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TechCrunch50 founders’ feud: “It’s over” for the startup conference

36 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

nuweborder 17y ago
YC stresses the importance of company founders having a positive working relationship, and in his INC magazine interview, Paul Graham himself spoke on his previous dealings with YC startups where company founders fueded and didnt get along. He spoke about how that alone can derail a company, and how it is a basic pain in his neck. On the YC application it states, "How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?" This is not done by accident. So how in the world are you going to host, critique, and try to provide opportunities for new startups to get noticed and succeed, if you cant even get along yourself? This is ridiculous. Lead by example. Maybe th TechCrunch50 founders need to read that INC magazine article.
- staunch 17y ago
  As I said in my other comment I don't think this is really comparable to founders of a startup. Techcrunch50 may be a separate new corporation (I don't know), but it's really just a product of an existing company. This is like a consultant and a founder parting ways.
  - nuweborder 17y ago
    Clearly you dont know. Somehow "ErrantX" was able to get the jist. But you seem to have missed it. Regardless of what kind of company it is really. New, old, startup, whatever. The extremely simple point here is that feuding destroys working relationships, no matter what way you choose cut it. And PG says this in his article, in black and white That this is what he dislkes the most about startups. And therefore the two are related. Who cares what stage the company is in. If it is a partnership or whatever. The notion applies to all. You missed the point. Read the article.
nuweborder 17y ago
Here's the link to the article if you want to check it out: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-combinators-paul-graham.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-com...
- catch23 17y ago
  what does TC50 have to do with YC again?
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    it's related to the posters other comment where he mentions that article - I guess he clicked the wrong reply button :)
  - nuweborder 17y ago
    The article talks about fueding between company founders, stright from Paul Graham. Read the previous post. That link is just a reference if you want to check out the article.
alain94040 17y ago
Jason is smiling way too much in that video to be taken seriously. TC50 was a great show this year by the way.
- wavesplash 17y ago
  Don't be thrown off - that's a New York positive-spin smile. They have some issues to deal with. Arrington huffing and puffing off stage like a baby at the awards wasn't the best foot forward for the show.
edw519 17y ago
After seeing that video, it seems to me that he’s engaging in theatrics and fireworks... Compared to everything else at Techcrunch, how could you tell the difference?
- joez 17y ago
  I was actually about 30 feet away but I don't want to fuel more rumors. At end of the day, even if it was genuine, it is still a year off and a few broken feelings can be mended by wild profits and time. Speculating on this kind of thing is a waste of time.
falsestprophet 17y ago
Perhaps Arrington could launch a more reasonable TechCrunch25
- jonursenbach 17y ago
  I'm ready for Techcrunch2600 and Mahalo5200.
fairramone 17y ago
Yes, no more TechCrunch_50_. I'm guessing that this is just a way of getting publicity so that they can announce it is expanding to become TechCrunch100 (or whatever).
tlrobinson 17y ago
So what actually happened? Or is that still a mystery?
staunch 17y ago
Arrington should give Calcanis the boot. There's nothing he does that Arrington should share revenue with him for. The TC brand and and promotion is what makes the thing successful. Calacanis may have convinced him to put on a conference initially, but that doesn't entitle him to any ongoing share in my mind. It's not like they built a company up together from nothing. That'd be a real partnership and loyalty would be owed. All that happened here was that Calacanis convinced Arrington to create a new revenue stream from his existing, very successful, and related business. Arrington is a sucker if he gives Calacanis anything but token remuneration at this point.
- ojbyrne 17y ago
  I think they started the conference together and any partnership should have been worked out beforehand (and probably has been). Deciding down the road that what person A brought to the table was the reason for success and person B was just a "consultant" is the most common way that feuds between founders start. Because it just as easily could have been what person B brought to the table that made the thing a success.
  - staunch 17y ago
    I do agree it should have been worked out in advance. And when it was Arrington shouldn't have allowed Calacanis to feel like he was a partner in it. If he did that then he does bare responsibility for the hurt feelings. When starting from scratch I do think it's unfair to later argue over contributions. In this case it's not starting from scratch. TechCrunch provided all of the rare/important ingredients, namely brand and promotion. Calacanis is fairly compensated if he made some cash and reputation, he doesn't deserve to own a stake in the conference in perpetuity.
    - ojbyrne 17y ago
      While you might be correct, I think when you have these interconnected enterprises, it's nearly impossible to say whose contribution is more important. For all you or I know it may have been Calacanis who put in 100% of the effort for the conference, and Arrington did nothing other than bestow the TC brand. Also for all you and I know, it may be that the conference vastly increased the readership of TC, in which case you could make a pretty good case that Calacanis was screwed. The whole thing could even have been financed by Calacanis. It's impossible to know. I'm not saying that's the case or not, I'm saying that it's impossible to look at it from the outside and say one person is responsible for the success or failure.
gehant 17y ago
I would be surprised if Arrington wants to continue with TechCrunch50...he seems to have no regard for entrepreneurs. Explains why he wasn't at the TC50 awards... Case in point: During this video (see link below) Arrington was extremely disrespectful and insulting during this interview with Garry Tan (posterous)... he interrupts Garry repeatedly and walks out at 24:01 w/o even acknowledging Garry is there. http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/09/twist-episode-14-with-garry-tan/ http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/09/twist-episode-14-with-...
- apsurd 17y ago
  Just watched the video. Arrington is seriously disgusting in this video. Do we not know how to interact respectfully in real life anymore? Calacanis actually saved the day and kept the interview on point as much as he could.
- skinnymuch 17y ago
  Dear god. He didn't even look at Garry...not even for a millisecond when he was leaving. How rude. What a dibshit.
andreshb 17y ago
Perhaps an opportunity for mashable? Mash50 ?
JCThoughtscream 17y ago
Eh, calling BS on this. The sheer attention TC gets from TC50 is going to prove too much of a temptation for either party to stay away for long. Neither Arrington's temper nor Calcanis's smarm will be sufficient barriers to another conference some time down the road.

