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Acquired by Wired, Now He’s Tired

November 17th, 2006

Really interesting post here on Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought. Aaron works for Reddit, which was recently acquired by Conde Nast. As part of the deal, along with an undisclosed sum, all the Reddit employees became Wired employees and relocated to San Francisco. Aaron’s blog post documents his first impressions working for his new employer – it seems the bloom is off the rose.

Aaron mostly complains that in his new-found corporate world, it’s hard to get anything done. There’s the inevitable problem of working around lots of other people who keep coming over and bugging you, and the corporate bueraucracy that hands you a G4 iBook that has problems checking email. Lastly, there is mention of “white noise” which might be due to the city itself, but it just all adds up to a grey picture not unlike the movie Office Space.

So my two cents: I went through the experience of a startup (SoftBook Press) being acquired back in 2000. I think there were about 60 employees working in a cramped Menlo Park office over a bank. We suddenly were blasted from that location to a huge office in Redwood Shores that we never completely filled.

The mood certainly changed after the acquisition. Many people immediately bailed, cashing in their options and moving to the Pacific Northwest or to other startups. But overall, I definitely recall a strange feeling of narcotic numbness. Suddenly the struggle to just maintain solvency was over – the mumblings and rumors about angel investors ceased. We had huge corporate backing that would take care of everything for a while.

The very nature of work changed, almost into “anti-work.” I remember designing an eBook cover for a product launch, sending many, many versions of an air balloon and a wolf to my boss, who would then send it to corporate. I probably spent a full week tweaking the same two covers into different, slight variations until getting an okay. Each adjustment took me a few minutes, but the amount of time between each stretched on and on. Meanwhile, I would saunter over to the free snacks in the break room and gain weight.

However, I’m not convinced a job has to be all-consuming. Steve Wozniak developed the Apple I while he was still an HP employee. I’m able to find a good balance with my two websites because my time spent working on them is considerably less with the free software of WordPress and Joomla. Plus, I’m enoying running my sites with no need to make money because I have a day job, and need the day job to make ends meet. This gives me the freedom to write about whatever the heck I want.

But for someone like Aaron, who might now have enough money from the Reddit acquisition to be comfortable for quite some time, I don’t see much reason why he should stay in a corporate gig (unless there’s a contract – vesting – involved). It’s possible once one gets a taste of working for yourself at a startup you create, going back to the daily grind of 9-5 is impossible. And ultimately, it’s the corporations that lose talented employees and have to face nimble competitors that are ultimately worse off.

How on earth can a big corporation ever attract and retain an employee that knows what it’s like to work in the absence of middle management, and was successful at it?

I bet someone at AOL is asking that question right now.

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  • I gotta say I was pretty annoyed by his blog though. Guy came across as a wuss and a whiner imho. Not that I don't also have issues with corporate life, but complaining about lying on the company couch and hearing too much white noise? Thank God he isn't working as a coal miner...

    I know his fanboy users gave him some sympathy, but seriously most of the rest of us working stiffs aren't gonna cue up the violins for him anytime soon.

    I realize he's not a founder (b/c if it was a founder complaining I'd say - you sold out, deal with the consequences), but he probably got a pretty good deal nevertheless. Bottom line is rather than complain about stuff (which I thought was in poor taste, though others will commend him for his honesty) the guy really needs to take an active role in making things better for himself. Either fix the problem or go find greener pastures. Publicly whining about coworkers wasting your time with video games is a slap in the face to all the other working stiffs who bust their asses and receive far, far less in return.

    But it's a free country. He's entitled to his $.02 just as I am to mine.
  • Dave... cool to hear your take on it. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he just had a bad day and it made it onto his blog. He might be looking into the greener pastures right now for all we know.

    I still find it fascinating to read about people's different ideas of success, and when they find it, is it really all that they expected?
  • Yeah, sorry to vent :-)

    I guess that post just got my goat when I read it...

    I do think the AOL departure is an interesting example of exactly what you're talking about though. But I also wonder if folks like Calacanis are also just destined to roam from gig to gig.

    I also found it interesting that one of Swartz's coworkers posted a comment (not on the blog, but on a reddit.com thread) in which they said they were enjoying wired. I dunno if he was trying to do damage control in light of the blog post or not, but it was interesting to see the divergent takes even within the tiny 4-person team.
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