[mvkel]

What an awful email. Reads like a lazy VC associate trying to do as little work as possible to pass along metrics to higher ups.

[jrockway]

It's amazing how even when buying a company, people can't be bothered to use proper capitalization or even spell out the word "please". Wow.

I must have slept through the English class where they told me this was OK.

[imglorp]

I think it's a power thing because they're manoeuvring for negotiation.

Translation: "I can't be bothered to spell because you're teensy and I have another $1B to spend today on companies 100x bigger than yours. Make with the paperwork chop chop."

Then, confirmation: "Give me your mobile so I can call you any time I feel like to make you jump, because you're the bitch now."

[jrockway]

Yeah. My reply to that message would have been "I only give my mobile phone number to friends. Please use my office line between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM EST."

But honestly, a lot of people seem to like doing business deals while walking around with their cell phones, so perhaps this is not actually a power play.

[tomrod]

Hey Benny, I couldn't comment on your comment directly because you're in ban hell. But I get what you're saying.

[ekianjo]

It's funny how they refer to Schmidt, Page and Breslin as "the board" since it's obviously just 3 people :) In any large company you only use the "board" wording for a committee that's at least 15-20 people.

[beambot]

The actual wording he used was "executive board" -- perhaps this is different from the "board of directors."

[namank]

What?

They had already met once. Given the context, it sounds like a continuation of the conversation, casual in nature, from a biz person to an engineer.

[mvkel]

Why does casual need to mean "communicate poorly"? When I type out emails, casual or not, they're designed to at least get the message across.

For something as important as an acquisition, I wouldn't want to feel like I'm dealing with an intern.

[namank]

Give me an example of how you would do it while still maintaing the tone with a person you've only met once and want something from.

[mvkel]

Well, put it this way: I could be on the receiving end of an email like this, and my gut would be telling me something is up.

[skreech]

Or almost like a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity from a Nigerian bank clerk.

[andrewhillman]

I think this was intended to read the way it does. Google A/B tests everything, including how well canned messages work vs. more personal messages like this.

[mvkel]

I honestly thought this _was_ a canned message; one from a 'sales associate' eager to get a commission.

[kman]

It was 2007. Maybe he was typing it on a blackberry?