People are urging Philip Kaplan to restart his FuckedCompany site that gathered so much attention earlier this decade. Clone sites are popping up to fill the void during this down market, and people sort of see the world of dead and dying startups as Kaplan’s territory.
He strongly considered re-starting the site and even had a former Valleywag writer lined up to do the hard work. But on second thought, he said, that era is dead for him. He’s going to focus on the positive instead.
Thus the beginning of his newest service, Kaplan Index, which he tells me will launch in the next few weeks. The site is quiet on what exactly the service will do, but does say “Get recognized for your skills in 2009,” which tells me it’s got something to do with finding people a job.
Like LinkedIn, but pretentious.
Sounds like a Blogebrity + Linked In concept to me
He owes money to 100s of AdBrite users, now he has the money to start another company? Is there no scrutiny for such people.
I don’t know what deal was struck, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Adbrite users are owed money by FC as a company, and not by Kaplan as an individual.
When you do business with a company, you are taking a risk that the company may go out of business. So that money may be lost for good.
Whether Kaplan has the money as an individual, or starts another business, is totally irrelevant. That’s the same (legally) as me starting another business – I have as much obligation to pay them as Kaplan does (i.e. no obligation).
Of course the courts can help you sort that stuff out.
Exactly.
Hmmm, I use AdBrite for my advertising and never had trouble getting my checks in the mail, in fact I just recently got one.
*shrug*
heh….Mike said the F word
a human resource rating system like fico?
selfpromotion can only go so far and is easily gamed.
WorkLocator.com – sweat equity
hey, locator guy,
can you please get the fuck out from techcrunch with your locators, please?
“selfpromotion can only go so far and is easily gamed.”
Speaking from personal experience much?
I still want to know when we’re going to get SpamLocator.com.
Who are you??
You almost have to give him credit for his dedication alone. I mean, can you imagine what this guy could accomplish if he actually put his time to good use instead of spamming TC comments with links to bunk websites?
Really, his only failing is the inability to realize he just has a really bad idea. Someone should just give this guy a good idea and see what he does with it.
TechCrunch Has Acquired FuckedCompany.com
by Michael Arrington on March 31, 2007.
http://www.tech...ckedcompanycom/
Can you make it clear, did you aquire FuckedCompany last year or what !
Read the link you sent! (duh)
Update (April 2, 2007): For those of you still sending in emails pleading with me not to stop writing about startups – this was an April Fools joke. I do not in fact believe that there “just isn’t anything left to invent.” Thank you.
Hehe and LOOOL. Bob I think I read this, but seems you are not understanding the context of this Update, it was talking about another previous post, it has nothing to do with FuckedCompany issuee.
I get that it was nothing but an April’s fool’s joke.
sorry to disturb you mike, Breaking news.
http://digg.com...Chinese_hackers
Give t3chScr3amer credit
Just so nobody is confused, credit for reporting it, not for the javascript injection attack. I would never waste my time on something as trivial as that.
Silicon Valley is sooo fucked. Shit companies rule now.
Speaking of failed companies, there’s an ode to dead magazines at http://www.yout...h?v=EjlvYOmXLc8 .
Kaplan, you have an incomparable , unpredictible style.
Anything from Pud is always provocative, sometimes nerve wrackingly interesting… I’m eagerly looking forward to it.
However, the name “KaplanIndex” just doesn’t have that unique ring to it. It sounds more like an extension operation of Kaplan (http://www.kaplan.com).
It would served best to use the name “Pud” (pud.com) for this service instead of KaplanIndex.
What clone websites have been popping up to fill the void of f*ckedcompany?
-s
What void?
Interesting, how many companies are built around just one site… Is it the majority or the minority?
I have my company, built a web site (that is fucked now – it just didn’t take off) and am working on another site that will belong to the company I own. In my case, it’s the fucked web site, but the company is ok…
When did this guy leave Adbrite?
Focus on the positive??? That’s a real change of thinking.
Kaplan Index is just the answer to the question who the best person with x skills is. It’ll be a user generated content site with a give to have access to the database of people ala jigsaw.
So we’ll know who the best biz dev people are, who the best accountants are, product managers etc etc
I don’t find any fun in this f*** company
very nice
i like
— not
GET BACK TO WORK, PUD!
It seems like the perfect time to launch FuckedCompany again – its the one blog that could really do well when everyone else is struggling
Totally the right time… I doubt this ‘job board’ or whatever he plans to launch will be worthwhile… There are already services out there which do the job well.
It is a shame Adbrite went out of business. Philip was nice he used to let me sit on his lap when the modems were broken.
They also have wireless, which is bragable.
I launched Startupfailures a couple of weeks before Pud launched Fuckedcompany back in 2000. My site was and still is “the place for bouncing back”. I focus on how to bounce back, lessons learned and if a company failed, why it failed and what can be learned.
He certainly got a lot more eyeballs than I did. People just find it more entertaining to look at a train wreck. Plain and simple. People asked me to focus on the failures. I just didn’t see the value. Interestingly, my site gained quite a bit of traction in Europe and Asia because failure has such a stigma in those cultures.
I relaunched the site a few weeks ago with the ability for anyone to easily add new stories and vote for favorites, etc. Will be interesting to see if it gains any traction this time around. Back in 2000 there weren’t blogs, etc.
If it helps one person bounce back more quickly it will be worth the effort.
Here’s to a great 2009! Innovation thrives during downturns. Don’t forget it!!!
Cool.
like visualcv.com and codemunch.com ?
and with little help from Mike
He’s an asshole, FC was an asshole site, and the world as a whole is better off without him. Any new venture of his will fail as it well should and he’ll be ground down quickly by creditors. End of story.
Kaplan is one of the sharpest, fast thinking guys I’ve met in tech and a fountain of good ideas. I’m surprised to read so many criticisms here but maybe he’s not good at the biz side? Certainly would not be the first time for that combo. I’m looking forward to his latest idea – he is a fountain of online creativity.
LOL… didn’t Adbrite just lay off 40% of their staff? Does Michael Moritz know about this? If i remember clearly Adbrite had $34M in total for Series A-C?
Comeon, restructure Adbrite if you are serious about making it work Philip.
He owes money to 100s of AdBrite users, now he has the money to start another company? Is there no scrutiny for such people.
and then we wonder why some companies are f**ked up..