[unreal37]

I like KR, but I wish I knew the true story from the Digg days til now. He needs to write an autobiography or something. I feel like there's a lot of subtext that I'm missing. We get to see the news of him joining Google, going part time, leaving but still "an advisor". These are all what the public sees. But what's the real story? I know there must be more to it.

[aaron-lebo]

His story is fascinating.

Some of us grew up watching him on TechTV, then he catches magic in a bottle with Digg, has a chance to sell for hundreds of millions, tragically loses that chance as his company loses traction and the upstart competitor (Reddit) becomes the one hosting amas by actors and politicians.

His story is almost Jobsian.

[justizin]

almost, perhaps, but .. a company for high end watch aficionados? Maybe instead, he should consider a TV show where he interviews people on the streets of SF who think really bitter things about all tech people and all tech companies and use them as a filter for his next ideas.

That is my honest, constructive criticism of a company aimed at high end watch aficionados.

[rscott]

It's not a watch aficionado company. It is, as I understand it, a company that just rapidly builds out app ideas. An app incubator, you could say.

[imjk]

One of his recently released apps is definitely for watch aficionados. High-end watches are a new interest/hobby that he picked up after he inherited a Rolex from his father. It's something that he enjoys and pursues with a passion.

[justizin]

And I totally respect that. I have nothing against well crafted timepieces, or even valuable things, maybe inherently.

I'm just saying, of the two ideas his "incubator" has done so far, that stood out as being particularly out of touch.

I think he's capable of more. I suspect he thinks so, I'm not saying he's limited to this sort of idea.

Maybe he's leaving Google to focus on coming up with better ideas than a fancy watch thing. ;)

[imjk]

Yeah, I agree with you, this app isn't going to change the world. However, I think he's taking the right approach. He's at a point where he's earned his right/freedom to work on what he wants. If he so happens to find an opportunity for an underserved niche in something that he's genuinely passionate about, I'd argue that's definitely the approach to take. Go with that and see where it leads.

Everyone (prob including himself) is expecting him to put out a home run product now. He seems "due" for it. But if he comes out swinging for the fences, which I think he kinda did with Milk, there's a good chance that all parties will be disappointed because regardless of who you are, those home runs are really hard to come by, and even for someone like Kevin Rose, still very unlikely. I think if he follows these sorts of opportunities where his passion lies, he'll create a succession of hits that may eventually lead to his home run. Who knows, there's obviously no science to this, but that's the approach I would, and do, take.

[sp332]

An app makes sense to me. Lots more people are "aficionados" than actually own watches. And you could potentially pay for tons of free users with just a few sales referrals per month.

[sjtrny]

Lots more is relative. The number of people interested in watches at all is pretty small. Let alone for expensive ones.

[bobbles]

'Social companies' that completely disregard what their users want should fail imo. Digg v4 was a disaster, and the community let them know BEFORE it went live.

[gkoberger]

What do you mean? He started a company (Milk) that was bought as an acquihire. He worked at Google Ventures while he vested (and it was probably a good job while he got married, etc), but after a few years wanted to get back out there and build. He spent a few months transitioning out of GV (he had invested in a lot of companies; he couldn't just walk away), and now he's working full time on North.

I'm sure there's a lot we don't know, but it seems pretty straightforward.

[jforman]

Being a VC is a very attractive role to many people if you can make it work. You get to work with top-tier companies in a meaningful way and have the chance to make an incredible amount of money in the process (you participate both in fund upside and separately from additional upside in your portfolio companies), all for a much lower amount of stress than being an actual founder.

It's entirely possible that he wanted his GV role to continue but he did not succeed there. It's also possible that the cover story is true. We will likely never know.

[k-mcgrady]

There's a huge portion of that story missing if you leave out Digg.

[nether]

Not to mention Leah.

[unreal37]

What you've outlined is what's on his bio, which is interesting sure. But I am willing to bet that there is a much more interesting backstory to this. Nothing bad per se, but perhaps he will one day tell a story of how Silicon Valley burned him a couple of times and left him pessimistic about how much one can really disrupt entire industries.

He is basically trying to find a little niche to mine for a small win, not change the world. That's so fascinating to me.

[thinkalone]

Kevin was interviewed by his former TechTV co-worker Leo Laporte on Leo's podcast Triangulation, if you're interested in Kevin's story: http://twit.tv/show/triangulation/162

[unreal37]

Thanks for the link. Interesting full-length interview. Just wish Leo would stop interrupting his answers.