
Kevin Rose Will Join Google - hornokplease
http://allthingsd.com/20120315/exclusive-kevin-rose-will-join-google/
======
xpose2000
Sorry if this sounds harsh, and I know he has a lot of fans out there. But
this guy struck gold 5 years ago with Digg. Sure, he deserves props for this.
However, he's not a developer. He's an "ideas guy" as far as I can tell. As a
developer, I hate these kinds of people because more often than not their
ideas suck.

In any case, what I am saying is that it seems like people in the industry get
by based on one previous successful project. It doesn't matter if it happened
yesterday or 10 years ago. It doesn't matter whether they had a little to do
with it or a lot. It doesn't matter if they understand how to code or not.
Once they have that reputation as being awesome it will stick around no matter
how badly they perform after their initial success.

What could he possibly be bringing to the table with Google?

Just my two cents. I'm probably alone with this opinion, but it's extremely
frustrating to see this stuff happen over and over again.

/end rant

~~~
jayliew
To quote pg: "A hacker who has learned what to make, and not just how to make,
is extraordinarily powerful."

As a developer, it is frustrating to see fellow developers place too much
importance on being able to code as a necessary ingredient for startup
success.

As a hacker, I'd say that most hackers know how to make, but don't know what
to make. That is to say, most startups from these type of hackers with the "if
I build they will come"[1] mentality end up basically degenerating into non-
profits or open-source (when their intent was to become the next big for-
profit company).

To my fellow hardcore hackers. Please get over yourself and learn some non-
technical skills: sales, marketing, design, product UI/UX, biz dev, getting
distribution, negotiation skills, heck - some people skills! (this comment not
withstanding since I'm frustrated with the comment above).

If you're going to look down on people who can't code, you should get out of
your own comfort zone and do all those non-technical things I've just listed
above first. Kevin Rose has a rolodex, which I'm sure has benefits to whatever
his entrepreneurial venture is. You don't? Why not? Learn how to hustle.

Just because you can't code, doesn't mean you can't build a business - and
vice versa - just because you can code, doesn't mean you can build a business.

/ end rant

[1] exception, not the rule

~~~
zerostar07
Sometimes there may be obstacles to what you propose. Being good at networking
etc. is basically a performance skill that doesn't just depend on mindset, but
also on good looks, race/culture, age, sex, general likability or other
external factors. This is not mentioned often, and I might be wrong but I
think it _is_ a factor, despite the fact that the startup world presents
itself as the ultimate meritocracy.

~~~
krschultz
I don't think 'good looks' matter as much as 'clean looks'.

Shave. Shower. Get a haircut. Despite the 'hoodie chic' look, make sure it's a
clean hoodie. Or better yet, wear something nicer. (no, not a suit, but a step
up from a hoodie will help people take you seriously).

As far as general likeability goes, usually that stems from people either
complaining or saying offense things.

All of that is under your control.

~~~
ahoyhere
Body posture is more important than actual innate attractiveness. Body posture
_creates_ attractiveness.

------
untog
Huh. It was just yesterday that they shut down Oink to "work on other ideas"-
so that was a total lie? Heaven forbid they should just be straightforward
about what's going on.

As someone who'd love some VC money, it's a little disheartening to see $1.7
million of it thrown around and wasted based on one person's name.

~~~
samstave
No, you don't understand.

He is going to "work on others' ideas" -- i.e. Ideas that are not his own.

\---

What will be really commical, is if he is going to join google with the intent
to work on Google+ -- as if he were some success in the "social" play.

Remember, digg failed because it alienated the users, attempted to wrap too
much UI around the content; limiting the consumption rate, and pandering to
media channels.

Unless KRose can pull a magical pivot on his own visioning abilities - this
would be bad.

However, I will send good thoughts his way. Let's hope we see him do something
truly revolutionary to + (if that is what he is going there for) and lets hope
he follows the mantra of the new Reddit CEO: "Don't Fuck It Up'

~~~
untog
_Remember, digg failed because it alienated the users, attempted to wrap too
much UI around the content; limiting the consumption rate, and pandering to
media channels._

To be fair, I think that was after Kevin left his role as CEO.

~~~
reidmain
He was the CEO when Digg v4 was released and was one of the driving forces
behind it.

Digg v4 was the dagger that killed Digg.

