Most venture capitalists will tell you that a good idea isn’t worth much - the value is in execution, which is very hard. But that doesn’t stop people from coming forward to take credit when someone hits a home run. We saw it with Google and countless others. Someone gets rich, and someone else says they stole the idea.
This time it’s YouTube. Herbert Elwood Gilliland III emails us to say that YouTube’s name and idea were his, and that he told Chad Hurley about it years ago. After a different conversation he says he had with Sergey Brin in 2007, more of his ideas appeared in YouTube:
I’m writing you because I am looking for some media outlet to cover my situation. I invented the YouTube brand and worked at a company where I was developing a similar product in 1998. I inverted several key elements of the product “Synthetic Interview” to create YouTube, and shared this idea with my friends. I also tried to create a company called YouTube several times between 1998-2004, when in November, I talked to Chad Hurley on the phone when he was still working at PayPal. I explained the idea behind YouTube, the brand name, and challenged him to start the company since he had close ties to Peter Theil, a well known billionaire venture capitalist. I asked for 1% of the proceeds of the sale of the company in exchange for this great idea. Years later, I am still trying to get Chad to recognize me with fiscal compensation and/or credit for creating the brand, basic concepts (video uploading, video commenting, agnostic video format, layout of the main video screen, awards and top listings “most watched”, star ratings, viewers, DMCA automation, video and audio fingerprinting).
After a phone call with Sergey Brin in August of 2007, several other of my ideas became a part of YouTube (thumbs-up and thumbs-down, video annotation). Since they seem to depend so much on my ideas to make their billions, why can’t then see the benefit in enabling me to start my own firm? Why do these “altruistic” billionaires not see the benefit in sharing some of their wealth?
–
H. E. Gilliland III“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.”
— Plato
I haven’t emailed YouTube founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim to get their side of the story, but I’m guessing they aren’t going to credit Gilliland with as much as a comment on this, let alone sending him a check.
Gilliland has says his specialties are “Security, networking, interface, process consulting, medical devices (and requirements), graphic design, advertising, web design, product development” on his LinkedIn profile. More information about him is available on his web site.
Back in 2002 he was looking for funding for a life perpetuating device - “Please help me save this information by designing and marketing brain perpetuation devices for post-mordem cultivation of valuable neurologically stored information.”
What does he want exactly? $1 million dollars. To become a doctor.
See all
Post
Herbert is sad. If this had any truth, he would go for it legally by proving it in court.
Hey Mike, I want a million dollars. I once said to someone that there should be a blog about cool new tech related sites online. You may have talked to someone a few degrees away from the person that I talked to at one point, so that is my justification. I expect a check soon.
If you don’t agree, well, I think I mentioned “tech” when i told it to someone, so can I at least have half of a million? It is half of your name after all.
haha, I had the same idea too I was gonna call mine tech scrunch. lol
So many people have the exact same idea’s, this is one of few times I agree with Mikey, every one got “the idea” so few can execute the idea.
YouTube is a social network, which first social network ever is Amazon in the 90’s with product reviews, so the idea to make anything “social” has been started WAY before you tube.
Put a video online, let anyone view it, put ads on it, very old school a variation of amazon. The value is in the number of people using the system.
EXECUTION is the hard part. Getting the talented people to build it, people to maintain the hardware, people to support customers, people to manage the people. That is NOT the hardest parts, the hardest part is to make MONEY without ending up in the bubble20 trash bin.
The reason I say, this is one of the times I agree with Mikey is 90% of the startups he mentions here suck and should go straight in to the dead pool. I would LOVE to read a review about a startup that Mike would trash and say hey, there are 10 things WRONG with this website go fix it and come back then, not just in a private email but on his website.
Tony, you sound like someone who really knows a lot about sucking. I just can’t wait to see your world changing bubble 3.0 idea come to to fruition.
Yes, you obviously.
haha, I had the same idea too I was gonna call mine tech scrunch i made a video and uploaded it to youtube. lol
did I tell you guys that I invented the Internet????
Oh…I know….now the whole world owes me money….
Since there are 180milion legitimate sites…let me calculate…. I need $1 from all of them, so it comes to $180 million. not much for the whole world, I guess !!
http://www.livbit.com
Sadly there’s a $181 million fine for those who put their URL at the end of the post instead of in the “Website” text box that comes up when you make a comment…
(and no, there is no penalty for using smileys).
