Calacanis Fires People Who Have A Life

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1. Chris
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

   “Up to 18 hours a day for $30-35,000 (what I’ve heard is the going rate for base Mahalo employees) ”

   I paid my employees more than that. And that is REALLY saying something.

   Jcal, meet Craigslist.
   http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sof/

   Your employees can now free themselves from your iron grasp forever.

   “Buy people who work hard a computer for home, so they can work after hours, on weekends and public holidays”

   It really says something when you hire software developers that don’t actually own a computer. Which probably explains the salaries as well.

2. Webepags
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

   If this is true (I understand that he is joking to some extent), then Mahalo is doomed. The company forces it’s employees to work like slaves for a dime a day. That’s okay…Mahalo will lose it’s best staff to a better company.

3. William
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

   Some of the ideas are pretty extremel, but he does have some decent other points:

   5. Don’t buy a phone system. No one will use it. No one at Mahalo has a desk phone except the admin folks. Everyone else is on IRC, chat, and their cell phone …

   9. Use Google hosted email. $50 or free per user…. how can you beat that?!?! …

   …

   Why the hate, Duncan?

4. Duncan Riley
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

   William
   base pay jobs and you expect them to work executive hours, and you put everything in place to stop your employees having a break ever (which I’d note in every other civilized country would be illegal anyway)…I’ve go no objections to the concept that you have to work hard in a startup, but you’re expected to give up your life and that (and this was the insulting part to me) if you want to have a life you should work at Starbucks. F*ck that on every level. We have names for people like Calacanis is Australia, none of which are fit to use on TC.

5. Hes a Loser
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

   Just another delusional moron. At the end of the day when I believe I have done something negative to affect employee moral, I can always look to morons like Calacanis to make me feel better about myself.

   For a guy who has “no life” he surely has time to fart around with his cheesy Corvette. Shouldn’t he be at work?
   http://www.fastcompany.tv/vide.....irst-tesla

   This is also the same guy who was just the keynote speaker at the Affiliate Summit two weeks ago who insulted every person in attendance, calling them LOSERS.

   I want my son to grow up to be just like him, NOT!

   btw- many people would say that owning one of the newer Corvettes is for people who go are going through a mid-life crises. Case closed.

6. Rivari
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

   Calacanis, or if you prefer, the anti-google. This guy got the whole productivity thing wrong.
   Another point to add:
   * Pay your developer by line of code.

7. Asad
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

   On Twit Calacanis talked about how hes famous for paying his employees extremely well. $35,000 a year is extremely well?

8. Big Boy
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

   I am going to have to agree with Duncan on this one…these rules are really depressing and point to a deeper problem within Mahalo. If your employees are passionate about what they are doing and morale is high, you SHOULD NOT NEED draconian bullsh*t like this. In a passionate, purposeful company, people motivate themselves. Rules like these only need to be in place when you suck as a boss and the only conviction your company holds is to enrich the CEO.

9. Pewter Charms
   

   March 7th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

   After his speech at Affiliate Summit, this doesn’t surprise me!

10. Jose
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    Chris,
    I don’t think anywhere does it state that Calacanis is paying $30-35,000 to developers. What kind of developer would work for 35K, unless there was some equity on the company?

11. Jose
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    Calacanis is an idiot. Unless he is giving his employees some equity in the company how can you expect so much and give so little?

12. Zach Weisman
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    I’m surprised this whole post was sanctioned by Arrington…

13. Duncan Riley
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    Jose
    I didn’t say developers, I said base employees, or in Mahalo speak I think they call them guides.

    Zach
    why? besides, we don’t get permission to post, we simply post, and I think this is an interesting topic.

    Big Boy 8
    totally agree. Happy employees will go the extra mile, if you’re imposing rules on them like this…..

14. Joe
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    Yeah this is pretty crazy, but I am guessing most employees at this company a) knew what they were getting into and b) they are not indentured servants and are free to leave at any time.

