After two weeks of drama, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, is now officially out at the popular tech blog, and he’s no longer an AOL employee.
—
After word leaked that Arrington was out at TechCrunch, Arrington issued an ultimatum to AOL stating that he would leave if the company didn’t sell the blog back to him or let him keep his job as co-editor.
With Arrington out, questions now remain over how that will or won’t affect TechCrunch’s roster of reporters, some of whom have stated they’d leave if Arrington leaves.
I feel Michael’s pain.
The other day, during the talk back time at WordCampLA, someone asked me about why I named McLane Creative after myself instead of something else.
It was a good and fair question.
My response, “In 2008 I sold my first company to a large conglomerate. I thought that was my dream. I got a nice pay day but it also broke my heart. So when I started McLane Creative I figured that if I named it after myself I couldn’t sell it.”
As an entrepreneur, I know that the dream for many of my fellow entrepreneurs is to start small and grow your business for the big pay day. It’s a noble goal that will drive you in the wee hours of the morning to work that extra hour.
My only warning to those people is that the dream isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. It’s hard to grow something from infancy, love it, poor your soul into it… then go through a process of selling it where you are commoditized and sold to investors. And there’s nothing like going back to an employee when you’ve been the CEO.
For Michael Arrington that transition wasn’t possible. And he learned the hard way… “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em. Know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away. And know when to run.”
Godspeed Micael. I’m sure you’ll disrupt wherever you go.
Pingback: Hold onto your dream!