I look forward to receiving the cheque/check.
Proving it in court: I don’t have the $400/hour to pay a corporate attorney, and I’m not allowed to represent myself. Beyond that, it’s up to Chad Hurley to make an ethical and moral decision for himself, not a court of law. It’s really beyond the courts (it’s been longer than 1 year). If you want to see what happens when you do this, look at Aaron Greenspan, who invented TheFaceBook.com, prior to Zuckerberg, and who is suing for trademark infringement. I have a copy of his book, Authoritas. Check it out.
Herb: it is up to you to capitalize on an idea by doing the work to execute it. Your demand for compensation for an idea alone via a public channel rather than direct communication with YouTube is childish and will surely get you nowhere.
You’ve learned a hard lesson that a lot of us learn earlier, and albeit with less successful ventures: your ideas are your intellectual capital, and if you throw them around without protecting them, you assign no value to them. The person who guards his or her ideas– then sees them through to fruition– is the person who adds value and deserves the possibility of compensation.
Pick up a book: you’ll find a hundred ideas in any. Ideas are in the mind or on paper. In the economy, one makes money by creating value, not by creating ideas, and this is why the one who executes (re: the hard work, the risk and experiment of trying something new with one’s own time and resources) is the one who will be compensated for it.
Did you record those conversations? Do you have the exchanged emails? How can you tell somebody an idea you know it could be big without at least taking some precautionary measures??
The same thing happened with that so called Google founder…he didn’t keep any proofs…well, if you are that negligent then you should keep the mouth shout. Sorry…
Another question is you are talking now?? Why not when Youtube was standalone? Why not right after Youtube was bought??
MLS: it’s not just a matter of implementation. It’s a matter of connections to established business people, who are willing to back you fiscally. I specifically didn’t buy this one because I wanted to find an investor first. Without saying anything, no one else came up with it. When I was homeless, I thought long and hard about the situation I was in. I realized I must have had a holier-than-thou attitude, solely because I knew YouTube would be this successful. In fact, Hurley sold it for only $500M less than I originally quoted it (I said, sell it to Google for $2.1B, he sold it for $1.6B). Why keep it inside any longer? Find someone, say whatever it took to convince them, and help the world! Simple, right? The 1% is merely an attempt to get success from it, since I knew it would be successful. Think of all the websites that depend on your free labor: do you want to live a world like that? On your behalf, I have been convincing them to figure out ways to pay back the users — like in the Ad revenue sharing program — because the system, the way it is, obviously only benefits the few and not the many. In a system like that, we depend on the decisions of individuals, not groups, to run the world of business. We need a world of business than depends on the decisions of groups, so that the group can police the individual. I love individual rights, but I think individuality is something that is packaged and sold. No one is more than 2% different than me, even if they were born without eye-sockets or have a tentacle growing out of their forehead. Since this is scientifically provable, and since we have tons of historic evidence that suggests that the capitalistic system, at its current level of regulation, benefits only 1% of the 6 billion Earthlings, how can I hijack that system to help the other 99%? This was one way. Maybe next time I will make a dollar — maybe Chad will send me some cash — I don’t know. I know that the first thing I would do after cashing the check, is fly to San Bruno to say thanks and share whatever other observations I could make.
California has done this to me my entire life: somewhat willingly, but often beyond my will or intention. At least I’m trying to take a proactive approach to the ongoing idea harvesting that occurs in the corporate world.
MLS: The only proof I have is a) the testimony of Chad, b) minor psychological observations which point to an obscure beginning, c) the anecdotal evidence of my professor, Don Marinelli, co-creator of the Synthetic Interview, and my friends in college, and d) phone records that show calls made to me from Paypal and Google in two separate time periods. I’m not here to enter into petty lawsuits, I’m just sharing my story for others to know. Maybe someone in a different situation will come into my life, or our collective lives, and figure out a way to fix this issue — like an idea registry — or by providing an organization for pro-bono IP for ordinary citizens — or by investing in me.
Joel: I was also thinking about Jef Raskin, a person whom you may not know his name, but he invented Double Clicking when he worked for Apple. He was Apple’s 31st employee, or something to that effect. He just made claims to his work, even if it was hard to prove. I’m doing the same thing, and I’m just as honest.
I apologize for saying you were sad. Rereading it now that I’ve had some sleep, I sounded like an ass, and I apologize.
