Comments on: John Battelle Starts Searching For His Replacement At FM Publishing

By: Digg Nabs Federated Media’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chas Edwards | Stoth

Digg Nabs Federated Media’s Chief Revenue Officer, Chas Edwards | Stoth — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:46:00 +0000

[...] big blow for Federated Media. Founder and CEO John Battelle recently announced that he’ll be looking for a replacement to run the company, although he’ll remain active with the [...]

By: Digg Nabs Federated Media’s Top Revenue Officer, Chas Edwards

Digg Nabs Federated Media’s Top Revenue Officer, Chas Edwards — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:05:40 +0000

[...] big blow for Federated Media. Founder and CEO John Battelle recently announced that he’ll be looking for a replacement to run the company, although he’ll remain active with the [...]

By: Will

Will — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:13:54 +0000

“If you want rigorously checked and reported facts you better read the FT, NYT and other major newspapers and magazines.”

That’s true. No one rigorously checked the facts of a story like Jason Blair. Let’s trust the mainstream print media to its last breath, which is hopefully coming very soon.

By: Hmm

Hmm — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:44:29 +0000

Kent is a top guy! Focused and down to earth…the anti-Battelle even.

By: stefan

stefan — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:10:14 +0000

heard Kent Lindstrom of Ooga Labs is in the running as Lindstrom is a proven exec and early investor in Kidlandia which is a new company Batelle likes

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:59:30 +0000

3/4 of CEOs of venture-backed companies are replaced. Raise $50M and voila, your company is no longer yours.

By: Ccgs

Ccgs — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:12:48 +0000

Erick was not only presumptuous but very contentious. No need to appologize to him, his actions are very unprofessional, and he is exposing himself as the hack fraud which he truely is. TC is taking a hit on their credibility and integrity every time he publishes a post.

By: AndreaF

AndreaF — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:16:53 +0000

The details of this story are a bit unclear and it’s not the first time this happens on TC.
While on one side is disappinting that TC and some of the other blogs cannot get their stories properly verified and correct, it is also true that perhaps this is not their role and this is why they are and can be free for users.
If you want rigorously checked and reported facts you better read the FT, NYT and other major newspapers and magazines.
This is not criticism to blogs but in my view this demonstrates the importnance of proper newspapers and that there is space for all. So let’s hope the papers find a viable business model and survive this phase.
And let’s use blogs to read news and rumours first without getting to hung up on some not completely accurate details.

By: preetam mukherjee

preetam mukherjee — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:05:52 +0000

Erick,

We might be getting lost over semantics here.

I do know where you’re coming from, so I’m not trying to be argumentative- sometimes you DO need to step DOWN in order to step away..eg. Bill Gates at Microsoft.

However, you’re being rigid in your assessment of corporate governance.
In this case, john has clearly conveyed that he’s looking an “additional leader”, to handle the day to day operations of the business..while he moves on to crafting a new strategy/direction for FM.

And that, to me, sounds like a beautiful case study in next generation change management. By “spinning” it your way, you’re portraying this in a negative light, when, in fact, it could be an extremely positive thing.

My apologies to you for my tone earlier- I was guilty of being rude and presumptuous as well. Often, we forget to look at the mirror before pointing fingers.

By: Red Head Fred

Red Head Fred — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:32:54 +0000

What about placing the blame on the investors themselves. “Hmmm…no one wanted to buy this company, so let’s…give it 50 million! That way it’s valuation will now be so high that it will never be sold! Good idea, Bob!”

Dumbasses. In my silicon valley day, when investors gave me money, I gave them a return so high it made them jump to moon. I’m Read Head Fred, don’t you know my name?

By: Travis

Travis — Sat, 16 May 2009 04:15:38 +0000

Battelle once wrote that he finds the prospect of making ” lots and lots of money . . . uninteresting,”

Yea right…how much did he take off the table and into his own pocket during their last round of financing. anyone with even the slightest bit of knowledge of that round can tell you he pocketed many millions.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:37:36 +0000

What a stupid company. I bet it will be hard for them to find a replacement.

By: MS Giegler

MS Giegler — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:07:39 +0000

Hi. I’m MS Giegler.

By: cliff

cliff — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:44:16 +0000

Facebook User might be great at “taking money form the strongest of men” (from his linkedin http://www.link...m/pub/0/435/20a) but he fails at talking shit anonymously online.

By: Samir Arora

Samir Arora — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:53:49 +0000

So long John!

By: John Blossom

John Blossom — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:02:55 +0000

Sorry, Erick, but this article seems like snarkiness for snarkiness’ sake. Fine for Valleywag, perhaps, but on TC it looks like an excuse for ad bait.

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:30:11 +0000

I wonder if people know that when you use Facebook Connect others can link and see who the “Facebook User” actually is…

By: David Haddad

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:08:15 +0000

By: jenkins

jenkins — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:50:18 +0000

People that run companies that are doing well do not step down. People that are running companies that are not doing well do step down.

Does anyone want to guess what is happening at FM? Does anyone want to guess what the investors think about this? Does anyone think John was pushed to resign?

My guess is that the numbers that were given to the investors have been missed badly. Some of the blame should rest on the shoulders of an awful economy while some has to rest on the shoulders of the CEO for not protecting the business from a severe downturn.

By: Wayne Lambright

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:11:18 +0000

John, if you’re looking for a replacement, just look for a monster ASSHOLE hypocrite. You’re replacement will never be the ASS you were, but with coaching they could be.

By: Erick Schonfeld

Erick Schonfeld — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:10:19 +0000

When you are at the peak of an organization, you can’t step away without stepping down. Or do I need to draw you a diagram? /\

By: thomas

thomas — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:56:03 +0000

my guess is this thread will fill up with envious site owners who make ten bucks a month on adsense + the usual TC vs. FM argy-bargy.

By: I'll take the job

I'll take the job — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:52:28 +0000

Oops I forgot to post my name…

By: I'll take the job

I'll take the job — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:51:31 +0000

John, I volunteer for the job…

By: preetam mukherjee

preetam mukherjee — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:47:09 +0000

Erick,

You can spin it any way you want, but it sounds to me like John is stepping AWAY, not down.

There’s operations and execution, and then there’s growth and change management. It’s pretty clear from John’s post that he’s moving away from the former to the latter.

Perhaps you should try getting some real-world startup experience before making rude, presumptuous statements.