This morning a big story broke in the tech community. Michael Arrington, founder of the tech news giant TechCrunch, posted an article titled, “Some Things Need to Change.” In this article, Arrington laments the stress level of his job and his plan to take time off. He speaks of the verbal abuse he has to deal with on a daily basis. The last straw for Arrington? This week at a German tech conference someone spat in his face. So, why all the hate towards the man Time listed as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet?
Arrington says what he wants when he wants. Why can he do this? Because he has no allies. He is feared because he is the gatekeeper. Millions of readers hang on his every endorsement. Upset him, and he can poison your business with a single article. Make him happy, and he can literally send your startup 100,000 users overnight. The success of TechCrunch is based on readership, not friendship. Millions of TechCrunch readers adopt his opinions regarding tech startups. That kind of influence is powerful when multimillion dollar acquisitions can hinge on a TechCrunch endorsement (or condemnation).
I saw this coming from a mile away. First read this quote, posted today on TechCrunch by Arrington.
“I can’t say my job is much fun any more. Startups that don’t get the coverage they want and competing journalists and bloggers tend to accuse us of the most ridiculous things. It hasn’t been worth our time to respond to these accusations; I always assumed that our work and integrity would speak for itself.”
First of all, I knew Michael Arrington wasn’t having fun anymore. You can just feel that vibe coming from the man. And what’s this about, “It hasn’t been worth our time to respond to these accusations”? I personally remember once such response, because it drew my attention to exactly why some people don’t care for Michael Arrington.
LeWeb 2008
First, Loic Le Meur, host of LeWeb 2008 in Paris, posted a blog asking the question, “Should Michael Arrington Be Invited Back At LeWeb Next Year?” Then came Arrington’s response, “Joie De Vivre: The Europeans Are Out To Lunch” And so began the feud.
I looked into it further and discover why Loic was upset with Arrington after LeWeb. It turns out Arrington was disrespectful on stage, called Loic a liar, and was generally negative towards not only the European tech scene, but also European culture. Notably, he went on a rant, in front of everyone, about how they spend too much time eating lunch and not enough time working. When Loic suggested American entrepreneurs are too robotic and don’t enjoy the finer things in life, Arrington replied with this sarcastic remark, mocking the European culture.
“Is it the two-hour lunches, the constant pleasantries, and all the wine drinking? Is that the reason Google, Yahoo, and eBay are all American companies? Any why Skype was sold to an American company? And why Europe constantly looks to the United States for leadership and technology? Look how many American speakers Loic brought to this conference to talk on this stage.”
While making a valid point, in my opinion this was not a wise way to support the tech scene in Europe. I’d go so far as to say it was counter-productive to the mission of LeWeb itself – to build the tech community and bridge gaps between unique tech scenes world-wide.
When Loic suggested that enjoying time with friends might be a joy in life that Silicon Valley might be missing, Arrington interrupted with, “You’d be surprised how much joy you get out of winning.”
Anyone who watched the video (below) can clearly see Arrington appears anything but joyful. Now in today’s TechCrunch post Arrington seems to be eating his words.
“I’ve decided the right thing to do is take some time off and get a better perspective on what I’m spending my life doing. I’ll be taking most of February off from writing, and decide what the best future for me is while sitting on a beach somewhere far away from my iPhone and laptop.”
Sounds like Arrington might be seeing things with Loic’s perspective now. I wonder if Loic is thinking, “You were out of balance. That’s what I was trying to warn you about all along, friend.” Maybe Loic and Arrington should sit down for a two-hour lunch, drink fine wine, and talk about the important things in life.
Be Aware
Let’s hear your comments. What do you think of Michael Arrington? What about the European tech scene versus the American tech scene? How important is work-life balance? What works for you?
A post like this is not meant as a call to action. It is a call to awareness. Post your comments below and then go treat yourself to a two-hour lunch and a glass of wine with a friend. (Just don’t tell your boss it was my idea!)
The LeWeb Video
It gets heated around the 14′ mark.