More related though, if you have the proof to prove it in court, find a lawyer that is willing to represent you based of of the end-result. If you truly have the backup that proves it, you can easily find a decent lawyer that can do this for you.
They would represent you and if you win, take a chunk of the payout as their payment. If you don’t win, they wouldn’t bill you. All you have to do is show them definitively why your entitled and why they should represent you.
I am normally against lawsuits, but if they are for valid reasons, go for it.
I won’t be using the American Injustice System anytime soon: I doubt anything would come of it. It’s really up to the moral fiber of Chad, Steve and whomever would influence them to help the researcher who came up with the brand.
They know what happened, it’s up to them to decide if they want to keep hiding the truth — that they aren’t the independent thinkers they make themselves out to be — or if they want to garner my future support and, frankly, heal a wound.
As for the repeated question ‘Why didn’t you register the domain?’ — I explained several times that the $10 for the domain is not the $100k to start-up or $8M .. that took connections that I did not have and could not garner in the first 7 years. I own about 12 domains. Why keep buying them if nothing comes of it? You can have the best site in the world but it won’t matter because of a dozen reasons, most of which are fiscal.
(video uploading, video commenting, agnostic video format, layout of the main video screen, awards and top listings “most watched”, star ratings, viewers, DMCA automation, video and audio fingerprinting) and (thumbs-up and thumbs-down, video annotation)
These are not inventions, most of these were already on metacafe and other video sites.
Some of it was on MetaCafe — this is why I felt an urgent need to share the YouTube idea because I thought the name would be more successful, virally, than MetaCafe. Had I been able to convince the start-up I was working for to develop it in 1998, we probably would have taken the world by storm much earlier. But, it wasn’t until 2000 that Flash was really ready for video.
When YouTube launched in 2005, it was a screen for screen copy of FreeVideoBlog.com which predated it by more than 6 months.
Why didn’y you just registered the domain name Youtube.com?? Wasn’t that expensive even at that time…
How much would have cost to register/trademark/copyright the name? Were you THAT bankrupt?
All publication is sometimes regarded as good publication. Perhaps Gilliand will get a job after this blog post.
after watching the video all I can say for sure is one thing:
The guy NEEDS HELP.
Ideas are worth the paper they are written on.
That is not true. When starting a company, the founder with the idea usually gets the most equity (assuming all ’sweat’ is equal). It is a good convention to follow because people with one good idea usually have more good ideas. On top of that, a good company is started with a vision, not just an idea (eg. Facebook and MySpace are the same idea, different vision).
An idea is an idea - a vision and plan for execution and the ability to follow through on such is a very different thing. Giving a guy too much equity and control when he is unable to translate ideas to reality is a sure path to failure. If you have to pay him off for his idea that is one thing (hence worth the TYPE of paper it is written on) But leave the business to the pros.
History will show the most successful projects come from a dedicated team taking an existing idea (that maybe has failed repeatedly) and hitting a homerun on the implementation.
so again I will argue that an idea is worth the (TYPE) of paper it is written on - meaning if that paper is a legal document it is worth something, but if it is scribbled in a notebook, it is worth about that.
Spoken like a non-idea person.
Sure, the “successful” comes from a team, but the idea comes from a person. That you only mention the person’s value rather than the idea’s says a lot, and you want us to believe that ideas are worthless outside of a contract. The way you describe your reality reminds me of MBAs who think Machiavelli and Lao Tzu are the only authors worth remembering.
RE: EH
What you say may be correct. But lets first answer the root question. What is the goal? Is your goal success or is your goal…….
Define clearly the rules. And then wreck havoc within those rules. Have compassion, give guys equity , but do it from your seat of power and your decision. The root idea is not to horde all the wealth yourself, but rather to ensure that the project succeeds.
Effective compassion flows first from a seat of power.
and btw….skipped the MBA and you left out Marcus Aurelius.
Neyma: he’s admitted it was his connections, not necessarily his talent or experience, which made it happen. I knew that from the beginning: had someone invested $100k in me, maybe I would have been it’s “Founder”. I tried to help, to stay involved: it just hasn’t been possible.
Well if you are smart you would get a good lawyer on consignment. I would be surprised if you have not already been contacted by some of the best sharks.
Wow.. what a strange man.
Seriously, he’s creeping me out.
