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June 3, 2007

Plazes CEO Busted By His Own Product

Michael Arrington

63 comments »

The Next Web Conference was held in Amsterdam last Friday (June 1). The organizers had a last minute speaker back-out: Plazes CEO Felix Petersen emailed them the day before the conference to say that he couldn’t make it because they were dealing with bugs on their new product, and that his “9 month old daughter has become sick.”

The problem, though, is that Peterson didn’t stay home to work on their product and take care of his daughter. He was actually attending a competing conference, Reboot, in Copenhagen.

How was this discovered? The Next Web guys used Petersen’s own Plazes, a service which shows where users are at any given time. Peterson’s Plazes account clearly showed him in Copenhagen at Reboot on June 1, drinking wine and beer, listening to music, and enjoying “incredible conversations.” “Reboot just rocks,” he writes.

Needless to say the Next Web guys were somewhat offended. And they outed Peterson in a big way today. Next Web co-founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten wrote about the whole incident on his personal blog. He writes:

Ok, Reboot seems to rock after some dinner, beer and wine. Great. The amazing thing is not that Felix would rather go to Reboot. I respect that. The amazing thing is that someone would lie about the health of his children to be able to drink beer at another conference and then assume that no one would find out.

I have an email in to Peterson for his side of the story. No word back yet.

Update: Felix Petersen writes:

I must say I´m really confused by the commotion. My kid was sick on Tursday and it wasn´t entirely clear wether I could attend thenextweb the next day. In addition did we have some issues with the new Plazer (http://blog.plazes.com/?p=157#comments) and Stefan, my co-founder was coming to Reboot on Friday. So for professional and personal issues I decided to cancel since I wasn´t sure at that point that I could make it. Boris forgot to mention the last part of my email:

“And to be fair to you guys I rather cancel now than trying until the last minute and then not being able to come afterall.”

So I can´t really see what the commotion is about.

Best,
Felix

I actually don’t care that much about the specifics - I think it’s fascinating that Plazes can and is being used to check up on people, though, to see if they are being honest about their whereabouts.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. TechCrunch Japanese

    June 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 pm

  2. Sriram Krishnan™ Live » Reboot 2007

    June 4th, 2007 at 1:35 am

  3. » CEO do Plazes apanhado através do seu próprio produto MUIOMUIO.NET: Internet, Tecnologia e Blogging

    June 4th, 2007 at 2:36 am

  4. imagiBlog » Blog Archive » Should anyone ask, sometimes it’s better to fly under the radar

    June 4th, 2007 at 2:59 am

  5. Common Sense PR

    June 6th, 2007 at 6:46 am

  6. openPeople Blog » Blog Archive » Felix Petersen (Plazes) zieht die Arschkarte der Woche ;-)

    June 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pm

  7. LoopJ.com - James Smith » Blog Archive » Information Fallout

    April 29th, 2008 at 11:07 am

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Comments

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  1. Erik Schwartz

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    Plazes has been kind of screwy recently. It thinks I’ve been at reboot all week too.

  2. Alaska Miller

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    Technology defeats all your white lies.

  3. Allen Stern

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    Hmm, maybe he was just being nice? You know, this happens a lot. Like when a woman tells you she is washing her hair and that’s why she can’t go out with you tonight.

    Or when a big company tells you they are hiring from internal but you come to find out later that was a complete lie and they hired someone externally.

  4. felix

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    I must say I´m really confused by this whole thing. My kid was sick on Tursday and it wasn´t entirely clear wether I could attend thenextweb the next day. In addition did we have some issues with the new Plazer (http://blog.plazes.com/?p=157#comments) and Stefan, my co-founder was coming to Reboot on Friday. So for professional and personal issues I decided to cancel since I wasn´t sure at that point that I could make it. Boris forgot to mention the last part of my email:

    “And to be fair to you guys I rather cancel now than trying until the last minute and then not being able to come afterall.”

    So I can´t really see what the commotion is all about.

  5. Scott Rafer

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    Mike,
    [deleted for trolling]

  6. felix

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    btw: The Trazes Boris is quoting and that are screenshot in the post here are all from the 31st of May and not from June 1st.

  7. anaon

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm

    OK I agree Felix was very wrong and it may cost him in the longrun but weren’t you supposed to also be in Holland as a keynote speaker. Many people had paid to goto The NextWeb just to see you (like Le Web) but you were in Canada making a video?

  8. Lex

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:51 pm

    It was quite rude of Boris to air this personal matter publicly. It doesn’t matter if Felix was being 100% honest or not. The exchange between him and Boris was private, and Boris should not delight in broadcasting whatever transgression he perceived.

  9. Nick Tan

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    Classic!!! Imagine being caught out by your own app. Way to go!!!

  10. William

    June 3rd, 2007 at 3:59 pm

    Irony is better when it is another persons reality.

  11. Michael

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:17 pm

    This article should never have been published. It’s more of an attack on a person than anything else.

    Read Felix’s response in comments 4 and 6 before you guys leave comments…

    Why did you post this Mike?

