Kevin Rose's Next Move: Partner at Google Ventures | Hacker News Reader

Kevin Rose's Next Move: Partner at Google Ventures

allthingsd.com

52 pointsasanwal31 comments

Moving from talent acquisition to G+ to Google Ventures in just three months sounds like the "we're not firing you, but we'll call you "Director of Special Projects" and you'll have an office but don't need to come in until you find a new job" exit.

Now this is good work if you can get it. $12m talent acquisition and then he quits in 3 months.

Maybe im just not a valley insider but what exactly has Kevin done that was successful? I'm not trying to be critical here, just don't see what warrants the hype around him.

Digg was a success once.

But mostly I think what Kevin offers is a very 'industry insider' perspective. He's created startups, he's worked with a lot of them, he's funded many more. So, experience and opinions/insight mostly.

He also seems popular from his TechTV days, and then his time on TWiT, and then of course Digg Nation or whatever his video podcast for Digg was called only made him more famous among technology enthusiasts. He seems like a good face and name to have around when you couple the insight with the fame.

Revision 3

Digg was pretty successful for a while, and you could consider Pownce successful if you consider that he probably made a bundle when it sold to sixapart (IIRC)

It was a talent acquisition from what I remember. I don't think anybody made much money with that deal unfortunately.

I'm in the same boat. He basically made Slashdot for web 2.0. Digg can't be the sole reason why he is considered so valuable and is so highly sought after.

In the end doing things count. For all the reasons you'll find in the recurring "Why you should quit school and start a startup in SV". You can't do the kind of investments he's been doing without the experience and network that comes with staying "in the game" for a long time.

Digg pulled down ridiculously high amounts of user engagement for a long while, which given everyone's ridiculously short attention spans is impressive.

Plus he had one of the most recognised podcasts with actual large sponsors. And a successful investment record. He seems to try engage with the community at large as well.

He does alright essentially, and has a decent reputation amongst start ups.

I would guess that there would be some form of vesting and/or the earnout would be affected.

I'm surprised no one has brought up his ability to generate hype. Other than actually building the product, one of the biggest problems startups face is being able to get users.

Do you remember how much publicity Milk got without a single product and just from having Kevin attached to it?

Right, but capred is asking why he gets so much hype. You're basically saying that he gets hype because he is able to get so much hype.

Exactly. Is he like the Paris Hilton of SV? Famous because he's famous.

I see lots of comments about Digg but it seems like Digg peaked in 2008.

He was an early investor at zynga IIRC

Duh, makes total sense. I was initially unsure where he'd fit in at Google (Google+?, Android?, Gmail?), but as soon as I read the headline I thought "Duh". His angel investments have been super strong and his willingness to share his life has been inspiring. Digg and Milk didn't ever turn into Instagram, but he kept making great moves forward.

Kevin - keep sharing your thoughts online and to the community, it has served you well and will continue to do so. Congrats.

(Sorry for the lovefest HN, but that's how I feel.)

Surprisingly Google ventures doesn't seem very savvy to date. Kevin Rose will probably be the highest performing partner in no time.

Smart move for everyone involved.

... and probably a better fit for Rose ?

Probably, his investments have had a better track record than his products as of late.

Exactly. I dont think having him as a Sr product manager on G+ was a good idea at all.

I think he is probably far better suited for this role as he does have a good pulse on the trends of the internet and that pulse should allow him to spot great opportunities.

I'd say their investment in Nest was pretty savvy. An incredible product that seems to have consistently sold well.

They're doing a lot of stuff that's not showy but will likely show very solid returns. Don't discount them because they don't show up on HN too much.

Looking at http://www.googleventures.com/companies it just seems like they've missed so many of the great companies over the past few years, though there are definitely some good ones in there.

Your personal portfolio is far more impressive. Would be neat if you went there too. You, Kevin Rose, and Joe Kraus would make GV a more exciting investor.

It's a very different thing to be an angel investor and a venture investor. Different opportunities, responsibilities, etc. If I were a venture investor, I'd be competing against all Sand Hill, because it's pretty much an either/or proposition: if you're in, someone else is out. Whereas, angels happily deal with an investor pile-on; the more the merrier.

That's a really good point. Still, bet that team would work out well.

I've been very tempted to raise a fund several times.

I worry that I would find being a VC painful. It seems to involve saying "no" to a lot of people, and that's not what I like doing.

Speaking of "no", can I talk to you for a few min sometime about where we're doing with Get.com? We're talking to people right now, and damn if you're not on our top 5 wishlist. No worries if not, still hope you become a VC :-)

Drop a line. Not really my space but happy to take a look.

(Did you pivot? I recall get was similar to Jig.)

Great. No, not a pivot, just the second stage in our plans (which we were a bit coy about). No email in your profile, but dropped a line to <first name> @ <your domain>.org. Hope that works. Thanks.

For some reason I still remember him as the 'Dark Tipper' and explaining emule (or was it torrenting?) on Tech TV's The Screen Savers. I never would have imagined him being an angel investor/entrepreneur.

I'm a little surprised they didn't put Rose on the YouTube team. He would've been a great figure head for the video platform. It would have played to his strengths as a creator and promoter of pro-am content.

That being said, perhaps Google Ventures is a great place too. Kevin has shown a strong ability to act as a connector between budding entrepreneurs and capital. This might be a brilliant move for deal flow.

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