15. BetterOffersAnywhereElse
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    This guy doesn’t even realize how stupid this sounds and especially in California his ideas are probably border line illegal treatment and misclassification of exempt status and violating all sorts of over-time and time off Laws.

    Obivously an evil and very little man who gets off pushing around people.

16. Jose
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Duncan,
    Right. You didn’t. I specifically mentioned Chris.

17. Alaska Miller
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    isn’t mahalo in santa monica? the job market down there is more stupid than silicon valley. cost of living is bad but it’s not as bad as silicon valley either.

    and is there any confirmation on giving percentages of the company to the employees? for 1% of the company and 30k doing stupid stuff like finding links, that’s not all that bad.

18. s.lee
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Calacanis looks like he has down syndrome

19. Chris
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    @16,

    Sorry, I just always assume everybody at a startup is a developer. I’ve been in tech-broke Canada for so long I forgot what a real technology startup looks like. The funding is so low here that there are no other types of employees at the startups here. IE, when you walk up and down the halls in our building. But that’s why I’m leaving.

    Sorry about the assumption.

20. tomthree
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    he go and fuck himself

21. Duncan Riley
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    Jose
    apol.

22. AJ Kohn
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

    This is so SF circa 1997-2000. Is SoCal this out of touch?

    I’m seeing far more start-ups who are open and flexible and WANT their employees to have a life. Why? Because they’re happier and work harder. It’s about working smarter, not longer.

    Does a ‘chain your employees to a desk’ culture make any sense given the ‘open’ environment of Web 2.0? If you don’t grok this, then what does it say about the strategic direction of Mahalo?

23. ha
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    truly pathetic.

24. Pranav Chavda
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    is Mahalo a Chinese company?

25. Chris
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    “This is so SF circa 1997-2000. Is SoCal this out of touch?”

    As I understood it, historically, Steve Jobs started the 60+ hour week at Apple in the 80s.

26. Abhishek Goyal
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    I some how didn’t find the original post as pathetic as much the author made it sound. Techcrunch is slowly turning into a typical news paper. Over hyping things!

27. Because hes gonna make you rich!
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Can have a nice life if I paid my folks 30k. What a loser…

28. jackmayhofferr
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

    Calacanass not look like a douche — see the pic above, but is a douce. Problem mis that the valley is full of them, fueled by even greedier VCs. This may work on kids just out of college or B-School, but no seasoned workers are going to fall for the promise of stock-options. Please, rarely does anyone make enough on options (except the founders and VCs) to justify busting your ass for them. Most of these Valley CEO’s deserve little more that the 40 hours a week they are paying for. Respect is a two way street.

29. Jason
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    Two words: stock options.

    Working like a maniac for a startup is a choice people make, but it is *not* the only option in life. It’s certainly not for everyone. Clearly there is a lot of space between a year one startup and Starbucks (think post-IPO tech companies like Yahoo, Google, AOL, etc).

30. AJ Kohn
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Chris - before my time, so I can’t speak to 80s, Jobs, Apple. (I was in some ugly Jams and rockin’ out to Big Country at the time.)

    I just know what it was like during the first Internet heyday. Some still want to do the sleeping under your desk gig, but there’s plenty out there for folks who want a life.

31. sean percival
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    I work there so I have a little more experience than some of the usual anonymous troll comments you find here. Duncan you trying to Valleywag it up or just a slow news days?

    Look at our traffic growth and daily output, this wouldnt be possible in the fantasy unicorn powered startup you all apparently work at. This isnt 5 guys in a garage, this is 50 people in a factory. Its a fast based and challenging environment, why would you want to work in anywhere else?

    Someone with 50+ employees please chime in and tell us your thoughts. Here are mine:

    1. company lunch, no meetings: free food? saves employees around $160 per month, pretty standard for a good dotcom but the lunch meetings are invaluable. keeps the entire company on the same page. No private meetings cut down on the high school cliquey type environment which always develops.

