Zango co-founder muses on deal |
Follow the ups and downs of a new Seattle startup in a series of behind-the-scenes posts by its founders.
Zango co-founder muses on deal
There's been no official word this weekend on the acquisition of Bellevue-based Zango by video search engine Blinkx, and our calls and emails to executives at both companies have not been returned. But details are starting to emerge through blog posts, emails and Twitter messages, with some of the most interesting commentary coming through the writings of Zango co-founder and former chief technology officer Ken Smith. The picture he paints isn't pretty, with Smith offering an eight-step list on "How Not to Acquire a Company."
The post says in part:
Step 3: "Immediately lock out everybody's email and network account."
Step 5: "Break your word about how many people will be laid off and under what circumstances."
As a former executive who left Zango last year, Smith is in a position to have some insights into the situation. He also happens to be the brother of Keith Smith, the Zango CEO.
We've reached out to the Smith brothers, but have not heard anything yet. We've been unable to determine if Keith Smith is still CEO, though we've heard that general counsel and executive vice president Ken McGraw has left the company.
Zango's tortured history has been well documented -- a history of litigation and consumer complaints. Formerly known as 180 Solutions, the online advertising company raised $40 million from Spectrum Equity Investors in 2004 and quickly grew to more than 230 employees. But the company routinely had to defend itself from complaints that it installed its ad-serving software on computers without the proper consent of users.
In a blog post today, Ken Smith offers his analysis on what went wrong at Zango.
About John Cook
John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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