~~~
cryptoz
Banning anyone who mentioned a certain number didn't help much either. Digg's
policies were terrible long before v4 came out.

Edit: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

~~~
moreorless
FYI - the ban was not his idea. He was very much against the idea. There was
quite an internal struggle during the course of that day.

------
EnderMB
Wasn't Rose the main guy who pushed Digg over the cliff and over to Reddit
with the famed v4 disaster?

Don't get me wrong, the guy did great work getting Digg to where it was, but
if he was behind Digg v4 he killed it within a matter of days over a decision
that no one wanted, and that puts him in a worrying position at Google if he
is to work on the social aspects of the company.

Didn't he also tank publicly with Pownce? Again a service with functionality
that no one really wanted, that turned up at the wrong time and was eaten
alive by the likes of Twitter.

In many ways these high profile failures could be a great thing for him and
Google, because the best lessons comes from those who have been there and lost
it all. His acquisition could stop Google from its own "v4" moment.

------
AznHisoka
"Rose has also had an impressive run as an angel investor, putting money into
companies like Fab, Zynga, ngmoco, Foursquare and Twitter."

Does anyone know if Rose was one of the first few to actually invest in these
companies, or did he just have the connections and put his money in while they
were already "hot" companies? If the latter, I wouldn't consider it that
impressive...

~~~
jgrahamc
Details in CrunchBase: <http://www.crunchbase.com/person/kevin-rose> Fab
(Series A), Zynga (Series B), Twitter (Series B), Foursquare (Angel). Only
Foursquare looks like an Angel, the rest look more like he knows the right
people and/or has the right name.

~~~
drewblaisdell
You do realize that all of those companies grew immensely after their Series
A/B rounds of funding, right?

Regardless of what I think of the guy, there is a lot of hate on here, and
it's easy to look back and say "well _of course_ Twitter did well, he's so
lucky he got to invest in it in '08" as if it was common knowledge that it
would be this big.

~~~
kmfrk
Not to mention that people on HN still aren't sure whether said companies will
be profitable.

------
jgrahamc
Feels like a Google-jumped-the-shark moment.

~~~
ot
Can you elaborate?

~~~
jgrahamc
Sure. My view is that Rose has done a very good job of making a name for
himself and translating that into personal wealth. It is not clear that that
adds anything to Google and if Google thinks it does then my view of Google is
diminished.

~~~
herval
I'm sorry if the question is naive, but if he made such a great amount of
personal wealth, why would he still want/need to "get a job" (regardless of
company)?

~~~
huytoan_pc
Because money is not everything. Once you have reached financial security like
he did, you start yearning for other things like power or a legacy. He still
has a long way to go to achieve all those things. If he "retires" now, before
long, the name Kevin Rose will be forgotten, because there are plenty people
in this industry who have achieved his level of wealth and success.

~~~
herval
so instead of building his own thing, the best idea is to go work on a Big
Corp?

I mean, is that a good way to "leave a legacy"? Why not keep trying on Milk?

~~~
sdrinf
It has a higher probability of success on both accounts, as opposed to getting
into a new venture that might discredit whatever personal brand he built up
for himself.

------
revorad
Hardly anyone knows the details, but the amount of jealousy and hatred that
comes out on HN on these stories is shocking.

~~~
wavephorm
If it's jealousy and hatred, then it's not because of being jealous of
success. A lot of developers work really, really hard on their startups for
years bootstrapping, just scraping by, and being ignored by investors because
they're not famous. And Kevin Rose comes along with a half-baked idea of
posting pictures of the food you're eating to the Internet, and his "startup"
that he's "really dedicated to" get's almost a couple million just dropped in
his lap for no reason and year later just whimsically quits and gets a job at
Google with no real engineering skills or anything tangible to bring to the
company other than stories of what actual developers produced at Digg.

~~~
revorad
That half-baked idea got hundreds of thousands of users in 3 months. That _is_
success.

Just because your definition of skills is limited to writing code does not
mean having connections, being good at marketing, PR or selling has no value.
It's exactly the same mentality we developers hate when idea-men want to hire
us as code-monkeys to implement their perfect vision.

Reading stories on tech blogs does not mean you know how much hard work
someone put into their whimsical-seeming startup. Being a celebrity certainly
does not automatically imply you don't have to work hard.

