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Last.fm founders quit
- Jem 17y agoI am not normally a conspiracy theorist, but the first thing that crossed my mind was the whole crappy drama with techcrunch. Have the founders discovered that there was a data leak - and, given their opinions on the matter - decided it better to quit than work with whoever made it happen? I hope not (edit: because I was rooting for last.fm, not because I want it to be true).
- dsingleton 17y agoI would say given the constraints on founders being tied to their companies, the turnaround for leaving is far greater than the length of the TC debacle. (I work here, and have had no indication that the TC allegations are true)
- Jem 17y agoThanks for the insight :) (partic. about founder constraints - no experience in that myself!)
- physcab 17y agoI agree. It's certainly a convenient time to leave the company.
- nikblack 17y agoall 3 founders leave at the same time, only two years after being acquired? there is more to this than simply leaving to do other things. founders of sites like last.fm don't just let their babies go so easily, acquisition or not (think myspace, facebook, bebo, etc.) I would say that it is connected to the RIAA drama and CBS sending them user info. If they resigned because of that, then full props to them (they just owe TC one big apology). If the data sharing with the RIAA did happen and they didn't resign - then shame on them.
- Jem 17y agoI don't think all 3 leaving at the same time means anything. One would assume that they're probably great friends, and feel that their combined effort in a new project (when the time comes) is better than 1 or 2 going separate ways. That's how I see it, anyway.
- nikblack 17y agoso if I end up being right about it being related to the RIAA data, do I get voted back up?
- ivankirigin 17y agoI wonder if they are essentially saying "since our stock is finished vesting over the last 2 years..." They might have wanted to leave for some time. edit: It's really close to the exact 2 year mark http://www.crunchbase.com/company/last-fm http://www.crunchbase.com/company/last-fm
- pchristensen 17y agoDidn't pg just say that being in a startup is like being repeatedly punched in the face, but being in a big company is like being waterboarded?
- ivankirigin 17y agoI think that was in the context of leaving a big company to start a startup. Joining a big company after your startup is acquired is a bit different dynamic. Maybe it can be likened to opium. I've never tried opium, nor sold a company. But it must feel good, with obviously bad and brewing side effects.
- pchristensen 17y agoAt least from the Inc article it was in context of working at Yahoo after getting bought.
- _pius 17y agoha! where'd he say that? I'd like to see that in context. :)
- pchristensen 17y agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=646861 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=646861
- maukdaddy 17y ago2 years...about the right time for bonus, retention payments, options, etc. to vest.
- axod 17y ago2 years seems a good average length to endure big-corp life. Wonder if there's some more data on this somewhere.
- jack7890 17y agoWould be nearly impossible to analyze because so much is dependent on (private) vesting terms
- mapleoin 17y agoIn an open world, http://libre.fm http://libre.fm shows promise.
- mapleoin 17y agoguys? what did I say? Was this so off-topic? I was only suggesting an alternative...
- dsingleton 17y agoIt's getting a bit trite that every time Last.fm is mentioned (in good or bad light) that someone mentions libre.fm. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice project, but it's as annoying as constantly plugging your startups alternative to a popular service, the fact it's open-source doesn't dull that.
- mapleoin 17y agothanks! I didn't know libre.fm was so well-known around here.
- blasdel 17y ago...like a freetard suggesting GIMP to windows users.
- TrevorJ 17y agoI don't think there should be undue stigma or speculation when founders move on. The type of person who can cast a vision that brings a company to this point isn't always (or rarely is) the same person who will thrive on the task of maintaining a company once it reaches, or nearly reaches the founder's original vision for it. There is nothing wrong with finding the most opportune moment to bow out, provided you aren't screwing over anyone else.
- gamache 17y agoThere's plenty of fuel for speculation in this particular case! There is the open question of whether Last.fm/CBS handed user data to the RIAA (covered at http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/22/deny-this-lastfm/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/22/deny-this-lastfm/). Fast forward a month from that article (which alleges the CBS overlords did it unilaterally, then asked Last.fm to lie about it), and all three founders are looking to cash out ASAP. Conveniently, this is the two year point of the acquisition, which is likely the end of the vesting/retention period for the founders. That is due speculation.
- TrevorJ 17y agoThe first part is worthy of some speculation, I agree. However, the second is just a matter of course. It only makes sense to wait till you have fulfilled your contract obligations and can cash out. There's little wrong with that that I can see.
- tptacek 17y agoIs there really an open question about it? There's TechCrunch with an anonymous source making a claim they've already had to walk back, and haven't posted any formal retraction of. Then there's Last.fm and CBS categorically denying the claim, signing people's actual names to the denials.
- abossy 17y agoThere's clear evidence that a leader that founded the company with a clear guiding vision is irreplaceable. The large companies that have survived for 15+ years; Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon come to mind; are those that are most successful even upon maturity.
- pedalpete 17y agothe reason i would read more into this than just 'it's time to move on' is when all 3 founders leave at the same time. or is that more common than i would suspect?
- danw 17y ago7 years is a long time to have spent working on a single company.
- omfut 17y agoI guess sometimes it takes that long to be successful. Though, last.fm was successful earlier than expected
- abossy 17y agoThat's why you should start something that you really believe in. :) Start-ups aren't a get-rich-quick scheme -- it just happens that the market desperately needs some product or good that leads a select few company to explosive growth, which the media then focuses on.
- Dauntless 17y agoWell, if they all left at the same time, I really hope they are working on something new. It's interesting that Felix, RJ and Martin were actually the original team (I thought at first that they were just part of the original team): http://www.last.fm/about/team http://www.last.fm/about/team so I'm looking forward to see a new startup from them.
- messel 17y agoAs a founder when (if ever) do you pass over control of a business you started? That's a hard question to answer. Obviously it depends on what your goals were initially (build something, make some cash) and whether or not you've met them. After building and selling a business what do you do next? Build another business and sell it? Or perhaps build a business, and keep on building it for the rest of your working days? Is that what twitter is up to? EV sold blogger a while back.