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Comment by ot | Hacker News Reader

Can you elaborate?

Sure. My view is that Rose has done a very good job of making a name for himself and translating that into personal wealth. It is not clear that that adds anything to Google and if Google thinks it does then my view of Google is diminished.

I see what you mean. I guess it will all depend on what kind of role he will have at Google. If he's going to be appointed "VP of Next Cool Ideas", I think you are absolutely right.

I'm sorry if the question is naive, but if he made such a great amount of personal wealth, why would he still want/need to "get a job" (regardless of company)?

Because there are people who work for reasons other than attaining monetary wealth.

doesn't answer my question in any way. Why work for someone else instead of "building your thing" (like he was apparently trying)?

Sorry. The way you phrased your question made it seem like you were asking why he would continue working rather than just pissing off somewhere with his money.

There are loads of reasons why someone would rather work for Big Corp. than doing a startup, especially when they've already checked "build a successful company" off their bucket list. I can only speculate, and I don't feel it's right to in what was probably a very personal decision.

Because money is not everything. Once you have reached financial security like he did, you start yearning for other things like power or a legacy. He still has a long way to go to achieve all those things. If he "retires" now, before long, the name Kevin Rose will be forgotten, because there are plenty people in this industry who have achieved his level of wealth and success.

so instead of building his own thing, the best idea is to go work on a Big Corp?

I mean, is that a good way to "leave a legacy"? Why not keep trying on Milk?

It has a higher probability of success on both accounts, as opposed to getting into a new venture that might discredit whatever personal brand he built up for himself.

not becoming a has been I guess. He's also passionate about startups and tech.

Apparently Google thinks Kevin Rose is "The Fonz" and intends to have him jump a tank with a shark in it. At the last minute, Rose decides to found a new company called "Soda" instead. Leaves Google scratching head and previous investors still wondering where their money went. Crowd unhappy because they wanted to see their hero/villain successful/eaten.

Google certainly seems to have a trend lately of spending their huge cash reserve to acquire companies to fix perceived problems or holes they have. This is sound business strategy but to a lot of us involved in software/development/technology, it certainly doesn't seem like a proven winning method.

I think he means that Google is like "Happy Days" at their peak, and hiring Kevin Rose is a desperate attempt to still look cool like the Fonz, but in fact are foreshadowing that their market capitalization will probably now decline.

Idk jgc's opinion but personally this seems like nothing more than a PR move I mean the only thing Kevin seems to be able to do is attract buzz.

A PR move? Do you think anyone that hasn't heard of Google has heard of Kevin Rose?

More of a PR move in that google is trying to get Kevin Rose fans (or whatever you want to call them) in the deal.

If Rose goes into google+ maybe Google wants him as a focus point or part of a public image... these are what I see Kevin Rose as with this but I of course may be wrong.

I don't know however how you got "anyone that hasn't heard of Google has heard of Kevin Rose" from my statement however.

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