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For the record: we’re not dead
On May 12, 2008, TechCrunch incorrectly reported our death. The report was written by Erick Schonfeld. For those who think Erick got the story right please read this letter from our counsel:
The letter is dated Oct 8, 2008. It has been almost 5 months since we were added to the deadpool and haven’t yet, as claimed, had a fire-sale of assets. However, MJ is selling his 24 DVD Collection (seasons 2-5) if anyone is interested.
We’ve had so many questions regarding this awkward debacle, we’ve selected the most frequently asked to answer below.
Q: A lot of people have asked us why we haven’t posted about this sooner?
A: It just seemed like another distraction away from building the business and we’ve had too many of them. It has taken time for us to develop our business model. However, this isn’t uncommon or unexpected when you enter new waters (painful as it may be). If you think differently you may want to read F@W.
Furthermore, the odds are against startups winning. We felt that running around posting we’re not dead is like standing on an aircraft carrier with a ‘mission accomplished’ banner before the job is done.
Q: Why are you posting today?
A: Everyone is talking about the death spiraling economy and how startups better get *real*. Well, we’ll be cash flow positive this lovely fourth quarter, Gwabs goes to private beta on Halloween (sign up!) and FilmRiot submitted its first film to Sundance. We like these apples.
Q: Wait a minute! Wasn’t Michael *your CEO* quoted in the article saying the model failed?
A: Indeed he was. Yes, the *original* model failed. We expected to have many iterations on our model before we got it right. If this surprises you, it didn’t surprise us. For those counting: we’re on #4.
Q: Doesn’t it seem silly TechCrunch would predict any startup hits the deadpool? It seems about as insightful as standing at a lottery ticket counter and declaring each customer a loser - you’d only be wrong once for every 14 million people?
A: Yes it is silly - predicting who is going to hit the ‘deadpool’ is easy. Being able to predict who won’t is where analysis and talent would come into play.
Q: Isn’t deadpool a comic book character? You’d think ‘journalists’ from TC would put down their snacks and comic books to do some research?
A: Yes, Deadpool is a comic book character, considering Shelley, our President and Michael, our CEO have never spoken to anyone at TC we’re not sure how much/little comics they read.
Q: Why would TC want to post anything about you guys anyways?
A: They need stories to make money. Why are we interesting? I’m not sure, but we’re taking that as a compliment.
Q: Is TechCrunch owned/operated by the same people who publish Valleywag?
A: No comment. However, you may find this post interesting.
Q: Didn’t Jeff Howe also say in his crowdsourcing book that you guys sold off a majority of your assets?
A: Yes, he did. It is on page 278 and he uses this incorrect fact to kick off Chapter 11.
As you saw from the letter above he got it wrong. This hurt because we really like Jeff. Jeff - in case you forgot Michael’s phone number: it is 1.403.617.8836.
If you’re looking for a good book on crowdsourcing, we’d like to recommend: E-Preneur by Richard J. Goosen, Ph.D.
Q: WAIT: The original TechCrunch article also said ST walked away from you? So, this isn’t true either?
A: We don’t kiss and tell, but we can tell you this: it became obvious to everyone involved in this venture that we had the best crowdsourcing platform. We stand behind and promote those that we have partnered with.
Q: Isn’t the guy who posted the iReport that Steve Jobs has been rushed to the hospital with a heart attack under SEC investigation (you know, posting false news while shorting the stock to make money)? What regulatory body looks into journalists that make money by posting untruthful stories?
A: Good question. We don’t know. Anyone?
Q: We like Crowdsourcing, can Cambrian House help us?
A: Of course, drop Shelley or MJ an email @cambrianhouse.com.
Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving,
Team CH
October 12th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
[…] Luckily, the “not-defunct at all” Cambrian House team was on top of the situation and released this blog post to combat the misinformation. This post contains an official letter from their counsel, a detailed FAQ, and the wit and humor we have come to expect from the Calgary company. […]
October 12th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I love your legal councils signature.
Good luck
October 12th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I love your legal councils signature.
Good luck
October 13th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Guys,
Good to see some fighting spirit there! Maybe you can add to this post by making clear what you are doing exactly. It just isn’t that clear anymore… I’d be happy to blog about it (like many others I’d think).
Carl
October 13th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Thank you for finally clarifying this matter. I haven’t had a chance to really spend a lot of time here but I had been intending to. Glad to know I still have an opportunity.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
@carl You bet! We will post what we’re up to
The comment about our ‘fighting spirit’ has made my day - thank you!
MJ
November 1st, 2008 at 9:46 am
“Gwabs goes to private beta on Halloween” whats the status of Gwabs?
November 1st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Gwabs is in private beta.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I paid for a license well over a year ago, one of the stipulation along with a pimp cane was to be part of the private beta.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
hi Brenden,
Part of what Private Beta means is that we roll it out slowly, so we can consume feedback, tweak it, then roll it out some more. This is to ensure you get the best experience possible. You are on our list and will be getting your invite shortly.
If you have any other questions, please email me at blue[at]cambrianhouse [dot]com.
November 1st, 2008 at 10:24 pm
ok thanks blue
January 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
[…] MJ Sikorsky – Cambrian House – 2008 had Sikorsky fighting off reports in May and again in October that Cambrian House was in the dreaded Deadpool. The first report turned out to be an incorrect conclusion around the successful sale of VenCorps to Spencer Trask and October’s rumour was quickly dispelled humorously with a statement from Cambrian’s legal counsel. 2009 is bound to be a better year for the crowdsourcing evangelist and it’s looking up so far. Vancouver-based Corporate Social Responsibility trustmark MakeGood licensed Cambrian’s Chaordix crowdsourcing platform last summer and launched this week – Sikorsky is an technology advisor to MakeGood and likely has other projects in the works for ’09. […]
May 29th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
[…] FilmRiot: Apparently a crowd-sourced movie funding system. The landing page is basically dead space (filmriot.cambrianhouse.com). The domain that CH links to is dead space (filmriot.com). The Twitter account goes to Revision3 (twitter.com/FilmRiot). In fact, everything FilmRiot-related seems to now be indie-focused content on R3 (Wired). Looks like there was some mainstream coverage in the Canadian press at one point - in January of 2008 (YouTube). The last mention of FilmRiot on the CH blog is from October, 2008 in a post aptly named “were not dead yet.” […]