Rocketbust
The big news in the blogosphere/vlogosphere today is the apparent departure of Amanda Congdon from the popular video newscast Rocketboom. While this could easily be a publicity stunt or a situation that is quickly repaired by the two Rocketboom co-founders, things look pretty grim for the show right now.
I’ll withhold most of my feelings about Rocketboom as a show because frankly, it’s never been my bag and almost everyone I’ve ever asked feels the same way. I’ve always been under the impression that Amanda’s hotness (see bad pun in article title) is a big reason why 250,000 people watch the show. I could very well be wrong, but that’s just the impression I get. Neither the writing nor the delivery can hold a candle to say, Ze Frank’s The Show.
I’m more interested in the business and industry implications of this breakup. Firstly, unless the Rocketboom founder’s agreements were written abnormally in a way to really screw over Amanda, Amanda is by far the better-off party after this. Get fired and still own 49% of the company? Sign me up! If Amanda was smart, she made sure ahead of time that if a situation like this occurred, she would maintain at least most of her equity, if not all of it. There is, of course, a chance that the papers were written to strip away equity in this situation, and if that is the case, wow… it’s a stern reminder to always consult your own lawyer when dealing with employment contracts. Hopefully, information about the equity implications of this breakup will emerge shortly.
The second interesting aspect of this is any non-compete clauses in the Rocketboom employment contract. If I were Andrew Baron (Rocketboom’s other co-founder), I’d have written this in from the start, and it’s not an unreasonable thing for Amanda to have agreed to, but who knows what’s really in there. If there’s nothing in there, Amanda will either sign on with a big TV network, an upcoming video podcast, or strike out on her own. Either way, she’ll make out very, very well and still own a large percentage of Rocketboom. It’s a huge win-win for her and a huge lose-lose for Rocketboom. If there is, however, a non-compete, then something will perhaps be worked out where Amanda gives up a percentage of the company in order to get out from under it. Again, interesting to see what happens here. If it’s three months, I probably wait it out if I’m Amanda. If it’s a year or longer, I’m probably at the negotiating table right now.
Another interesting thing to watch will be who lands on their feet sooner. My money is on Amanda, as is probably most of the world’s. Rocketboom has about a month to find a suitable replacement, but if Andrew didn’t already have one in mind before “firing” Amanda, then he’s really dropped the ball here. Matthew Ingram suggests Amber McArthur, who in my opinion, is even more suited for the job than the woman she’d be replacing, but who knows if she’d even do it. If I’m Amber, I’m aiming higher than that right now. No one wants to be another Deborah Norville. In any case, go Amber Mac!
With all of the negativity surrounding this Rocketboom announcement, there is still a chance for Andrew to really prove his mettle here. If he’s able to find a great replacement and the show gets even more popular than it is right now, he deserves a lot of credit. He’s got everything to lose here: money, momentum, existing contracts, and reputation. It’s a ballsy move. We’ll see what happens.
Andrew just updated the RB home page…
Interesting. Sounds very “he said, she said” so far. Amanda’s video clearly made it sound like she got pushed out of the company while the statement from Andrew above makes it sound more like she was given the opportunity to continue with the status quo and she rejected it. What really happened has major implications on the equity situation so I can’t wait to hear the unbiased story.
There’s a thread in the Yahoo! Groups about this somewhere, from earlier today, where Andrew states that he first heard about Amanda leaving by seeing her video announcement.
Don’t know if I buy that… but you’re right… there’s a TON of ‘he said, she said’ surrounding this whole deal.
The funny thing? I find myself caring more about the controversial breakup than I ever did about the show itself.
Here is the link to the Yahoo Videoblogging Group.
I’m not sure why anybody is supposed to care about this?
Emma: I don’t even really care about the show, but the fact remains that it is probably the most popular video podcast in the world. For this reason, it’s big news when the host leaves, and in my opinion, bigger news when we find out how the whole thing shakes out. There’s a big movement towards individuals-as-franchises these days, and Amanda’s drawing-power may set a new standard for this if she opts to, in a sense, “go solo”.
I thought I was pretty adept and knowledgable in the blog world but I’ve got to honestly say, until today, I’ve never heard of Rocketboom until it was splattered all over Techcrunch and a few other blogs. Just goes to show how big the blogosphere is.
So it goes without saying, I really don’t care :)
I agree, Mike, this is big news, especially now as the videocasting scene seems to be growing fast. But as you say, Rocketboom may be bust now that its, ehm, bust has been boomed.
Hey Sports Racer,
I second your vote for Ze Frank. He thinks so I don’t have to.
I’m right there with you, Chris. I always thought I had a good feel for what’s going on in the blogosphere, but this is also my first time hearing about Rocketboom. I saw a post on Scoble’s blog, then saw this one. Looks like I’ll be spending some time with Rocketbook archives today!
I tried to watch the show a few times but found it just a little to bland for me. The writing was just a little off your something. Ze Frank definitely has the ability to keep the audience captivated and give them some useful information. I’m a moderate and I still like the show.
Oh Mike, don’t be silly. You don’t care about the business deals, you care about the chicks!!
Yeah, I’d heard of Rocketboom before but never checked it out. Or maybe I’d come across references to Amanda C. in the comments on The Show and never checked her out. Either way, I’d never seen Rocketboom before, but with all the flutter about her departure, I went to see what exactly I’d been missing. I ended up watching episode #400.
It’s entirely possible that the next four days will represent the high point of Rocketboom’s creative output.
Amanda has another post for the record.
Ze Frank has pointed to Rocketboom a few times and when I clicked through I found the content lacking and the delivery sorta… kooky in an uncomfortable way.
But you’re right about Amanda’s hotness. With her looks and her upbeat and youthful personality, she could be making much bigger waves in the video-blogging world if she wanted to stick around and do start/join another venture.
Why can’t you have the option, “I watched it once to see just how hot this Amanda girl is.”
From personal experience I’ve always found the 51%/49% split a poor decision to make. It’s a contrivance to give one person control while still appearing to be a “partnership”. There’s nothing wrong with a 50/50 split – it just means you have to work out your business difficulties together should they arise. If one person in a business relationship is to have a greater stake in the company for whatever reason (heavier workload, more worth to company, founder, whatever), I’ve always felt that the split should be well defined, as long as all parties are in agreement as to who is in control. If you try to preserve a sense of partnership while in actuality only one person is in control, a fight is almost inevitable.
That being said, I’m surprised that Amanda was not the majority stakeholder. In new media such as Rocketboom, talent is the only real capital as far as I’m concerned. Backend stuff like video production and advertising deals is a secondary concern in my mind. It sounds like Amanda got a crappy deal from the start.
Amanda has already received public advice and an offer from Jason
Calacanis, the CEO of Weblogs, Inc…
“So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we’ll
pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the
rights to your video forever (just give us like a six month exclusive
window on Netscape). We will set you up with our kick-ass studios, get
you an office, and I’ve got a full-time video editor at your disposal
(i.e. they can go with you anywhere). Also, we’ll set up a travel
budget so you can go cover whatever stories you want.”
Wow, I can’t imagine if that offer gets beat.
Check out their sponsorship pricing.
And the rumor is that former MTV Europe VJ Joanna Colan will replace Amanda Congdon on Monday.