And just working really really hard also does not entitle you to success. Life
is unfair. Get used to it.

~~~
bentlegen
I thought success was measured in dollars, not a shuttered web service.

~~~
wavephorm
That's exactly the issue, Kevin Rose is getting dollars _for_ shuttering an
unsuccessful web service. Why does Kevin Rose get to cash out for being a
failure, simply because his name is Kevin Rose, while all the hardworking
nobody engineers slave away to build successful companies without any help or
millions of dollars splashing down on them for their supposed greatness which
is unsupported by evidence?

~~~
paulhauggis
It's not for you to decide. Why do NBA stars get millions of dollars for being
able to throw a ball in a hoop really well?

~~~
wavephorm
You're implying that Kevin Rose is like an NBA superstar, but his startup
didn't earn a single penny and got shuttered. How is that anything like a
basketball star who throws the ball in a hoop well?

~~~
ahoyhere
NBA superstars don't get paid purely for skill, they get paid for because they
bring in crowds of people and sell merchandise. That's where the money comes
from.

Acquisitions are not a meritocracy. If you don't like it, go into a business
where what goes on _is_ more like a meritocracy.

------
jlongster
I think the term everyone here is looking for is "overrated". If you really
think he is, stop talking about him and go on with your business. You're
giving him the attention that you claim he doesn't deserve.

------
kenrikm
Wow, if Google did not acquire Milk outright I wonder what type of deal was
worked out with the investors? There would have to be some type of upside for
them otherwise KR's reputation would be seriously tarnished. "Sorry guys,
remember that money you gave me to start a company?. Well no more company and
I'm off to bigger and better things, K tnx Bye"

~~~
k-mcgrady
I would guess that they just paid off the investors. It was only $1.7m and
Google Ventures was one of the investors anyway.

~~~
kenrikm
Well they would still need to have seen the returns they expected (or were
happy with) since the money did not come out of the funds just to get "Put
back" without any upside. Speculation: 3-4 million payoff Google "we don't
need the company just shut it down and come to work"

~~~
k-mcgrady
TechCrunch is reporting that Google paid $15-30m for it.

------
patrickod
This feels like a stunt on the part of Google. They have the money to throw
around at ideas at the moment; KR seems to be a beneficiary of this. They get
to hire a trendy name and hope that they can turn around G+ and other
services.

------
jmacd
Say what you want but Milk has a tight team that is capable of turning out
high quality apps. When you compare this to the $100m+ that (supposedly)
offered Path and the $220m+ they paid for Slide then this seems like a steal.

Honestly, they are paying pennies for a team that they KNOW can produce solid
product and have the personalities and operating capability to do it in a
tougher environment. Adding Kevin's celebrity and understanding of social and
marketing is a huge bonus that will help G+.

------
LVB
Milk is going to have fun filling that Senior Engineer position.

------
unreal37
The allthingsd article specifically says Google is NOT acquiring Milk. They
have hired Kevin Rose and a few key members of the Milk team. The techcrunch
article says Milk is being acqui-hired, for $15-$30 million. I wonder which is
correct.

It's nice to see the investors taken care of, if that's what happened. But it
doesn't sound like Milk or Oink will survive past today.

Congrats to Kevin and all who were hired. I still stand by my position that it
kinda sucks that they abandoned their customers at the drop of the hat. But at
least now it makes some sense.

------
_sentient
As his last couple startups (Digg + Milk) have seen fairly bumpy roads of
late, I can't blame him for wanting to leave the startup scene in favor of a
little stability, courtesy of Google.

It will be interesting to see what role he ends up playing at Google. He's not
much of a developer, so I suspect his role will largely be a promotional one.