    2. no phones: I’ve had tons of web/IT jobs, never used the phone. In fact it was more of a pain to keep on the desk and deal with the voicemail etc. Modern communication is email and cell, dont give me tools I dont need.

    3. fancy coffee machine: i dont drink the stuff but it seems to be a hit, the literal fuel of the company. saves employees a fortune (although some still opt for starbucks).

    4. workoholics: why hire lazy people? if you are not losing sleep over your project it’s just not that important to you. Jason told me in my interview if you are good you get fired, great you can stay. Bold but upfront and honest, someone please tell me they have never worked a job where at least 1-2 employees did nothing but phone it in. For those who actually cared and put forth the extra effort this is beyond discouraging.

    5. salary: Not going to comment so much here, beyond the number there are lots of other variables involved. Actually to even post such a thing is bad form, how much does mike pay you? If you are looking solely at this number you are missing the bigger picture.

32. Jason
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    Also, those quotes up there are NOT what I said! You changed my quotes and presented them as mine dude! Not cool!

    here is what i said about he phone system:

    Don’t buy a phone system. No one will use it. No one at Mahalo has a desk phone except the admin folks. Everyone else is on IRC, chat, and their cell phone. Everyone has a cell phone, folks would rather get calls on it, and 99% of communication is NOT on the phone. Savings? At least $500 a year per person… 50 people over three years? $75-100k

    i never said this: “Buy people who work hard a computer for home, so they can work after hours, on weekends and public holidays”

    wtf duncan?!?!

    here is what i said about the espresso machine: save you employees money!

    “Get an expensive, automatic espresso machine at the office. Going to starbucks twice a day cost $4 each time, but more importantly it costs 20 minutes. Buy a $3-5,000 Jura industrial, get the good beans, and supply the coffee room with soy, low fat, etc. 50 people making one trip a day is 20 hours of wasted time for the company, and $150 in coffee costs for the employees. Makes no sense.”

    you said: “Buy a decent espresso machine and provide food in the office, because you don’t want your staff to ever stop working, this way you keep them in the office every minute of every day”

    How could you spin buying people great chairs, expensive espresso machines, and lunch four days a week into a bad thing is insane.

    Why would you present such false quotes as mine?!?! really duncan, this is techcrunch not valleywag.

33. Matt
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Headline: Calacanis makes another idiotic post to win links and gets to the frontpage of TechCrunch.

    Meanwhile hundreds of worthy web companies would kill for a mention but are ignored and quietly cry themselves to sleep.

34. Ryan
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    This guy is probably breaking the law if he’s not paying his workers overtime. California labor law that computer professionals, unless they have management responsibilities and earn over the equivalent of approx $50/hr, have to be paid on a per-hour basis, including overtime.

    Here are a few points of reference that I googled:

    http://www.harriskaufman.com/c.....als-ca.htm
    http://www.management-advantag.....xempt.html
    http://www.ck-lawfirm.com/unpaid_overtime.html

35. cl8ton
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    What a fokkin jerk,,,he made baby Jesus cry!

36. Phil Dewey
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    I was there in the 80s and I can assure you that sleeping under the desk became a “job skill” in the 95-2000 internet boom. Hard work has always been a hallmark of Silicon Valley but it has normally been complimented with Hard Play too. Jimmy Treybig started that at Tandem, the first big tech company to have aloha shirts and Beer busts on Friday afternoons.

37. Chris
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    “18. Outsource to middle America: There are tons of brilliant people living between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York who don’t live in a $4,000 one bedroom apartment and pay $8 to dry clean a shirt–hire them!”

    I’m actually moving to the area soon, and I found a gated apt for $800/mo. I guess I got really lucky. Of course you would never want to let your employer know that you pay little for rent, because they would use it as justification to exploit you further.

    After reading the whole thing, I don’t see anything extraordinary. I only see a guy trying to justify his own actions as being smart. They’re actually pretty obvious and not unusual.