If you don’t like my depressed video at YouTube, try my DJing and comedy (Yes, I USE YouTube, too.) I’m not just a one-dimensional character.
http://www.youtube.com/MadM3rv
In 2000 we suggested the same concept to Real Media during a private seminar where they were introducing their upgraded features…..
People in the audience were whispering what a great idea….
The speaker just nodded and continued, probably never bringing it up to her superiors…
Brilliant ideas happen - but it takes optimal circumstances to get them implemented
Absolutely. Circumstances yes, but also the guts to implement it.
I’ve got a few ideas of my own. Doesn’t mean I would be upset if others go ahead and have similar ideas and implement them. Even if this guy did come up with the concept. Fact is, with advances in technology like Flash, especially on the video front, it was only a matter of time that this would inspire someone to come up with a project like YouTube.
Even, if this guy thought of it initially and didn’t act on it - probably because he wasn’t willing to put his mouth it. Then I say it’s fair game for someone else to put it into motion. Let’s remember that it’s all in the execution. And to anyone that had the idea and didn’t patent it or event start acting on it - tough, deal with it, get counselling or something.
He would have owned the YouTube.com domain name if this were true. Which he didn’t. So it’s not.
For sure. I guess it’s pretty much nothing else than simple publicity. If he could prove everything, why not going to court and take some billion? Reminds me on the “real” inventor of Itchy and Scratchy, lol
Agreed. If you don’t believe in an idea enough to spend a lousy ten bucks on it, then you deserve no credit for its success.
Actually, part of the deal with Chad was that I would let Chad buy the YouTube.com domain name. This was before he was sold on the idea. I explained he had six months and then I would buy it myself. I talked to him in November 2004. He bought the domain around February 2005.
Sorry, but that is just stupid. To let the domain name as a sittig duck for everyone to grab it’s, like I said, stupid. When you find a good domain name available YOU BUY IT!
Then, you can transfer it to whoever you wish…
The idea of youtube isn’t original anyway, I’m sure lots of people thought a site for user uploaded videos would be a good idea. They key for youtube’s success was allowing people to embed a video player, making their brand name known across the internet.
I came up with the idea for a time machine, so anyone who invents one I want 1% of your earnings.
It’s not the name or even idea that has made YouTube so popular. YouTube wasn’t the first to allow users to upload videos, nor the first to allow comments or ratings. The things that made it work are the small implementation of things, not the overall idea. No-one can claim they invented something just because they also had the same rough idea. This seems awfully like AOL (http://mailblog.aol.com/2008/10/31/an-open-letter-to-gmail-happy-halloween-we-love-your-costume/)
I am going to invent a time machine, then come back yesterday, and announce my plan to invent the machine. Sorry, Lewis but you’re out of luck.
I am going to use a time machine in the future, then come back and invent the time machine!
Sorry guys, I already invented the time machine. I want a billion dollars!
BTW I am writing this from the future. I already owned Youtube and sold it to Domino’s Pizza [actually, I traded it for a couple of pies...]
No, the above comment is not from me, it’s an imposter comment.
Lewis: a rough idea isn’t a complete explanation of the major features of a website, as well as it’s brand. Had Chad never talked to me, you wouldn’t ever have read about him for creating YouTube with Steve, Jawed and the 20 or so other PayPal ex-employees who helped found the company. Likewise, had PayPal not been such a haven for fraud, I’d have never been locked in a 2 year debate with them about how they needed to stop playing “court system” and just leave it up to the FBI. I was forced to talk to PayPal over money issues since I joined the service in 2002.
A ton of people came up with the idea of teleporting matter across space. Does that mean that they “invented” teleporting? The real inventors are those who actually make it happen. That doesn’t mean only to make the technology happen, but to make the whole thing happen. I had tons of ideas, including video online. Does that mean I’m entitled to 1%? No, because I didn’t have the courage to quit my job and implement it; neither did I have the marketing smarts to sell it.
So…you’re saying teleporters exist?
Hey! I invented that too!!! [what do you call it?]
The above comment is not from me, it’s an imposter comment.
patent looser: Microsoft and other tech companies spent MILLIONS on video on the web but couldn’t make it happen. There are tons of failed cable/web/iptv projects. I knew this would be successful, but only if I had someone else start the company. Obviously if it took that long and I couldn’t even get close friends to invest in it, it wasn’t meant to be. But I tried to stay involved with the business side: I just don’t get compensated for it. I don’t hold any ill will toward Larry or Sergey — in fact, I wrote a book and dedicated it to them — and I really don’t go around hating anyone really — but it seems a bit unfair that people at the top screw other people to get there. It really isn’t a bad thing if he does pay me: what harm is there in it? There has to be a better way.