  12. mike tyson

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm

    ughh, ugly scenario

  13. Jay

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    TechCrunch = Valleywag?

  14. Michael

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    I agree with Lex.

    It’s extremely immature and unprofessional of Boris to post about this publicly without talking to Felix first and getting all the facts straight.

    Even if Felix did everything Boris is accusing him of, why does it need to be posted on a blog like TechCcunch?…

    If Felix is being falsely accused, then how on earth is he going to clear his name? Unless he has a blog with a readership like Techcrunch, all he can do is leave comments like the rest of us right?

  15. felix

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 pm

    In fact, I stated what I had to say in comments 4 and 6 and sent this to Michael via eMail as well. Unfortunately my side of things hasn´t made it to the post yet.

  16. Jono

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm

    I didn’t know TC covered gossip now!

  17. Nick Tan

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:41 pm

    Sheesh, calm down everyone. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Case in point: this is the first time I heard of Plazes. In fact, if I were hyper-cynical and prone to believing in conspiracy theories… Nahh, never mind.

  18. Jon

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    Maybe it would be a good idea to opt out of your own technology in the future Felix - sure it’s great but when it starts to cause uncalled for commotion that may affect your company, take it as a sign that maybe it’s better to track something else other then yourself or set-up another ghost account for yourself where only select people have access.

    Jon

  19. Bill Hartzer

    June 3rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    It’s amazing how technology can “catch up with you”. Obviously he should have known that while he’s using technology to keep everyone updated he should have also been aware that once it’s on the ‘net that anyone can get ahold of it.

    @Jono:I wouldn’t necessarily call this tech news “gossip”.

  20. Scott Rafer

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    Nick — Regardless of the rest of the disagreements above, do check out plazes — it’s pretty darn cool. There’s a raft of place-smart startups picking up their heads: plazes, twittervision’s API, jaiku, http://winksite.com/site/people.cfm (where i have an interest), etc.

  21. Zaid

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    For better or worse. folks will think twice(or may be more) next time they’re contacted by next web with offer to speak.

    I do think this would be a better fit for valleywag, definitely not techcrunch.

  22. James McAuther

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    This is a pathetic article, I’m very disappointed techcrunch would scoop to these lows. Ever heard of slander?

  23. Manoj

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    Sounds more like a publicity stunt

  24. Gadgetize

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:30 pm

    There’s a limit to ‘any publicity is good publicity’. The only thing this points out is how Plazes can lead to hurt feelings and misunderstandings. All I’m thinking is I’ll never sign up for it. Who needs the hassle, and to volunteer for it?

  25. Nick Tan

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    @Gadgetize: OK, it might not be for you. But I think it’s pretty spiffy! Very clearly Plazes is an innovative site, which I am guessing is why Mr Petersen was invited to speak at Next Web in the first place, and possibly why he didn’t feel pressured to show up at all costs.

    I tend to avoid social networking sites because excessive use often tends to purely virtual interactions, leading to a Second Life like situation, which is surreal and weird and IMHO a total waste of time. But Plazes firmly anchors all events in the real world. It definitely has something unique to build on.

  26. bdb

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    Plazes, you can run but you can’t hide!

    Plazes, for the honest folk

    Plazes, because you are honest

    Plazes, we’ll prove you have nothing to hide…or not

  27. Scott Rafer

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    Hi Mike, I’m not sure if you recall, but I was MC for the Next Web conference Friday on Boris’ behalf. Comment #5 above that you deleted wasn’t a random comment on my part. If I misunderstood the situation in spite of having been in the middle of it, just let me know. You know that I apologize when I’m wrong.

    Feel free to post our email thread of the past five minutes if helpful.

  28. theman

    June 3rd, 2007 at 5:57 pm

    brillian move by felix. i cant think of a better way to generate buzz for your product :)

  29. spaces maps

    June 3rd, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Mike,
    I thought you hated Valleywag…
    Why did you post this then?
    Leave it to Valleyway please!

  30. Chris Sack

    June 3rd, 2007 at 6:52 pm

    Gossip? Tech Crunch just hit a whole new low…

  31. Gina Fan

    June 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Who cares about this ! Techcrunch is now focusing on mere curiosities “faits divers”
    useless and not even funny

  32. Baba

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    I don’t care about where some CEO is or was or said to some other guy, but I’m now checking out Plazes because of this post. Who wins?

  33. Wes

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    Do I really need to know what Felix was doing or not doing? Maybe not.

  34. extensions forklift

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    I agree with Jay /

    - leave this one to valleyWag

  35. Jake Lewis

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:42 pm

    Can someone post resources on how to fire your CEO of your early stage startup when you realize they are dishonest or not performing in the early game? I would REALLY like to see Techcrunch provide more information on what founders can do to get out of a potentially bad situation BEFORE it hurts them to the point of no return (i.e. company lost, funding lost, opportunity lost etc…)

  36. sean percival

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:51 pm

    Ha!

    Can we come up with a term for this? Like:

    “He got plazed!”

    “Social Spying”

    This is also a issue on twitter im sure.