Either way, I wish him luck with this latest endeavor. Having seen the Digg
implosion, followed by the failure of Oink, I hope this third venture proves
to be the charm.

~~~
kenrikm
Stability? with his investments I doubt that he needs the cash so there must
be more to it. Possibly a case of "The grass is greener"

Either way I don't see this lasting very long.

------
smackfu
Ha, that's one way to "pivot".

------
joelmaat
I'm simply surprised that Google would do this, but I guess there was a
foreshadow in early November when Google Ventures invested.

I don't know what they expect to come of this move, but I'm actually, all else
aside, wanting for this Google+ thing to work out. I'm actually still a fan.

As for Kevin Rose, sometimes I listen to him speak and it seems like he's on
the ball and has his finger on the pulse, and at other times he just sounds
dumb. I was a little bit unsure if he had an in-depth understanding of what
was really going on or if he was just sounding the part, but after listening
to his webcam pitch and seeing the subpar Digg v4 that came of that line of
thinking, I'm going to say he doesn't really understand a thing.

But maybe that doesn't matter, because knowing the Google monster he'll
probably be nothing more than a pawn. Time will tell.

On another note, Google+'s problems are _really_ _really_ obvious to me, so
I'm at a loss at to why they don't just fix things. Maybe they are trying to
"stage the rollout to minimize how much they spook people," but then again
what sounds reasonable and true is often reduced to nothing more than another
line of politics driven BS'ing with these people.

Just get on with it already!

I have no problem with the Milk team getting an exit. I am not one to be
jealous of anything like that. And all this talk about Engineer-entrepreneurs
working their ass off for years and not getting anywhere doesn't make me shed
a tear either. There are a few Engineers for whom things just didn't work out,
but by and large if you were working on something that long and had nothing
come of it, then put the hard work aside-- your product/business/positioning
sucked! Get over it.

------
flannell
I do miss TechTV, had some classic moments with Kevin, Alex and the team

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4GYg-5AdRw>

------
sks
Well I guess one way to promote google+ is to hire every celebrity in the
world and force them to abandon twitter and facebook.

------
kacy
It makes sense the more that I think about it. Rose has said on his podcast
and in other interviews that he regrets that Digg raised so much money. They
had to focus on revenue instead of building the product. I'm sure he's a
little disappointed at Milk's success thus far too.

I guess he's possibly thinking that this will give him the opportunity build a
huge product that he's always wanted without having to focus on the business
side. If google is funding it, he doesn't have to work on raising money or
increasing revenue. He'll also have hundreds of employees that can be thrown
at his project.

I'll be interested to see what he's up to.

~~~
javery
Google doesn't have a good success based on this model though - look at Google
Wave which was built under a similar premise.

------
woodall
Like I said before[1], what is up with all this Kevin Rose hate? He has a
successful portfolio, seems to have a level head, and knows about tech. All
this whining about "well I'm a dev and need VC why do they give him to him?"
stop thinking you deserve something and get out there and make something; like
he has been proven to do time and time again.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3705015>

------
hinathan
Did not see that coming. This seems like an odd route for to Google add depth
to Plus.

~~~
samstave
What is this term you are using, Depth?

~~~
debacle
If you're not being facetious, depth in this context refers to the overall
quality of your staff.

A good example of a lack of depth would be the Indianapolis Colts, who with
the loss of Peyton Manning had a dismal, almost winless season.

A good example of a team with a lot of depth would be Ask Ketchum's pokemon.
He's got a Charizard, a Butterfree, a Wortortle, a Pidgiotto, and Pikachu. If
one of his pokemon gets injured, he has a handful of equally good pokemon
suited to other tasks that can fill in.

~~~
natesm
Didn't he let the Butterfree go fairly early?

------
moondowner
I wasn't surprised when I red these news. He was constantly favouring or
indirectly promoting Google's products/services/news via posts on Google+.

------
taylorbuley
Was "we're going to build apps until one hits" smoke and mirrors for "we're
going to build a portfolio that can be bought out?"

------
joelmaat
Is this a joke?

~~~
evo_9
No just another troubling sign for Google.

~~~
vibrunazo
Why?

------
waldes
Good for him! I've been a fan since tech TV days. I think this board is
suffering from an overdose of hateraid. Yeah Digg blew up and then sunk, but
to be involved in so many sucessful businesses this guy is talented.

~~~
amorphid
Agreed. I met Kevin at a launch party a couple years ago. Upon seeing him, my
first thought was "Hey, it's the Dark Tipper!" I prefer to focus on someone's
positive traits. The fact that Kevin still works and tries to make a
difference is admirable. Even if Digg is his only big hit, that's still an
impressive accomlishment.

------
callmeed
Oh, look ... they received an investment from Google Ventures. What a
coincidence.

