
Michael Arrington launching venture fund - taylorbuley
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/01/michael-arrington-venture-capital-fund/
======
thaumaturgy
I might disagree with certain aspects of YC, but one of the things I respect
most about PG himself is his skill and finesse in keeping the program fun and
relatively low-drama.

Arrington ... not so much. He seems earnest, but the thought of being part of
an Arrington fund feels a lot like participating in a reality show. TechCrunch
seems to brew a tempest in a teacup about twice a year; how would that not
affect their investments?

~~~
sliverstorm
There's room for all sorts. I'm sure he has his own strengths to bring to the
table. Besides, not everyone goes for the skill, the finesse, the low-drama,
and I think that's ok.

~~~
true_religion
> not everyone goes for the skill, the finesse, the low-drama, and I think
> that's ok

The way you say it makes it sound like a veiled insult.

~~~
sliverstorm
I assure you that was not my intention.

------
pclark
I would kill to have Arrington involved in my startup. I'd want him simply for
his knowledge of how press works, ignoring the fact that he has such a long
history of seeing and reporting on how startups are doing - and his network
must be insane at this point. Can you imagine what a seal it must be to have
Arrington invest in you?

Who cares if he has or has not created drama? I actually think his ability to
report on news regardless of the fact a lot of the subjects are his friends,
shows a huge amount of integrity - and I know that Hacker News hates him - but
still, he could easily be as trashy as Gizmodo but he has managed to do it
whilst remaining mostly neutral to his network. Impressive.

~~~
chrisgoodrich
Agree completely. I actually find his posts on TC the most rewarding.

All the other TC writers come across as childish pushing out the PR agenda of
the latest startups. Very little originality or reporting.

~~~
alain94040
To be fair to the other writers, they have to write several posts each day. In
the last year or so, Mike has only written on "big stories.", which are few
and far apart.

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georgemcbay
"You know you’re in a bubble when… tech journalists join startups – Bye
Steve!"

[http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/06/27/you-know-youre-in-a-
bubb...](http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/06/27/you-know-youre-in-a-bubble-when-
tech-journalists-join-startups-bye-steve/)

So what are you in when tech editors _fund_ startups?

~~~
vrikhter
If I'm not mistaken, Michael Moritz of Sequioa was a journalist turned
investor. Who knows if Arrington will have similar success, but it's possible.

~~~
webwright
Also, Om Malik is a partner at True Ventures.

~~~
nikcub
really weird that nobody mentions that, while this is a huge story

~~~
wmf
Maybe this will be a huge story for a week and then people will adjust.

------
chrisgoodrich
Who even thinks TechCrunch still has any shred of objectivity? Let's face it,
the days of objective reporting are gone for TechCrunch.

We have to start looking at TechCrunch as the conduit of PR coming from the
valley rather than real news. Then I think everyone can chill and just accept
TC for what it is and forget the expectations.

~~~
ethank
When did Techcrunch ever have objectivity? When did they ever claim to?

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jsm386
The New York Times has actual quotes from Arrington and Tim Armstrong:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/technology/michael-
arringt...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/technology/michael-arrington-
techcrunch-blogger-to-invest-in-start-ups.html)

Arrington: _'I don’t claim to be a journalist,' Mr. Arrington said, though he
breaks news and writes prolifically. 'I hold myself to higher standards of
transparency and disclosure.'_

Armstrong (could have been more careful with his phrasing): _'TechCrunch is a
different property and they have different standards', said Tim Armstrong,
chief executive of AOL, in an interview. 'We have a traditional understanding
of journalism with the exception of TechCrunch, which is different but is
transparent about it.'_

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whenisayUH
Arrington's value as an investor is clear while he is at TechCrunch. Once he
loses that megaphone, what value would he bring?

Yes he has relationships but I'd suspect many folks are 'friends' with
Arrington to either (1) get TC coverage or (2) avoid his wrath if they're
doing something that might be perceived as shady. Do those relationships
survive his departure from TC? My gut says no as based on reputation, he
doesn't seem a warm & cuddly guy people would want to help just cuz he's a
good dude.

~~~
wisty
Arrington's influence as a writer does not rely entirely on him being at TC.
If he started "ArringtonOnTech.com", HN and Reddit would still link to him.

