Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

My Atrieva Story

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:9/9/1999; 5:45:21 AM
Topic:My Atrieva Story
Msg #:10801
Prev/Next:10800 / 10802

A brief story

A few months ago a longtime friend and a former UserLander, Matt Ocko, got in touch with me about a company his VC firm had invested in, Atrieva.

Atrieva was in trouble. They wanted to know if we could help. I met with their interim CEO, a turnaround guy, we hit it off. We made a proposal, but they didn't respond. No problem, that's the way of the Internet. We went on.

Gavin McGovern

Yesterday I got an email from Gavin McGovern, a longtime Scripting News guy and DaveNet reader and Frontier developer. I recognized his name. He wanted to invite me to the launch party for the company he had been working for. By now you've probably guessed, it was Atrieva!

An interesting lesson

If I had known that there was a Scripting News guy inside Atrieva, we might have been able to do something. When someone is not in our loop they don't really know what our software can do. People who use our site probably have a reasonably good idea.

At the time we were just spec'ing out Manila. It would have been incredible if we had a net storage system already linked in, so that people could use our content software to develop the site and Atrieva's network to serve it. As I understood Atrieva's charter and expertise this would have been a good match.

This happens a lot. I talk with the CEO or VC or other exec at a company. We don't connect. Later on I find out that there's one of "our people" inside. I wish there was some way to make the connection while an idea is active!

Marc

I spoke with Marc Canter about this yesterday, asking for advice. He said I should publish a list of companies I'm actively pursuing relationships with and keep it current. That way Scripting News readers could see their company show up on my list, and pitch in and help make a deal happen.

I told Marc I couldn't do this. Very often the CEOs are not net-aware. (I'm not naming names.) Someone would tell them that "Dave just leaked on the Internet." That would likely be the end of the deal, and the end of anyone trusting me.

Telegraphy

So I would like to suggest that we communicate by telegraphy. If you see me mention your company on the home page, esp if it's an unusual link (why did Dave point to *us*?) take a guess that something might be going on. Send me an email. Just introduce yourself. It may just be a coincidence. But there may be something going on that you can help with.



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