can make a product successful, as an investor, when you have such a polarizing influence on people. I don't know what that means for Google Ventures and I don't know what that means for MG Siegler. So that leaves me perplexed on this move in general. That leaves me wondering what the angle is. Crunchfund breakup? Propaganda piece muzzled? Impact mitigation? Arrington payback? Lots of questions and no answers. And why does the tech industry tolerate reporters as investors? Do Hollywood Agents write for the Hollywood Reporter? Do wall street bankers report on news on CNBC? Do FDA administrators write articles about the biotech companies?
- gkanai 13y agoFWIW, Mike Moritz at Sequoia was a tech reporter before he became a VC.
- rayiner 13y agoWall Street bankers appear on the news on CNBC all the time.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- danielrhodes 13y agoMG Siegler is quite clearly not a reporter anymore. He's a venture capitalist and he writes infrequent opinion pieces on Apple and Google products for TechCrunch.
- skc 13y agoAhh, now it makes sense why he's able to trash a product like the Surface while praising (with a straight face) a product like the Chrome Pixel.
- PaulMest 13y agoI see there are a lot of comments here doubting what MG can add to a venture fund or to Google. I think this comment from Sarah Lacy speaks volumes about MG's helpfulness to startups and entrepreneurs: http://youtu.be/v-0wEMr-hlA?t=50m58s http://youtu.be/v-0wEMr-hlA?t=50m58s Keep in mind that Sarah and the Crunchfund had a falling out in the early days of PandoDaily. She had no problem ragging on Arrington, but felt compelled to praise MG and specifically cite how he is helpful to entrepreneurs and startups. I am curious to see how the next step in his career goes and how this affects his writing and how he reviews products and teams.