38. EH
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    Well, I guess the horse’s mouth doesn’t have a problem with employees not having a life. However, in California you are not exempt from overtime unless you’re making low six-figures. If you aren’t, then you have a claim against your employer. Start documenting!

39. Ryan
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    #31

    Despite your entrepreneurial desires, which I commend and admire, based on my experience as a manager of people, a company can’t have employees working 60 hour weeks without being paid for their time. I don’t necessarily agree with the law, but if they are employees, the company is obligated to pay. I am not an attorney, and this is based on my experience as a manager of a software team. Perhaps someone who is a lawyer can provide feedback on the topic.

40. DP81
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    How did this make it on to TechCrunch and does the site plan to post an apology? This isnt the first misleading or off topic post by Duncan. Is there any internal review before a post goes up? Unless Calacanis went back and edited his post…Duncan’s post is tabloid fodder.

41. Jeremy
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Yeah…because so many people find Mahalo useful and use it on a regular basis <— sarcasm

42. Lon
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Another Mahalo guide here checking in to add some context.

    Jason expects a lot out of people who work for him, but there’s actually a lot less micromanagement and clockwatching at Mahalo than any other company for which I have worked. The fact is, the vast majority of Mahalo’s guides are passionate, we do want the company to succeed, and we are self-motivated, so the espresso machine and comfy chairs and free lunches feel like perks, not some form of cruel exploitation. (Giving someone a free soda to save them a few minutes? HOW DARE HE!)

43. What a joke
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Typical penny pincher slave driver. Guys like Calacanis are leeches, don’t expect to develop any lasting relationship with that kind of management style.

44. Matt
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    #32… summed it up…. i was disappointed cuz i read this on jasons blog and thought, wow this guy is where is he is for a reason… a smart entrepreneur. I know it’s trendy to shit on Jason Calacanis.. when I was first exposed I had the wrong impression, too. But I’ve since learned that he’s one of the most real people in the industry. I’m really disappointed in this post Duncan… I also used to come to this blog and give you shit like a trolly little prick… and have since learned to appreciate the hell out of you also…. So it’s strange to try and sound in… i’m not doing the “let’s troll Duncan Riley because we don’t understand his style” thing, but I do gotta stress the valleywag of this piece… it’s a groaner, man.

45. purelife
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    it’s okay if he is going to make every employee his partner and give equal amount of share when he sells his company.

46. charlie
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    wow, is this valley wag, it should be. I work 8 and skate. That is it. I don’t gaf if it is a startup. I doubt this guy is seriously this crazy. I think this is more about techcrunch getting hits ect…kind of like national enquirer for fan boys. I would take anything I read on the web , especially tech crunch, with a grain of salt. Gigaom would not do this kind of crap reporting, would they?

47. James Gardiner
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Bad form Duncan.
    This post borders on defamatory.
    I find people like to dis Jcal as he is usually more honest about the shit that happens in business. Taking it out of context and putting it in a bad light like this is a sign of questionable journalism.

    If this post is easily questionable. How many more are also questionable but less obvious?

    Arrington, time for an employee review….

    James

48. whatever
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    is this valleywag .i must of clicked on the wrong link. great journalism dr
    how much you make? mike should fire you for this and i dont even like jc

49. lieumorrison
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    This post is really making me think twice about supporting TechCrunch in the future.

    It was very obviously inflammatory and outright slanderous.

    I don’t know Jason personally, as I have never met him (and thus I can’t vouch for his character and I don’t know what he is like.) I am also not a Mahalo user, and thus not biased on loyalty because of one of his products. I was also not very familiar with him in this industry until very, very recently. I didn’t even see what ever it was (if there really is even anything) that was being quoted… and despite all this, I was able to tell that this post by Duncan was very inaccurate. This, I can say from first hand experience.