How is it all these crazy people come from the land we call america ?, must be a strange land that turns all these people crazy.
In this land we call america , no doubt some VC will hedge their bets and invest in this guy. Cant be any worse odds than what VCs invest in now both in the offline world and the online world.
Good luck crazy guy III ,
So what if YouTube was not successful?
If he had the idea why wasn’t he in the team that started the site..
I live in Pittsburgh. I “picked” Chad. Chad kinda ran with it from there. I was busy graduating at the time. Jawed also went back to school. They tried to keep him away — don’t let money change you! Unfortunately, it always gets icky when it comes to that sort of wealth.
I did consult with GM Interaction Designers while looking for a job — in fact, I had kept YouTube a secret to use at Google for my 20% but never got hired — and finally gave up.
I did not engineer the actual vehicle, but as a suggest I told them to make it smaller. My observation was that the number one complaint about Hummers was the size of the vehicle. A team of people developed the Hummer 3, and yes I did play a part.
Your tail of failure is really depressing dude.
Even if you did have the idea for youtube and the smaller hummer - it means nothing. You even admit to handing the idea over for free and expecting Chad to credit you later down the line out of good will. This is the real world and that doesn’t happen.
Next time you have a brain wave sell your idea, dont give it away - better still actually DO IT.
Obama won the President election because of my own ideas. I gave him ALL HIS IDEAS one day when he was near a coffee machine in Chicago. I also want to have a room to live in the Whitehouse !
This guy is a nut ball. Read his website, he claims to have invented and coined a bunch of stuff. He claims he invented the Hummer H3 too…yeah ok buds.
The Hummer H3! alright thats it call the asylum
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I had this same idea and called it Scroogle.com except I tried to do it for porn (not travel videos), and google send their one lawyer after me. So no I have one of the largest fusker sites.
What’s a milli when you got a billi anyway? If it really was his idea…
Someone should contact me and help me expand… lol.
Why did you run this blog post?
Ideas in and of themselves are, indeed, worth very little. Kawasaki says it best in his book: the best way to protect an idea is to create a great implementation. Execution rules. That much I’ll agree on.
I’m not sure why it’s pertinent however to publicly flame anyone for misunderestimating that point.
Because morons are flame-able…
Herbert wants a million dollars to become a doctor? For that much he can buy a hospital in India, doctors included.
Hospitals are multi-million dollar facilities. I don’t necessarily want to become a doctor: I want to innovate. Since I don’t have the money, it’s hard to make decisions about it. I’ll succeed whether or not Chad tries to help: with perseverance. My ideas are scalable, my brain is only as innovative as the freedom it is allowed. If I had $16M I would definitely invest $10M in creating my own company, and keep the rest for myself. $3M pays you about $50,000 a year in interest and that would be a happy ending to the need for work: then I could focus on some of my more ambitious goals, ones that are hard to fund. You can go to a VC with the greatest idea in the world, but they’re hard to convince and not that many ideas are successful. Remember, this is a world where medical research is shunned from most business endeavors, and websites like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are the “greatest inventions” (not fundamentally useful things like nanofabricated disease detection, space programs, etc — you know, the stuff that really matters).
Well I had a vision of this thing called the “Internet” in my dream. I want everyone that uses my idea of the Internet to give me money. That includes all sites, ISPs and all information contained on the Internet. And I’d like to be paid per word .05 cents per word printed on the Internet.
Thank you.
Come on Techcrunch…are u serious?
I’m pretty sure everyone had the idea for youtube… Just never seemed economically viable to most considering the bandwidth concerns
Probably a liar, but even with the tiniest chance of him speaking the truth, he doesn’t own the idea if he comes up with it and just does nothing with it….
Why would Techcruch even bother in covering this story?
Because its Sunday… and I wanted a chuckle.
I am amazed that TC covered this loser’s “story.” Yeah, and I had an idea for a new search engine founded on links in 1997 and called Sequoia about it too.
This guy is pathetic.
Hmph…If he was creative enough to think up the YouTube name and brand as well as some great UI ideas, why wasn’t he clever enough to register a domain?
In other words - puh-leeeeeeeze.
whats with these herbert guys inventing everything. well i invented google earth i want ten million to go to law school .
