

TechCrunch50 founders’ feud: “It’s over” for the startup conference - rokhayakebe
http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/16/tc50-techcrunch50-founders-feud-its-over/

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gehant
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-...](http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/09/twist-
episode-14-with-garry-tan/)

~~~
apsurd
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.

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staunch
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.

~~~
pchristensen
Well, there's the fact that most people don't like Arrington. He's apparently
enough of a pain that I think he would have trouble putting on as good of a
conference by himself.

But the specific phrases bug me - "This is the last TechCrunch _50_ ". That
sounds like a pro-wrestling setup for TC60 next year.

~~~
andreyf
Maybe it's a different crowd, but most people I know like Arrington, a lot.
Jason Calacanis, on the other hand, is a weasel with a custom light-gray-on-
white wordpress blog/mailing list (and light purple links), where each post
seems more confident and wrong than the last. How he got to a position of
_any_ authority _anywhere_ is beyond me.

~~~
pchristensen
Are these people that have met the actual people or just read their websites?

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nuweborder
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
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
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.

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edw519
_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
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.

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alain94040
Jason is smiling way too much in that video to be taken seriously.

TC50 was a great show this year by the way.

~~~
wavesplash
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.

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nuweborder
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-
com...](http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-combinators-
paul-graham.html)

~~~
catch23
what does TC50 have to do with YC again?

~~~
nuweborder
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.

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falsestprophet
Perhaps Arrington could launch a more reasonable TechCrunch25

~~~
jonursenbach
I'm ready for Techcrunch2600 and Mahalo5200.

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JCThoughtscream
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.

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

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andreshb
Perhaps an opportunity for mashable? Mash50 ?