36 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

YC stresses the importance of company founders having a positive working relationship, and in his INC magazine interview, Paul Graham himself spoke on his previous dealings with YC startups where company founders fueded and didnt get along. He spoke about how that alone can derail a company, and how it is a basic pain in his neck. On the YC application it states, "How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?" This is not done by accident. So how in the world are you going to host, critique, and try to provide opportunities for new startups to get noticed and succeed, if you cant even get along yourself? This is ridiculous. Lead by example. Maybe th TechCrunch50 founders need to read that INC magazine article.

staunch 17y ago
As I said in my other comment I don't think this is really comparable to founders of a startup. Techcrunch50 may be a separate new corporation (I don't know), but it's really just a product of an existing company. This is like a consultant and a founder parting ways.
- nuweborder 17y ago
  Clearly you dont know. Somehow "ErrantX" was able to get the jist. But you seem to have missed it. Regardless of what kind of company it is really. New, old, startup, whatever. The extremely simple point here is that feuding destroys working relationships, no matter what way you choose cut it. And PG says this in his article, in black and white That this is what he dislkes the most about startups. And therefore the two are related. Who cares what stage the company is in. If it is a partnership or whatever. The notion applies to all. You missed the point. Read the article.

nuweborder 17y ago

Here's the link to the article if you want to check it out: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-combinators-paul-graham.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-com...

catch23 17y ago
what does TC50 have to do with YC again?
- ErrantX 17y ago
  it's related to the posters other comment where he mentions that article - I guess he clicked the wrong reply button :)
- nuweborder 17y ago
  The article talks about fueding between company founders, stright from Paul Graham. Read the previous post. That link is just a reference if you want to check out the article.

alain94040 17y ago

Jason is smiling way too much in that video to be taken seriously. TC50 was a great show this year by the way.

wavesplash 17y ago
Don't be thrown off - that's a New York positive-spin smile. They have some issues to deal with. Arrington huffing and puffing off stage like a baby at the awards wasn't the best foot forward for the show.