Why are my posts getting censored?
If I broke my NDAs right now and told you what projects I worked on for VC, it would be totally unprofessional, especially with my comment posting history on tech blogs the internet. Besides I’d get heavily sued.
BUT, I have a pretty interested work record as well to say the least. I just can’t make tapes like these people.
What do I think of these people?
I think they are talkers and not doers, and that they should probably get a job somewhere else.
As you know I am a programmer in SoCal now and I am building my new social software. Any good programmer in California can make a 6 figure or near 6 figure salary. And that being the case, they have no need to make these tapes.
6 figures is far enough for most people to live on. Even if your significant other doesn’t work.
“I’m not a millionaire”, well you should have gotten patents. I know I did.
Here is my message to the 3rd Googler:
Get a programming job in California, you’ll make a lot of money. Maybe you won’t be a multimillionaire overnight, but it’s more than 90% of people make. And shut up about it.
Yeah, I sent my idea to Sony for the PS4.
http://www.freepatentsonline.c.....98131.html
I’d LOVE to see this tech in the PS4
Yeah, Oracle has a submission
http://www.freshpatents.com/Sq.....177748.php
I’d LOVE to see this tech in a next iteration SQL server product
I have a provisional for search engine spelled checked results and a virtual driver for flash screencasting
I LOVE to see Google implement highlighted spelling and grammar errors in search results?
You know why? Because I spent some time and a few hundred bucks protecting my ass against THIS VERY THING.
Chris: I worked for IndexTools.com in San Diego. But, SoCal and I didn’t really mesh well. I was actually in a really bad situation there, I got bit by my landlord’s pit bull. It’s the Irish luck. I might try again in a few years, but I’m working on something now and I’m happy where I am. I love my hometown and want to bring it success. I’ve changed since the days of giving away my best ideas — maybe that will hurt me in the end, but Pittsburgh needs my help. Sometimes its just easier to let go and see where it takes you. My friends work out West: at Bungie, Rockstar San Diego, EA — a bunch of places. One of my friends from Boston is a multi-millionaire (who wouldn’t fund YouTube). It’s just where I’m at and what I’m doing, and I feel good doing what I’m doing now and I look forward to the next Big Thing.
Thank you for your story [??] But, who cares??? You must be very lonely… get one of those rubber dolls…
I’m partial to the purple alien blow-up doll. It has three breasts for $70!
If you do not understand that you are not in-touch with normal everyday people (eg, Joe The Plumber), then you may be certifiable. Go find a marketing/sales guy with tech understanding and develop something that makes money, because YouTube DOES NOT MAKE MONEY!!
“Pittsburgh needs my help”
No mate, you need help. You’re walking down crazy street.
Techcrunch still jumped the shark.
Of thousands of people sending emails to Techcrunch, how does his email catch TC editor’s attention?
“Of thousands of people sending emails to Techcrunch, how does his email catch TC editor’s attention?”
You’re assuming too much. Don’t ever assume. Know.
Mike is flying by the seat of his pants and has been for over 4 years now.
that is what call luck my friend , any micheal on 1998 i was truning to figure out how to turn my dad pc and techcrunch.com was on mind , but you get it first, so review my start up and we call it even ?
This man obviously suffers from mental illness. I think it’s pathetic and sad that TechCrunch would exploit and mock him.
He would do extremely well in Canada. Shoot, I can even see him becoming the prime minister.
Some people belong in socialist/mafia government settings and others don’t.
In Canada, the good hard working people would give him $1000 a month and health care for live at their toil and expense and he would never have to want again!
Thank god’s mercy I no longer live there.
typo, should read:
“In Canada, the good hard working people would give him $1000 a month and health care for life at their toil and expense and he would never have to want again!”
I’m glad I’m not one of those “good hard working people” any longer. I don’t believe that able bodied people constitute the “most vulnerable”, and I also don’t believe in the Italian Mafia running the govt. Canada was not for me.
I can see Herbert digging Canada though.
I’ve thought about moving to Vancouver. But, I’m happy here in the States for now. I don’t really believe in the “greener grass” cliche. It’s all the same, we all live under the same fiscal tyranny.
Hmmm
He wants to become a Doctor
Don’t you need to be smart to be a doctor - not s7u91d
Why they appear on the stage so late
lol I wonder if he actually called Brin…
I invented Techcrunch -> Michael give me $10Mio.!
