

On To Google Ventures - ssclafani
http://parislemon.com/post/49782762413/on-to-google-ventures

======
ChuckMcM
That 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?

~~~
danielrhodes
MG 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.

~~~
ChuckMcM
From his posting: _"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."_

Now its one thing for someone like Fred Wilson to have a blog [1] where he
opines about technology as Fred Wilson, VC. Its something different to have
Techcrunch opining about the tech industry as seen by their reporter MG
Siegler[2].

[1] <http://www.avc.com/>

[2] <http://techcrunch.com/author/mg-siegler/> (presumably being updated as we
type)

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mikekij
At 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
Maybe he's there to hype the crap out of the companies they invest in? Hyping
and writing is all he does.

~~~
kin3tic
And 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
I expect he will learn "to love" Android, like another recent Google employee
did <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226164>

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ok_craig
This kinda makes me want to puke.

~~~
Lewisham
Couldn'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
Just 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
apple fans who are biased against anything non-apple who both act as
journalists (to a differing degree). There are similarities.

~~~
mwfunk
I 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.

~~~
Androsynth
I dont find _the pretense of acting as an object journalist_ particularly
relevant. Actions speak louder than words. (my point being that MG is less of
a journalist than people think, thus making him a fan-blogger like Gruber
which is the comparison that this thread originally was about)

There is a fine line between blogger and journalist nowadays. In fact its
closer to overlapping circles than a hard line. So while you made a good case
that DF is more of a blog than a journalism site, I dont think its 100%.

If you were to ask me if MG is a blogger or journalist, I would scratch my
head and probably answer that he is a blogger who works (worked?) for an
opinion-dominated news site.

Its hard to separate bloggers from journalists. I dont think Gruber is to
blame for that. MG and techcrunch have no qualms about it though.

------
frisco
I 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
In 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.

------
Splendor
I can't wait to read more unbiased "news" from MG and the team at TechCrunch.

~~~
cleverjake
How is that comment relevant to this article?

~~~
Lightning
"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."

------
skc
Ahh, 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
I 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>

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.

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alekseyk
And 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>

~~~
arbuge
"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.

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drivebyacct2
Gruber took ad money from Microsoft. This is just Siegler's one-up.

~~~
brown9-2
What problem do you have with that?

~~~
drivebyacct2
I wondered if I should have noted that it was meant purely as joke.

