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Comment by blasdel | Hacker News Reader

> I mean how else do you explain that Zynga CEO [Marc Pincus] beat out Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh for CEO of the year?

If you'd been to Startup School in October, this would have been blindingly obvious.

Pincus was the closer for a reason -- the mood in the room was instantly I want to go to there, and the temperature went up ten degrees. Even Zuckerburg was hooting and hollering!

On the other hand, almost none of us young hackers would want to work for Hsieh -- his company's culture is steeped in an entirely different demographic, and he admitted as much in his speech.

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I was there and I have a starkly different reaction. A lot of other people I talked to afterwards share your sentiment but I still can't shake off the slimeballey vibe he gave out. A few weeks later the Farmville scandal blew up.

I found Pincus' talk to be the worst--more so than the annual McAdoo flat-pack speech about funding.

Pincus didn't just meander, he started wandering around a Matrix simulation room and just kept opening doors and slamming them shut. His tone was also bitter, particularly about his thoughts about being "misaligned" at successfully exiting.

Worse was the video at the end. What was that? What was the point of that other than a direct recruitment video? Great entrepreneurs leverage great opportunities but to be so flagrant about it? That MTV quick-cut infomercial had no redeeming factor.

Tony Hsieh didn't speak of a nerd-nirvana perhaps, but what he did speak of was building an organization. He spoke of values and skillsets that the audience in attendance SHOULD think about and work TOWARDS. It's not of now, it's of leadership skillsets that's required in just another 5 years. Maybe less if the precocious attendees have their way.

But you did use the right word: blindingly.

still, what does it say about the startup community if we reward that kind of unethical behavior as a CEO?

I mean sure, these guys aren't the only ones who did these rebill offers. But they were the target of the whole Scamville issue.

Turning around, a month later and picking the guy behind this, as one of the 6 for people to vote for, just seems wrong.

If we don't regulate, what we find ethical as a startup community, then 5-10 years down the line Congress will do it for us. And trust me, we won't like it one bit, if they have to step in to protect the consumer.

"what does it say about the startup community if we reward that kind of unethical behavior as a CEO?"

That start ups are about money first. And what they did was technically legal. Unethical moves like this happen in broad day light and in headlines all the time.

Generalizing, the vast majority of the American (other countries, too) population honestly doesn't raise enough of a stink.

Is it because we are uneducated, don't understand the impact, or merely don't care because things won't change for us tomorrow? We do not grasp the gradual net effect of many 'tomorrows' as the cause because it is too far removed from the action.

Startups are about money first, but they aren't about money above all else.

[Edit] I said something harsh and kind of dumb here before, and have removed it. I'm sorry.

Ethics matter.

I was there. I would much prefer to have Hsieh as a leader than Pincus. The fact that Hsieh runs a company that I have no interest in joining is a different matter.

Let's be clear though --

Hsieh wasn't a founder (but was around early on) and got the company to a $1.2 billion sale after a little more than 10 years, and in the top 1000 sites on the web. Which is of course very impressive, but...

Mark Pinkus got the company he founded to a multi-billion valuation and in the top 100 sites on the web in under 2 years and is looking like IPO material in an IPO-less era. Regardless of what you think of his scruples, it's easy to see why he gets counted impressive.

Am I reading this correctly? The only reason you stated is that he was able to make people excited, with no mention of substance? That the other guy seemed _boring_ to you?

When I interview somewhere I don't ask myself "is this CEO the most exciting person in this room". I want to see that he has good business acumen, that he makes smart decisions and recognizes when things are going bad and cuts losses appropriately. I want a business man, not a motivational speaker.

LOL. Pincus had the absolute worst speech at "Startup School". He didn't prepare anything and just meandered aimlessly from one thought to the next, rambling on about his life story. It was almost intolerable.

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