~~~
robtoo
I would have assumed that the AOL deal wouldn't allow Arrington to set up a
competitor so soon.

------
albertsun
So TechCrunch really isn't a news publication anymore, it's just a company
blog now.

~~~
dhruval
So not really all that different from Hacker News.

This type of indirect value capture will tend to happen given the economics of
online publishing. Hopefully TC can put in to place a some policies that limit
the impact on the publication's objectivity.

~~~
ajju
Except HN does not _publish_ any articles. So it really is quite different
from TechCrunch.

~~~
socratic
What would you count as "publishing" articles?

I find this an interesting point. In some sense, Hacker News publishes
anything that can receive enough upvotes. But in another sense, YC interests
are highly supported by the ecosystem.

For example, job postings for YC companies are posted like articles but
without comments attached, particularly negative articles about YC startups
are often (though not always) flagged by an unknown team of editors, and YC
stories on TechCrunch are almost always upvoted (and are allowed to have YC in
the title, leading to a signaling effect).

None of this is to suggest that anyone necessarily has any bad intentions, but
rather that stories on HN do seem to be highly curated by people who may have
what might be considered traditional conflicts-of-interest.

------
iamelgringo
Arrington is also an LP in SVAngel. Not listed here:
[http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/an-update-to-my-
investment-...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/an-update-to-my-investment-
policy/)

But it is listed here: <http://www.crunchbase.com/person/michael-arrington>

SVAngel co invests with all YC companies.

~~~
saddino
"Oh dear," says TechCrunch's journalistic integrity and promptly disappears in
a puff of logic.

~~~
puredemo
That didn't happen when AOL bought them?

------
zeedotme
We reported on this back in July...YC discussion thread here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2768953>

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ChuckMcM
This is the 'funny' part for me:

 _"Such moves reportedly violated AOL's code of employee conduct, but
Arrington received an exemption."_

Back when Sarbanes-Oxley regulations were all the rage, the 'code of conduct'
was something the CEO and everyone else 'signed off on' (literally) on penalty
of perjury, that employees and management adhered to the stated code. The idea
was that not only were they swearing to follow the rules, there was a way to
criminally prosecute them if they did not. Some investor backlash from the
abuses in the dot-com bubble. In that context the definition of 'exemption' is
'no longer employed here.' :-)

So AOL has gone on record saying that its the 'mostly' code of conduct which
some folks don't actually have to follow. So where does that fall on the
Sarbanes-Oxley scale? Is this a shareholder lawsuit waiting to happen? I hope
not for Michael's sake.

So how hard is it to decide what to work on? Some careers don't have a lot of
overlap, things like 'arms dealer' and 'diplomat', really hard to do both.
Michael, if you're reading this, and I know you are since you read HN, I
advise you to _choose_ and then let the other one go. It will save you so much
pain down the road.

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dendory
Wait did CNN get the scoop on that before Techcrunch? lol

~~~
earbitscom
TC must have been honoring an embargo.

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macrael
Ironic that this news is coming from CNN, where is the Techcrunch post?

~~~
iamdave
Why is it ironic? It's the finance and money column of a news outlet, and this
is financial news.

~~~
runevault
Because it didn't go up on TC first, since they should have been the first to
know.

~~~
iamdave
They probably were but just didn't announce it.

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michaelpinto
My gut tells me that he's trying to get fired. He was already sort of burnt
out from the website, and honestly after the AOL deal went though I could
never imagine him answering to Huffington (I mean can you picture that?). I
also don't see the creative challenge for him to stay there, it's not like
they'd let him build new sites and there isn't much room to do innovation on
an existing site within the confines of AOL. Unless this is part of some AOL
business plan I can't see him being there after next Friday...

~~~
michaelpinto
Well I was wrong — he just resigned!