    I recently started to listen to Steve Gillmor’s new NewsGang netcast and I was listening to a recent show where Jason was discussing a portion of his ideas about meetings and lunches in the work place. (Last Friday’s show, 02/29 I think. I’ll check when I’m done here…) and what what he said about employee meals and meetings sounded wise, innovative, and very beneficial do both the company and to the employees. Sounded like a really nice place to work.

    Completely opposite that this post had said.

    Perhaps this post was ment to be humorous, a jab among friends… but it didn’t seem to read that way, and the negative responses back that up.

    I really feel that TechCrunch has lost a lot of credibility with this post.

    Louis M. Privette III

50. Ilya
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Yeah - typical “Hey ! we are cooler than anybody” startup attitude. sean percival says that there is SOMETHING ELSE besides salary, which keeps people motivated. I’ve heard this kind of BS bunch of times.
    They usually sound like:
    “Hey! join our stupid little company - we don’t pay almost anything, but check out our cool presentation!, and look here - we got someone to write about us on some sh*ty blog! - we are cool and the fact that we are even talking to you is already a great achievement. Us hiring is already A GREAT COMPENSATION !”

    I agree with somebody who wrote that only top people in company make money from stock options - for the rest of us it’s just a pleasant little addition to the salary and benefits.

    Why all these start up CEOs so F-ing sure that they are going to succeed? If you such a great business man - why would you expect people to work their asses off? Where is business planning and professionalism?

    Why is it good for developer to loose sleep because of something he already thinks about at least 40 hours a day? This is sick! It shows that there is something wrong with that person!
    I am a programmer and I DONT work at home, unless there is an emergency. I like to play with my own little projects, discover new technologies, develop tools for myself and my boss appreciates that. And I appreciate him for that.

    I remember once one such a startup didn’t hire me because I demanded well written job offer with my rate and all benefits clearly outlined. They told me: “We dont like the attitude you have towards this position. You think of it as a fulltime job, you don’t seem to be PARANOID enough”. I told them to F*** themselves.

    All such businessmen should realize one simple thing: professionalism drives quality, quality drives everything else. Professionals don’t sleep under the desk while being paid close to nothing.

    Professional knows his price, (s)he gets in, gets the job done clean and fast, gets out, gets paid.

    If your boss doesn’t share this perspective or can’t build business around it - just quit.

51. Duncan misquotes to sound smart
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Duncan, I read your post and then went to calacanis.com to see exactly what was written. You’ve made up your own quotes and taken his quotes out of context. Tssk tssk… some of us actually do our homework.

    I wish my company treated me as “badly” as Mahalo treats theirs.

    I think any posts you write about Calcanis should be prefaced with, “Disclosure: I can’t stand Jason Calacanis and am unable to separate my journalistic responsibility from my personal feelings.”

52. EH
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    On further thought this is probably just a pageview-troll between TC and JC.

53. Matt
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    @#50 .. when you say something like “40 hours a day” you discredit your entire statement as one from someone so willing to be suckered into hyperbole.

54. Ilya
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    RE 2 Matt :

    sorry, I mistyped, I mean 40 hours per week. I hoped this is obvious.

55. Davide Di Cillo
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    wow… considering how much time he spend twittering he should fire himself…

56. alex
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    This post is BS.

    I don’t see how this “firing” thing is bad, when you’re in a startup environment. My God, there’s precious little money as it is, and to have some bozo working 9-5, taking a one-hour lunch break and then going home to relax is all well and good, until you have to ship a product. And then make payroll.

    I didn’t see anything offensive in his post at all. Startups are a different breed. If you want a “balanced” life, go work for Microsoft or IBM. Or the government. If you want to make great stuff and be part of great dreams, go to a startup. And work your ass off.

57. Steve
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Duncan can you do a follow up story about how Jason forces Mahalo guides and employees to spam social sites to increase the page rankings? Ask Jason directly if he tells them all to “submit like crazy” to game other sites. Should Mahalo get blacklisted for crap like that?