Mike didn’t invent techcrunch. He was a founder at Edgeio, a classads company that lost 99.9% of it’s calue in 2 short years. You can read about it on wikipedia. I think Mike A joined techcrunch as an editor months after it started. He wrote the most articles so I think everybody just assumed it was his idea and his sole company.
Damn typing with your thumbs on the t-mobile google phone is hard. I bet Calcanis would be a wiz at this with his tiny hands.
wikipedia tech crunch>> Created by Michael Arrington
Doesn’t matter - give me $10Mio. anyway so that we can stop the Herb writing comments and become a doctor
No one remember the people who give idea, only people who execute the idea stay in history book.
btw…what are the main reasons behind youtube’s initial success? I remember thinking “its nice, but it doesn’t look too hard to make”.
And before I knew it, people were messaging youtube links all over the place…song videos, funny clips etc.
Was it the viral thingie that helped youtube? Will be useful to understand this, to help along other ideas in the future
being a myspace widget and i think the domain name helped its success. user generated videos was available online way before youtube.
Douglas N Adams: It was designed to be transferable (through embedded player, an idea that I said “borrowed” from PayPal’s banner/button). The link was very important: you needed a reliable, short link to use. Some websites have horribly long links that they produce with really long hashes, YouTube limited this. This was important and made it more shareable. It’s all viral marketing techniques. The ideas were out there. The new things were: the brand name, audio and video fingerprinting (or foot-print comparison), and DMCA automation. This, I thought, would keep the company out of a legal quandry and encourage adherence to copyright law, but it’s success proved to be through video piracy, rather than solely on user-generated content. Be honest with yourself: YouTube is a great way to keep up with cable television, not just see the “anybody” videos or Chris Crocker.
I didn’t write the above comment by “Herbert Elwood Gilliland III”.
This isn’t a one-liner I shared with Chad. I had a detailed execution, but you need money to start a company. $100k+$8M was YouTube’s venture capital.
In one way, I could use the money to enable other ideas I have. But don’t think I’m here to defraud you, or to cry over spilt milk, or libel anyone. I couldn’t keep it a secret after 6 and half years of hiding my great idea. It was like cheating you out of a great possibility.
The idea did have “echoes” in the business. In 2000, I distinctly remember a website called UTUBE.COM, which was basically my idea but with a “catchy” U-TUBE (back in the days of eEverything). The Dot Com bust sent that website to the WebWayBackMachine.
I’ve done other things “behind the scenes pro bono” such as coming up with the name for Windows Vista (which is proving to be a flop) and I subtly influenced Fallout 3, Mass Effect and SPORE. My friends work at top jobs in the industry, I just stick to my Mid-Western town and work at a hospital (for now). We’re always in a crunch for cancer research funding, there’s a great place to stick $16,000,000 if I got my hands on the 1% I feel I’m due, minus tax and tolls of course.
Is there an idea/product/service that you HAVEN’T had some input in?
Seriously, i think you should just ask for 1% of the entire wealth of the world, you’ve blatently earnt it.
“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”
This is a great comment, thanks.
Man, stop deluding yourself.
You cannot take credit for something “after the event”. If you were given the money, you may have well fked youtube up entirely - you are basing your arguments on “ifs and ands” - there is no way to tell. If they company was in $100 million debt - would you be claiming the same thing ? Definitely not.
If everyone had $16 million - everyone who reads any technology blog would “fulfill there dreams”. If you think your ideas are worth pursuing - do what every single other entrepreneur out there does - work 16 hour days in another job to get funding, then come home and work on your idea - and continue to do it until you launch.
“I subtly influenced Fallout 3, Mass Effect and SPORE” –> pfft? So what. Thats like saying “i thought of this idea to create a shooting game” - did you write the storyboard, graphics, engineering, marketing, expansion, server infrastructure and so on ? If the answer is no then STFU.
Seriously, stop trying the “claim for fame” for dollars. It reflects badly on you and any chance that you will have to start a successful company. People dont like people who come out after the fact.
Make your own name - dont try and feed of someone elses.
Your response, Tcruncher2, is misplaced. You assume I’m lying, which I’m not. Be skeptical, but you’ll be misinformed if you take Google PR or Chad Hurley at face value, I assure you. Do your research: read about the Synthetic Interview project. Talk to Don Marinelli, or Jimmy Matthews at MTV Networks, or my friend Ziva Borlja. They all knew about this idea as far back as 1999.
