Editor’s note: The following guest post is written by Angela Benton, founder and Publisher of Black Web 2.0, where it originally appeared.
While working on a follow-up story to the Global Grind celebrity mass that they currently perpetrate as content I came across something much more interesting. The CEO of the company Navarrow Wright is no longer listed on the company About Us page suggesting that Wright and the company have parted ways. A cached version of the page from March 17th at 6:28pm still lists him as CEO so the split was more than likely the result of internal disagreement and definitely abrupt.
This is no surprise especially if you take a look at the direction of the product since Russell Simmons has become more involved in his new role as Editor-in-Chief, which said simply means Simmons leveraging his celeb contacts for content. In most cases to the detriment of the product. My bet is the 2, Wright and Simmons, couldn’t see eye to eye on the direction of the product and what it actually is. I’m calling this more than a hunch since it was clear there was tension between the 2 when they were featured in a video while at NPR studios for an interview in November of last year:
Russell’s need to constantly over talk the CEO and wrongly correct what the product is a number of times is more than enough to prove the working relationship of the 2 wasn’t the best. The bigger question though is now that Wright seems to be out what will Global Grind become? Is it on its way to the deadpool, and will ACCEL lose their $4.5 million investment with media mogul Russell Simmons running this web start-up? Or does Simmons have it in him to rise to the occasion and save the faltering property?
Update: Wright’s LinkedIn profile has been updated to show that his CEO and president postions are no longer current.
Is this a credible story or just musings while google cache surfing? Doesn’t seem to be any credible news story here besides “google cache has changed.” Otherwise, the November video has been up long enough to make the same sentiment that Russell is a pushy dude. And?
They have been over. They clearly got the investment because of Russell Simmons. They went from wanting to be a “digg” for Hip-Hop to the “Huffington Post” for Black America and they have a Ad network with sites that get WAY more traffic than they do- basically a joke.
Now Russell’s plan is to get all his celeb friends and post their unedited jibberish to drive traffic. On top of that they scrub content – people are really not “grinding” their content.
They have less than 100K unique visitors and they have been online for about two years. They are a terrible example and now this BIG FAILURE may mess up other businesses targeted at African Americans/Blacks from getting their feet in the door of a VC.
And…I don’t feel bad for ACCEL because they constantly look over other businesses of color that are actually “acceling” and go for the hype and not a solid business plan.
I hate it when people use made up jargon, what is “scrub” and “grinding” content??
Guess the above person isn’t in the IT business where Managers “Scrub” Tickets. In other words monitor, approve and or edit…Wow, we are so eager to hate…oops was that “Jargon” I just used?
Anthony – actually I am stating facts…it seems like you are eager to kiss up. I guess you are one of their editors huh? It seems like IT people should know the term – it is mentioned a couple times below – guess I don’t get your “tech” jargon sweetie.
Agreed, it’s a shame.
Unfortunately, “grinding” is what they call it when someone submits content to their site – please address issue with them and not me – sorry.
As for “scrub” – again this is a term used when someone is taking content from other websites and claiming they actually submitted it – and it’s done with our their knowledge and permission.
Additionally, whose to say their About Us page is accurate? They can’t get their business model together, I wouldn’t be surprised if the About Us page is incorrect. For example, they hired Kim Osorio as VP of Content last summer but her name isn’t on the cached version or the current version of the About Us page.
Thanks for commenting Mike. The story is credible, I don’t sit around surfing Google Cache all day. Also not making the argument that Russell is pushy, making that argument that Navarrow is gone which is also true from a very credible source. Also Kim’s bio was never on the about us page even when she was hired so it makes no sense that it would be there now especially since she is no longer there as well. This is why Russell is EIC, I am sure you know Kim for her content, would be a bit redundant to have her AND Russell leading content. Thanks for the comment!
Excellent.
Where are all the hypocrites Indians now? Is African-American IT entrepreneurs *not* IT entrepreneurs?
I know! Indian asses look down on us, black Americans…. S***w them all!
Sorry, “Are”
watching that NPR video was really funny. Simmons cuts off Navarrow at every sentence, he obviously thinks super highly of his own opinions. seems very rude.
Wait a minute….Kim Osorio has left GlobalGrind less than a year after she joined?! Angela, what’s the word on the street about this?
Navarrow’s LinkedIn page lists CEo of Global Grind as his former position. It would have been great if Angela reached out to Wright or Global Grind about this story.
Thanks, I did.
There are other hip hop networks that are doing very well without venture capital or celeb money. Could u pls write about them from time to time instead of constantly focusing on those that failed ????
Hi Saliman, we do over at Black Web 2.0. If you get a chance check us out from time to time, you can also just do a quick search for “Hip hop” and lots of content will come up, I’ve included the link already above. If you know of anyone we are not covering feel free to email us at: tips(at)blackweb20(dot)com
Should have checked your site before
Well done.
(In his Kanye West voice): VC’s don’t care about black people. On a more serious note, Web 2.0 would have never taken off if there was some kind of rockstar impresario behind the twitters and the facebooks of the world. Is that the only way african american web-trepreneurs can get funding from vc’s like Accel–is to be affiliated with hip-hop somehow? Wiggity-wack!
to Jonathan -> I believe that globalgrind defined themselves as a hip hop network at some point (unless they changed their positioning again). Therefore it makes sense that Simmons associates w/ the site. Now it doesn’t mean that african american web entrepreneurs have to come up w/ a hip hop related idea….by the way hip hop doesn’t belong to any race. One of the greatest golfers of all time is black while the king of rock n roll and blues was white…same for hip hop.