58. Anthony
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Duncan, you have made up your own quotes! WTF!

    Go over to the blog and acutally read the post people because it is nothing like what Duncan wrote - he tried to pass off his own quotes as Jason’s.

    I don’t know how this was allowed to get posted on Techcrunch.

59. alex
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    39

    Despite your entrepreneurial desires, which I commend and admire, based on my experience as a manager of people, a company can’t have employees working 60 hour weeks without being paid for their time. I don’t necessarily agree with the law, but if they are employees, the company is obligated to pay.

    No, Ryan, you are obviously not a manager of people. Maybe a manager of a Pizza Hut, where they pay hourly. But salaried people work 60 hours a week and still draw the same salary.

60. Joel Mueller
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    I live in the midwest, so I have no clue what “valleywag” even is, but if you’re taking toll, this post on TECHCRUNCH (what!!!????) reflects more on Duncan Riley than on Jason Calacanis. My vote is the work here by Duncan is a big thumbs down. Valleywag.

61. Chas
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    Hello world, if you think this guy should get away with this immoral behavior then you deserve all the cheap snacks, divorces, resentment from your children and low pay you get. Stop getting into debt so that you can tell exploiters like this to go to hell.
    Wise up!

62. Peripatetic
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    Mahalo is a: People. Powered. Search Engine.

    And they have to compete with Google. So each employee is expected to do the work of 5-10 thousand servers. No wonder they have to be workaholics. Each query you enter is causing someone untold agony and (I imagine) dreadful carpel tunnel. It’s probably Darth Vader’s search engine of choice. If you really care about Mahalo employees, stop using Mahalo.

63. Luis Pereira
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    This is PR artistry at it’s best! Well done guys! Anyone who falls for these publicity stunt posts by TC needs to wake up and smell the starbucks coffee.

64. sprezzatura
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    Interesting how Jcal dodged the issue of what he pays his people in his comment. Can we take that as a confirmation of the crappy pay rates?

65. Zaid
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    Not sure what the fuss is about. Calacanis is just stating what is a DUH if you’ve done a start-up: it’s an infatuation, often leaving little room for anything else.

    Yes there are cons to that and other things in life take a hit–but it is what it is.

66. Zach Weisman
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    Duncan,

    Its definitly an interesting topic and I am glad to now know that your posts are not screened! I personally agree with you. It is one thing for a founder to work his ass off and sacrifice his/her “personal life”. It is silly to expect your talent/workers to do the same if they are not reasonably vested. Startups can be about pushing the limits of how hard you can work, but there has to be a strong incentive to do so. Otherwise it will not work.

    When it is your baby, you will do what ever it takes. When you are making $30k with little or no stock you will work just hard enough not to get fired, or until you find something better.

    Zach

    PS I love your posts and your native country! I miss Oz!

67. Ryan
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    #59 Alex,

    You don’t understand California labor law. Do some research before making inflammatory and juvenile statements.

68. ebaaf
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Funny, Jeff Clavier said something equally stupid and arrogant two days ago (that $300K/mo in revenue for a small startup is just “noise”):

    http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9886549-7.html

    Maybe Calacanis can get Clavier to fund his next startup, once all his employees quit. Seriously, you want to highly skilled knowledge workers to grind? Software development is not gold farming in WoW - has Calacanis heard of diminishing returns?

69. Anatoly
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    @31 “If you are good, you get fired, if you are great you stay”. Shouldnt that apply to Calcanis as well?

    The whole I’m in a rush to get things done and if I can squeeze an extra hour from my developers that means more money for me is a totally crappy attitude, and reflects on the overall strategic thinking around such companies.

    At the heart of it, such companies are Labor Arbitrages, and guess what, India and China will eat their lunch.

70. Soap
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    Making up quotes?

    Where did people miss the part that says “our interpretation of his more reasonable statements” ??

