Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Liz Gannes at GigaOM writes a story on Evan Williams and Odeo, and Williams confession at the recent Web Apps of the Future yak fest. Williams talks about how he royally screwed up with his startup, Odeo, burning through it sounds like millions, hiring a staff of 14, all to build a product for an audience the company hadn’t even defined yet. So now that Ev has recognized his mistake, is he going to do better?
So what’s he doing to fix these mistakes? Not refunding the VCs their investment, that’s for sure. And not even trying to earn revenue; Williams freely admitted Odeo hasn’t yet settled on a business model.
I expected Williams to get at least a verbal slap for such, but oh no.
All in all, we can’t say we came out of the presentations convinced Odeo is set to conquer the universe, but Williams’ honesty and humility are admirable. The best part is, his advice has a chance of making an impact while it’s still relevant to today’s startups.
Speechless. I’m speechless.