{ 8 comments }
Spot on, I agree with your conclusion about M. Arrington sliding towards the European way of doing business.
At the end of the day, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t be a machine. You can get close to that and even stay at that point for a while – but your flesh inevitably betrays you in one way or another.
It’s a lot easier to make yourself be a machine if you love what you’re doing – it’s called devotion. In this respect, I think the right question to ask here is ‘what does M. Arrington _really_ like to do’ – is it reviewing web startups, partying at TC parties, winning at the Game or spending time at the beach? I don’t think we got an honest answer from him yet.
Hey Drew;
Your observations and comments are right on. Dis-stress is a major dis-ease in North America and Europe …and not just among highly successful people likes those you mention in your post.
In my opinion, “work-life balance” is a media-created myth. It’s an impossible to attain life state on which writers pontificate without understanding dis-stress …either it’s common causes or it’s reasonable antidotes.
I teach that the only attainable reality in our supercharged, private and public lives in the West is work-life harmonization, not work-life balance. (And I’m not just splitting semantical hairs. The difference between these concepts is life-enhancing rather than life-frustrating. )
I also teach that a key to harmonization is “satisficing” .
Both work for me!
Blessings!
@GaryFPatton
Millions of TechCrunch readers adopt his opinions regarding tech startups.
No they don’t. At least half of the comments in his blog are negative. Which means that too many people disagree with his opinions.
Arrington can not have any fun out of this job cause he doesn’t understand technology. For him it’s just another job. There is no passion involved here. And certainly not the passion that thrives in the start-ups he’s covering.
Wish him well and good riddance
Thanks for the comments so far – I appreciate you taking the time to share in my thoughts on this blog. With each comment I see ways I could have written the post better to include your insights. Thank you for the inspiration to keep writing.
@Z-lot thats a great point you make about asking yourself what you truly love doing. I think it ties in perfectly with @Gary Patton’s brilliant idea of “work-life harmonization”. You’re right Gary, a better goal is not to achieve a perfect balance, which @Z-lot notes is practically impossible, but to find the type of work that fits into our life in a way that complements us as individuals. Harmony is a much better way to think of it – thanks for that Gary.
@elorant great point – there are definitely those who disagree with Arrington’s opinions. As for his passion, it’s hard to judge, but I hope he finds the fresh perspective he needs to figure out what he really wants to be doing with his time. As @garyvee says, you only get one shot at this game – you can’t afford to be doing something you don’t love.
He doesn’t have anywhere near a million readers.
NYT Bits report on Arrington.
Sorry about the apparent contradiction in my last comment. Please, let me clarify. He doesn’t have millions of readers for each of his articles. 2.17 million people read TechCrunch in December. How many of these people do you think reader every single article? How many have read more than one article?
Even so, he does have a lot of sway within the tech sector. Perhaps a more revealing stat here is the number of tech insiders read TC.
Drew:
I have read TechCrunch off and on since its inception. I liked the articles, but once Michael Arrington started sharing his opinions in the comments section it quickly became apparent that his opinions were way off-base.
I assume he was arrogant before his success, and that success only made it worse. Not only is he arrogant, but he’s unpleasant and antagonistic.
I had heard about some friction with Loic from Mike’s tweets on Twitter, but until this post I did not realize the full nature of the dispute.
I was very surprised to learn of his fairly obnoxious personality, but I am not surprised that it has come to this.
I suspect that his ‘vacation’ is just to recharge and reevaluate, but I do not expect any significant change of heart. The zebra can’t change its stripes.
Despite all this, I attribute the increase in animosity to Loic. It says a lot about Loic as well. The best course would have been to just chalk it up to a ‘crazy American’ and let it drop.
First off, great writing here.
Although no one deserves another humans spit in their face Arrington has become well know at driving readership and traffic. In fact in my humble opinion he is the master many of us need to learn from. This brings me to point #2
Is it possible, in just a minuscule way that all of this Le Web controversy and the events that took place afterwords and even the recent events that have unfolded have been concocted as a way to drive PR?
I wonder…
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