    It would be stupid to quote the whole thing - for that, just link to the site and be done. Duncan gave a (reasonable imho) interpretation and he does state it that way right before the bullets. If you want to know what JC said, read his blog. If you want to see how some people interpret JC’s words, then this post is fair and square.

71. Mike McNeeley
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    @4

    “I’ve go no objections to the concept that you have to work hard in a startup, but you’re expected to give up your life and that (and this was the insulting part to me) if you want to have a life you should work at Starbucks. F*ck that on every level.”

    Duncan, you’re allllright… Keep it up.

72. Paul Montgomery
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    The broader issue is that a number of venture-backed startups have these armies of low-paid workers whose status is much more like call centre drones than startup employees. Convincing them that they have emotional equity in the success of the company is a neat trick, but without the founder/s giving up stock equity it rings hollow.

    As for the phone thing, if Jason is expecting employees to make outgoing business calls on their own dime then that’s rather cheeky.

73. akahn
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    One of these things is happening here:

    A) Calacanis is a pr1ck

    B) A + and he is joking, but an idiot because it makes him look stupid, nevermind how it impacts his base employees

    C) A + and he’s a former engineer who was abused by his managers when he was a little engineer, and is now taking it out on his employees. It’s a terrible cycle

    D) A + and he’s a former engineer who doesn’t understand some of the key concepts of management: know your thing (this includes how to deal with your peeps), be a man (meant to be gender-neutral: don’t be spineless and a pr1ck), and stand by your mean (that means just what it says). Also, have empathy.

    E) All of the above?

    I wonder how his VC’s feel about his statements: http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/05/mahalocom.html

74. akahn
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    D): Stand by your MEN

75. Confused Philosopher
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    And not a hint of irony to boot http://twitter.com/JasonCalaca...../767613114

76. dodged a bullet
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    I spoke to their CTO through a common contact for a product job and he said they just hired a new one so they won’t need another one for a few more months…..phew dodged a bullet….with this kind of shit even if it’s half true I’d be gone in 10 days…..yeah I’ll work 60 hour week for a company that is make real products and treats me well….but not for some shit SEO wikipedia wannabe clown company

77. SG
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Wheres Duncan hiding?

    I read this post and then jumped over to Calacanis’ - Why warp the quotes?

    Better headline? More traffic? A lot of comments?

    Geez

78. lieumorrison
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    Follow-up to #49

    It was last Friday’s show:

    http://www.gillmorgroup.com/me......02.29.mp3

    A little after 1:04:28 into the episode is when Jason talks about meals and meetings.

    Dan Farber mentions how he has 6 meetings to deal with and needs to leave the call, and this is when Jason inputs his No Meetings tip.

    (I’m starting to think this call inspired Jason to write this: http://www.calacanis.com/2008/.....good-tips/ )

79. Former Mahalo-er
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Well, I’m just a PT Guide.

    But I’m done.

    If this is what JCal is all about, I don’t want any part of it.

    Slave labor and no respect for family….

    Mahalo!

80. Craig
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    Some of jasons ways of saving money are a bit harsh on the employees but those quotes are way off, thats not really what he said..

81. Rocket Pop Hater
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:40 pm

    Duncan’s post was clearly tongue-in-cheek, and pretty funny. Most of you people have no sense of humor, including Calcanis.

    The most telling quote comes neither from Duncan nor from Calcanis, but from #31 who works there. He said that Calcanis told him that if you’re good, you’re fired, you only get to stay if you’re “great.”

    If he was interviewing me, I’d have told him to piss off right there and then. Really, that’s just wackjob stuff, sounds like EA on steroids. Plus, if that photo on Calcanis’ blog is their work environment, just shoot me. How anyone can be productive in that atmosphere is a complete mystery to me. Oh, wait, I forgot — it’s Web 2.0 stuff, isn’t it? Where you just churn out bullshit code at lightspeed that doesn’t really do much of anything? Right, sorry, I forgot.