I hear you saliman. I guess my chagrin, though somewhat misdirected, has to do with the fact that everytime I hear web 2.0 and african-american in the same breath, it’s somehow hip-hop related. Would be cool to see some of us blaze trails outside those circles. If you can name me two web 2.0 companies led by african americans that are non-hip-hop related, have succesfully raised funding and are in the spotlight then I rest my case.
Many raise funding, it is not necessarily VC funding though, most I have spoken with have angle investors. Many are listed here:
http://www.blac...tegory/startups
But just for reference in this discussion some are:
CyberSynchs (Mobile)
AlphaPMS
CollectiveX
Clutch Magazine
Honey Magazine
OfficeHax
Yoonew
40Billion
There are many more outside of the list above.
I replied w/ a list of start-ups unrelated to hip-hop, I think it is being held for moderation because of the links in it. Short answer though there are many, most get angel funding though and not VC. Hopefully they will approve it soon.
I run a web 2.0 property – BlackBottom.com (a Black video sharing social network) and it’s performed very well. Primary focus is general interest African-American/Black entertainment (not hip-hop oriented as most everything else tends to be). I’ve stuck to the fundamentals/basics; no outside funding (bootstrapped – profitable 6 mos. in).
I am black and I run TheResumator.com. It’s an HR management system for small businesses. We have been invested in by Innovation Works.
i was really confused by the word ‘two’ spelled with the number 2 everywhere.
Poorly written piece, all around. Sounds like author has more info but failed to say she has more info and a credible source in the actual piece.
*yawn*
If you google who she is, find her site, then recently look at her SXSW panel, it’s pretty easy to connect the dots and tell that this story is very credible.
Do some homework.
I’m sorry I don’t have the time to stalk weak writers to figure out if their stories are true. Clearly you do. Thanks for the info?
Hi Fredric, while I agree JC should do some homework on all the coverage we have done on Global Grind at Black Web 2.0 the fact that Navarrow was on my panel has nothing to do with who I got the info from. Since the sites launch I have been able to correspond with atleast 5 sources from their team. Some of whom are still there, and some of whom who are not. Close but no cigar
Thanks for the feedback JC
Lol @JC
For those lazy like JC, she was on a panel with Navarrow Wright at SXSW called ‘How to Be a Digital Urbanite’ and I’m sure she got an inside scoop on what was really good.
Mad corny JC. Mad corny.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think content from Aubrey O’Day is going to save that site.
This is a Gutter product as far as I see it. Should never have been launched. None the less the current site is a far cry from the BS one that was first launched.
Of course that $4 mil. investment is gone and they still don’t have a rock solid product or a really strong community to back up the site and keep it flowing.
Is this company up for the death watch? They need a real and solid vision to make this work.
I totally agree. Flip-flopping from one content model to another isn’t showing any sort of behind-the-scenes stability as to what they’re actually doing. At the rate they scrub content, they’ll end up being a blog aggregator by mid-summer.
Someone who really “gets” the net and how all this stuff works needs to be hired by their team and give them a real vision. Is their ad network making them any money?
This is a perfect example of how much a joke Global Grind is: http://globalgr...a-its-official/
That article is on their front page!
Now, read what the author has to say about Mya. How is this breaking news that reaches out to Hip-Hop? I thought this site was about the issues…
First, it wanted to be Digg, then like MediaTakeout and now…what the hell is it?
Russ, stick with what you know. The Internet is not for you. After looking at that NPR interview, I couldn’t help but thing that Russ sounds like a client that knows NOTHING about the web, yet they want a YouTube/FaceBook/Google News App….all for $5000!
If you design websites, you know exactly what i mean. A ton of dreams, but no real meaning.
Another one bites the dust.
Global Grind was doomed from the start.
From the gate, it was exactly like Digg. Now, I think it’s more like MediaTakeOut (dont believe me? Check out the story on Mya).
Russell Simmons needs to narrow his focus and stop trying his hand at so many ventures.
That interview with NPR is a perfect example of how Russ needs to let the people do their jobs!
From the gate it was actually like Netvibes, a startpage model. Then Digg, a social news model. Then the hip hop huffpo, as Russell calls it.
Nice post! Check out my site too at http://macmaniapodcast.com.
Good scoop Angela. And yeah GlobalGrind is scrubbing content, submissions cannot get to the front pages anymore unless a GG moderator/editor puts it there, no matter how many votes it has.
I respect the fact that GG needs to try different models because none have been successful yet. But I’m bitter they still promote the site as being community-driven a la Digg. Hip hop influences have always been grassroots and ground up. Self-appointed censors will stunt community not encourage it, IMO.
Update: I contacted the PR email for Global Grind yesterday, the email bounced back.
I reached out to Navarrow personally, naturally he has been unreachable.
I got this email from someone on staff earlier, check the original post here for screenshot:
http://www.blac...3/gg-source.jpg
We just need to let GlobalGrind die. They don’t get it. Probably never will. I’m just going to continue reading Concrete Loop. lol…
very nice site，hope for your Click
I’d love to take a look at the business plan that convinced ACCEL to invest in this global grind thing.
Don’t know who led the investment at Accel but they might have already packed their belongings and left the office. How can any LPs approve a $4.5M investment in GG??????
You are SO not the only! The hundreds of site out there that deserve funding and they don’t pay them no mind – can’t even get an intro meeting. As someone stated below – they only want to invest in Black venture it Hip-Hop or a celeb is involved. So sad – someday soon tables will turn.
Its a wrap. This is the sequel to hiphop360 without the golden parachute happy ending they got when they sold it to BET. We agree with Lauren…GG just made getting access to VC money that much harder for those that need/want it.