    “Man that guys is such a Twit, he called in sick today and then on twitter talked about his day at the beach”

  37. Don Wilson

    June 3rd, 2007 at 7:57 pm

    Sounds like a staged event to me.

    Create a little disagreement and prove that one side was wrong by using their own product as proof.

    Genius.

  38. rod

    June 3rd, 2007 at 8:06 pm

    Felix, want to do an extended guest post on this funny/bizzarre situation? Feel free to drop me a line:

    http://techfold.com/contact/

    –Rod.

  39. allan branch

    June 3rd, 2007 at 8:41 pm

    Or could this be a sneaky promo for him? It worked.

  40. somedude

    June 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 pm

    On other news Plazes CEO’s was seen yesterday (see Google’s 360 Streetside Views picture here) enjoying himself outside a bar in Amsterdam. A careful google search (see link here and here) revealed that his child was not in fact sick (see medical record here and HERE for a pdf version) and it is now rumored the whole thing was plotted by he himself to get free publicity for his company. A careful analysis in photoshop of his face (flickr photo here, mirrored here and HERE) shows he had been laughing - with probabilty 0.9937845- just moments before the Google’s camera captured this video of him (link HERE, and HEre a href = youtube.com/link)
    while talking to his friend Bono (myspace profile here, his dad’s veteran youtube videos a href=HERE). Plazes stock is declined 2.34% over the last couple of hours, and is expected to drop even more by the end of the day.

  41. Greg

    June 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    I think this is really funny, actually.

    It’s impossible to say whether Petersen bailed on the conference for Reboot or not, since we don’t have all the information, but this is a pretty good example of how too much information can bite you if you aren’t careful about how and when it’s disclosed.

  42. dayquil

    June 3rd, 2007 at 10:38 pm

    jeesh, the only funny thing about this is that you goobers considered it reasonable to publish. file this one under “nobody’s freakin’ business” and be done with it. jerkstores.

  43. Rick

    June 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 pm

    In defense of Boris: he originally simply posted Felix (and Mike’s) explanation on the Next Web Blog (http://2007.thenextweb.org/2007/06/02/missing-speakers/) in defense of Felix.

    Comments pointed out Felix appearance at Reboot, making Boris look like a fool (or worse, a liar), and Boris still had the decency to wait at least 24 hours for an explanation from Felix before posting about it.

  44. Boris

    June 3rd, 2007 at 11:19 pm

    On privacy: Felix emailed us his official reasons for not coming. You could expect that when a speaker doesn’t show up you let the audience know why. Quoting his message was only fair

    On morality: I should have waited for a formal answer. Felix commented on all posts and didn’t do anything wrong. He just forgot to email us that his child was better and his problems were fixed. Not smart but not evil either.

    Result: we both look like jerks.

  45. Kay

    June 3rd, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    Now you know why you should never cancel your speaking arrangements at The Next Web, or you’ll get publically slandered. Crazy that a personal mail like that is just published. Thats scary.

    However: I think these kinds of articles do fit Techcrunch. In fact, these kinds of articles - most of them about companies, not people - have made Techcrunch big. Its always the negative articles that catch attention, and increase the number of readers. I bet if Mike looks at the stats, that this article scores in the alltime top 10 by number of readers.

  46. Ricky

    June 4th, 2007 at 12:04 am

    Michael, why don’t you start a valleywag type blog that covers topics such as this one?

  47. Debbie Davies

    June 4th, 2007 at 12:16 am

    The details of who and where are less important than the fact that this post highlight surveillance as the new marketing. Swap your marketing, PR and advertising resources for surveillance skills and you’ll be ok.

  48. fluencev

    June 4th, 2007 at 3:37 am

    # 16 Jono
    me2

  49. Andreas Ruehrig

    June 4th, 2007 at 3:50 am

    at least this shows that plazes works pretty well ;-)

  50. Lee Bryant

    June 4th, 2007 at 4:00 am

    Have you people not got anything better to do ?!? Leave Felix alone. He has given his answers and they make sense. Are you trying to imply he is lying? This kind of public questioning of a busy individual’s motives is not cool IMO.

  51. Dave Winer

    June 4th, 2007 at 5:58 am

    I sat across from him at dinner on Thursday night, so I can confirm he was there. I asked him if his product had been written up on TechCrunch and he said hit had. Small world. Live from Pisa, Uncle Dave.

  52. Jamie Kauf

    June 4th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

    Comparing theNextweb with Reboot is ironic. theNextweb is certainly too commerical while Reboot is organic, true, peaceful and human!

    Felix dont think about Boris attemp to weap like a cat as you didnt attended his “commerical self promoting event”.

    Respect from Stockholm & Yahoo SE crew :)

  53. Boris

    June 4th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

    Jamie: If I promise to visit Reboot next year maybe you should visit The Next Web. You might like it better than you think and then you can really judge for yourself. I don’t think anyone who actually visited the Next Web found it too be too commercial…

  54. Scott Rafer

    June 4th, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    http://www.facebook.com/gifts.php?id=500065899

    Yup, I screwed up, Mike. Here’s the public apology as mentioned above. It took me a while to circle with Boris and get better data as I flew home from Europe today.

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