82. Zach Hurst
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    Come on now Duncan…modifying quotes is kind of childish wouldn’t you say? I had a feeling there was more to this story. No good, public face for a company would post such ridiculous remarks. That would put his company in jeopardy wouldn’t it? I guess he could post something that makes sense and be presented the same risk with journalists like you floating around. My respect for TechCrunch just plummeted. Somehow I still keep you guys in my Feed Reader. Good thing I don’t have to see your ads that way. *sigh*

83. Igor
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    I was reading this in my feed reader and for some reason didn’t read the source of the article, the whole time I was reading it I thought it was from Vallywag.

    Duncan, if you ever want to write for them this would be an excellent article to use as a refference.

84. Igor
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    There I go and misspell Valleywag…

85. Matt
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    @#80 … wrong, wrong, and wrong…

    if you had told him to piss off in the interview then you’d lose not only the job, but the opportunity to be working with one of the brightest minds in the industry which makes you a moron. Even the freaking pizza hut drives their employee’s like this so get real. Where you work, your boss fees that way… the difference is Jason Calacanis has the balls to say it to your face before you sign on. That takes moxy.

86. Diego
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    That’s quite a different take on things, compared to a place like 37Signals http://www.37signals.com/svn/p.....xperiments

87. Ted
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    I think this post is great, even that I am not a fan of Duncan’s posts. It seems that Duncan pulled not only info from Jasons blog, but also has some insights in the company. But funny how Calacanis calls…aehm chats to his employees and tells them to post 1 min before and a few minutes after he posts
    Maybe he should asks his naive…aehm “great” employees to remove Mahalo spam instead of posting here. Otherwise the snake oil options won’t turn into gold.

88. Daniel
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    I work for and have worked for startup size (4-25 employees) companies my entire life and find his ideas so stupid that its amazing that anyone would invest in a startup under these terms!!

    A true startup experience with the right staff usually (In my opinion) have the opposite problems, and I have personally had to send people home after a 20 hour workday because they just ‘wanted to get it done’

    Show you employees respect, include them in bonus programs, see to it that they have health care and are included in the descicion making process and you have the best staff you can ask for! Treat them like slaves and suck them dry and you can look forward to a nightmare once they are good enough to leave your ass hanging!

    Well, I sure am not going to use Mahalo.. Ever!

89. Luv Sayal
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    I happened to read the original post by Calacanis on his blog and then found this one on TechCrunch. It struck me immediately that Duncan just wanted to cook up some controversy as he simply misrepresented Calacanis’ tips by rephrasing it in his own words.

    Jason is a true entrepreneur and having had his personal advice on one occasion last year, i can attest to his smartness. Since then, when he talks, i listen! What really surprises me is that he is able to get on the headlines so consistently. I wouldn’t even be surprised to know that this is a publicity stunt!

    Besides, Mahalo works. The company is rumored to be valued at more than 100 million $. And to get our attention to it, no publicity is bad publicity. I suspect Jason knows that all too well

    Happy ending! Let’s get back to life..

90. ettore
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    No wonder Mahalo sucks, its employees are stressed out.

91. Wade M
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Guys, all those points are so extreme, especially the last point. I’m pretty sure Jason was being sarcastic. There’s no way ANY of that can be serious.

    Peace,
    Wade

92. Scott
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    This is bad, not what I’ve come to expect from TC, completely misinterpreting the point of Jason’s post here…

93. Andrew
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    doing interviews over the phone is risky. email is better… way better.

94. John Wilcox
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

    This is a totally Valleywag trash post. The opposite of journalism. What’s funny is that I don’t think anyone has mentioned equity. I bet a lot of the people at Mahalo have some. That means anyone there should be working to maximize their return. I’d take Jason’s excessive drive over mediocrity any time.

95. EH
    

    March 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    I think the funniest part is that on Jason’s Wikipedia page, most of the CV links are to TechCrunch articles.

    That said, it should be thrice reiterated that under California law salary does not automatically make you exempt from overtime. Cha-ching!