Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Shedding Some Light

Rob Shedd breaks his radio silence and answers one of the questions I raised earlier in response to Barton's assertion that
This was is conflict with the LLP board's intent for this to be an undergraduate experience, so the decision to separate was made.

The formulation "the decision to separate was made" is curiously passive. "Who made the decision?" I asked. Rob Shedd tells us that Barton made it.
As of February 8, 2008, Dave Barton requested that the offices at 234 E. College Ave., Suite 2342 no longer be affiliated with the Lion Launch Pad.

Barton made the decision and it appears that there was no discussion. Nice guy that Barton.


In other news, one of Penn State's marquee alumni entrepreneurs Dave Rusenko weighed in on the Lion Launch Pad/The Blue Line fiasco early this morning on Daehee Park's blog. (H/T to fellow blogger Ha-mace for those links.) I must say he isn't much of fan of Barton.
You may be the most stuckup sonofabitch I have run into in a long time. What Daehee did was nothing out of the ordinary, and your lack of understanding only goes to show how clearly you don’t get the Internet.

Let’s make one point clear: Updating a blog or keeping a home page with basic information IS NOT a hard thing to do, doesn’t take that much time, and is the only way the outside world knows that you are even alive. Failing to post updates is a sure path to being considered dead, or well on your way. This is how the Internet works, and it’s not out of laziness — I came to very similar conclusions, but I live in San Francisco, and you can’t foist the laziness attack on me.

Second, although I don’t know why, I personally take offense to you insinuating that Daehee is not a REAL entrepreneur. How childish, petty, and demotivating — the very last thing any entrepreneur needs.
While Daehee raised some very good points (What is going on with an organization that can’t maintain any form of external communications, including a basic website, and seems to have changed names without any kind of prior notification?), you have managed to singlehandedly destroy any respect I have for this incubator. A more appropriate response would have been to politely explain the situation — but coming on here, in full combat gear, is purely destructive.
If you've been following the story here you should also go read Daehee's latest post from today.

It is also worth noting that both Shedd and Park still don't understand that they've just learned a very important lesson in business:you are just as likely to get screwed by a partner as by a competitor. In think the Barton bluster has them believing that they must have done something wrong. Battered wife syndrome is tough to beat.

Finally, don't you all think that it's about time for a newspaper to pick-up on this story? (And please Centre Daily Times, if you do decide to do a story, give it to Adam Smeltz. He's written enough about bird shit.) In his most recent comment, Barton has offered to open up his books to me. While I'm going to pass on the offer, I'm sure he'd be happy to extend the offer to a reporter. Although given that he lists his profession as accountant, I'd be a little skeptical of those books.







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