<http://www.crunchbase.com/company/milk>

~~~
jrockway
I detect that you bring this to our attention because it's bad in some way,
but I don't get why. Google invested in his company. Now he works at Google
(with 30,000 other people). Who cares? Why is this good or bad?

------
Kilimanjaro
Let the guy work, let the market evaluate his results.

------
emeltzer
All of you who are saying things in judgement of Kevin Rose's behavior, have
some perspective. This is the planet you live on:
<http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/earth-1.jpg>

It has lots of problems, waiting for good solutions. Instead of explaining the
nuances of your latest opinion of Kevin Rose, get up, and start fixing things!

------
ThomBush
An important question is whether Kevin will thrive in Google's environment. I
imagine they've promised him quite a bit of autonomy, but what happens when
Kevin feels constrained or governed? Will he succeed on a very personal level
when he wakes up knowing that he's earning a salary from Google instead of
continuing to create his own? I sincerely hope he does succeed.

------
marcamillion
This is interesting news...I wonder if he will explain it.

In other news, does Kevin really own a piece of the Packers?
<http://twitter.com/#!/kevinrose/status/173532999881732096>

Was that a joke or is that legit? Never knew his angel/digg/rev3 money was
that large.

What did I miss?

~~~
theorique
The Green Bay Packers are community-owned. Anyone can buy a piece of the
Packers - you don't have to be a {m,b}illionaire.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers#Public_compa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers#Public_company)

~~~
marcamillion
Ahh...ok...interesting.

Thanks.

------
gavanwoolery
Anybody remember when google tried to acq-hire Path for 100 million? Hopefully
this offer was not as ridiculous.

------
phatbyte
Never saw so much jealousy/flaming targeting one person here on HN. I got to
say I'm a little disappointed as member of this community.

I'm pretty sure Google didn't hired him just for his pretty eyes or the 'cool'
factor. Specially when 99% of these comments don't know jack of what they are
saying.

------
robryan
Will be interesting to see of they are all assigned to current efforts like G+
or if they are given some independence and freedom like the slide team.
Probably assigned to current efforts as it seemed some slide base efforts in
Google were fairly half baked.

------
AtTheLast
Google+ is not cool. It might be a better product then Facebook, but when it
comes to social you need a network of people to make a product fly. I see the
hiring of Rose as an attempt to give Google+ some street cred and make it
cool.

------
pfisters
My one hope here is that he uses his 20% time to bring back The Broken."

~~~
moreorless
Sorry to say, but The Broken is not coming back.

------
mark_l_watson
This might work out. I find G+ to be much more valuable than FB, and a bit
more valuable than Twitter.

Hiring a non-engineer who brings new ideas to G+ seems like a good idea, at
least for a while.

------
paparoger
I think Kevin is a smart guy but for some reason he just seems to lack some
focus on products and I wonder if going to Google will maybe somehow wack him
into place a little? Hmmm

------
pknerd
So he collected consumer data from OInk and shut it by calling it test app and
now joined Google.

Google loves data

Hope you all got it

~~~
glanch
And anyone who has ever been concerned about online privacy has been operating
under the assumption that it doesn't exist. Your point?

~~~
pknerd
Very simple. His plate is not empty. He offered the plate which was accepted.
Simple.

~~~
Drbble
You think oink has some personal information google doesn't already know about
a user?

~~~
pknerd
oInk was quite a niche application which Google does not know

------
rokhayakebe
Guys, please stop being so mean.

------
eta_carinae
I predict he will leave Google to create a new start up within twelve months.

------
z0ot
Are they trying to drive more people away from Google+ or something??

------
moreorless
Serious question. Who is Kevin Rose and why should we care?

------
deltriggah
Kevin Rose IS the product

------
dsolomon
Talk about Google scraping the bottom of the barrel.

"Remember, digg failed because it alienated the users, attempted to wrap too
much UI around the content; limiting the consumption rate, and pandering to
media channels."

Bingo. Unless users fell in lock-step with Kevin Rose's thoughts he'd
institute the ban hammer.

------
vijayanands
I wonder if they are bringing him in, to setup an internal incubator of sorts,
now that labs is shut down, perhaps they think its time to do it in some
structured form. I know that there was talk of it, sometime back inside the
company.

------
xxiao
i don't like that guy, who digged himself on his digg site frequently.