edw519 17y ago

After seeing that video, it seems to me that he’s engaging in theatrics and fireworks... Compared to everything else at Techcrunch, how could you tell the difference?

joez 17y ago
I was actually about 30 feet away but I don't want to fuel more rumors. At end of the day, even if it was genuine, it is still a year off and a few broken feelings can be mended by wild profits and time. Speculating on this kind of thing is a waste of time.

falsestprophet 17y ago

Perhaps Arrington could launch a more reasonable TechCrunch25

jonursenbach 17y ago
I'm ready for Techcrunch2600 and Mahalo5200.

fairramone 17y ago

Yes, no more TechCrunch_50_. I'm guessing that this is just a way of getting publicity so that they can announce it is expanding to become TechCrunch100 (or whatever).

tlrobinson 17y ago

So what actually happened? Or is that still a mystery?

staunch 17y ago

Arrington should give Calcanis the boot. There's nothing he does that Arrington should share revenue with him for. The TC brand and and promotion is what makes the thing successful. Calacanis may have convinced him to put on a conference initially, but that doesn't entitle him to any ongoing share in my mind. It's not like they built a company up together from nothing. That'd be a real partnership and loyalty would be owed. All that happened here was that Calacanis convinced Arrington to create a new revenue stream from his existing, very successful, and related business. Arrington is a sucker if he gives Calacanis anything but token remuneration at this point.

ojbyrne 17y ago
I think they started the conference together and any partnership should have been worked out beforehand (and probably has been). Deciding down the road that what person A brought to the table was the reason for success and person B was just a "consultant" is the most common way that feuds between founders start. Because it just as easily could have been what person B brought to the table that made the thing a success.
- staunch 17y ago
  I do agree it should have been worked out in advance. And when it was Arrington shouldn't have allowed Calacanis to feel like he was a partner in it. If he did that then he does bare responsibility for the hurt feelings. When starting from scratch I do think it's unfair to later argue over contributions. In this case it's not starting from scratch. TechCrunch provided all of the rare/important ingredients, namely brand and promotion. Calacanis is fairly compensated if he made some cash and reputation, he doesn't deserve to own a stake in the conference in perpetuity.
  - ojbyrne 17y ago
    While you might be correct, I think when you have these interconnected enterprises, it's nearly impossible to say whose contribution is more important. For all you or I know it may have been Calacanis who put in 100% of the effort for the conference, and Arrington did nothing other than bestow the TC brand. Also for all you and I know, it may be that the conference vastly increased the readership of TC, in which case you could make a pretty good case that Calacanis was screwed. The whole thing could even have been financed by Calacanis. It's impossible to know. I'm not saying that's the case or not, I'm saying that it's impossible to look at it from the outside and say one person is responsible for the success or failure.

gehant 17y ago

I would be surprised if Arrington wants to continue with TechCrunch50...he seems to have no regard for entrepreneurs. Explains why he wasn't at the TC50 awards... Case in point: During this video (see link below) Arrington was extremely disrespectful and insulting during this interview with Garry Tan (posterous)... he interrupts Garry repeatedly and walks out at 24:01 w/o even acknowledging Garry is there. http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/09/twist-episode-14-with-garry-tan/ http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/09/twist-episode-14-with-...

apsurd 17y ago
Just watched the video. Arrington is seriously disgusting in this video. Do we not know how to interact respectfully in real life anymore? Calacanis actually saved the day and kept the interview on point as much as he could.
skinnymuch 17y ago
Dear god. He didn't even look at Garry...not even for a millisecond when he was leaving. How rude. What a dibshit.

andreshb 17y ago

Perhaps an opportunity for mashable? Mash50 ?

JCThoughtscream 17y ago

Eh, calling BS on this. The sheer attention TC gets from TC50 is going to prove too much of a temptation for either party to stay away for long. Neither Arrington's temper nor Calcanis's smarm will be sufficient barriers to another conference some time down the road.