How about, rather than us all ringing them individually to get their side - you ask them to post a blog post backing up your claims. Its the least they could do for a friend?
Stop asking us to prove your claims, prove them yourself.
Is this for real?
Herb - your comments on this page suggest lunacy mixed with fantasy - a dangerous combination. I’m scared.
London Boy: You must scare easy then? Feel a little queasy when your bubble of safety is challenged? I did this for you: I wanted you to succeed. In return, I asked for 1% if it was successful. And I didn’t even ask that of YOU. I’m here to help the world, even if it throws crap in my direction.
“I’m here to help the world, even if it throws crap in my direction” Too late, you are already swimming in crap….
Please “help the world” –get lost, *really* get lost..
I don’t think “getting lost” is going to help the world, EH. Try to walk in my shoes for a while and decide what you’d do.
Sorry, I’ll have to pass - I never wear lunatic’s stinky shoes
So, did you talk to them about your great idea the day before your law professor spoke on a subject called, “CONTRACT LAW”?
Have you just claimed 1% of London Boys ideas now?
You are unreal, i think i love you.
There were many “YouTube’s” way back in 1999-2002 timeframe: CastUp, PopCost, VideoShare, SpotLife come to mind.
They were all basically submitting videos, transcode to streaming format (back then it was either Windows Media or Real), then a number of means to share the video. Even video embeds were possible but one had to use Windows Media Player.
YouTube didn’t invent this space - they were just able to achieve scale. This is no small matter, so they do deserve their due.
Okay, well.. I’ve been bottling this up for a while now but, I invented Techcrunch. I came up with the idea for this site and Michael Arrington who I thought was my friend developed it first. You might say he stole it actually. Since then I haven’t had much luck founding a website that makes a decent profit and I’m struggling.
Not a day goes by I don’t curse thee name of Michael Arrington. Sometimes before I sleep I weep as I say the words “Damn you Michael, damn you to hell for taking my idea and making me suffer like this.”
What do I want? Just give me $1 million Michael, just one measly million so that I can become a certified technology evangelist (I’m sure there is an appropriate college course for something like that), and then rise from the ashes and start my own tech blog called “???????????.com”. I haven’t got a name, but I promise you all it will be the one stop tech website and I’ll only charge $10,000 per month to advertise on it, so I’m practically giving away advertising on this site when it goes up.
Remember when we were friends and I lent you that $15 for that delicious pizza because you had no money? Because I do Michael, I’ve never forgotten that day.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going on over to Wordpress.org. Yet another invention that was taken from my witty, smart, intelligent and attractive mind.
Dwayne.
http://probablysucks.com
I think the Youtube founders know very damn well if they got the idea from Herb and should act with the humane thing to do. Pay him a certain sum of money and be done with it. No percentage of revenue, that’s ridiculous after the effort that has gone into it. But certainly they can negatiate an amount. If he’s lying (and they know that too) they’ll ignore him.
A wise lesson is, if you have a tremendous idea, don’t share it with a ‘wealthy individual’. Share it with the bank, get the loan, and do it yourself. Otherwise keep your mouth shut until you can.
christ, what is this? a slow news day?
Interesting, new slang for being bs’ed =herberted
Sad on both parts—-if it is even him.
Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know everything has been fixed. Just got off the phone with Chad and he told me to f*#K off, so yeah I guess its over. Thanks for the support.
This is an imposter comment.
You guys are idiots.
“I’ve done other things “behind the scenes pro bono” such as coming up with the name for Windows Vista (which is proving to be a flop) and I subtly influenced Fallout 3, Mass Effect and SPORE. My friends work at top jobs in the industry, I just stick to my Mid-Western town and work at a hospital (for now).”
This gave it away and you still continued to ask if it was him???
The 3rd Googler is legit I think. I’m not sure about this one. Herbert REALLY needs to get out of America and live in a socialist country.
When Herbert was a just baby, he mouthed the words “Mouseeee, Cheeeeesee” at a bus stop in Des Moines where Atari founder Nolan Bushnell overheard him and opened the first Chuckee Cheese location and eventually got millions of kids addicted to video games throughout the 80s.
It’s along the lines of this type of thing.
No Chris, you are an idiot.
(by letting you know this i now own 1% of any of your future successes)
hey, do you know a Chris from a company called….Beerco Software?
Is today April 1st?