Comments on: SonicMountain Buys FireAnt

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09/15/07--10:55: By: Rick Arturo (chan 1951535)

Sometimes you just have to respond when you read pure garbage in the blogs... It's obvious "Jonathan B" has never met, nor does he know Dick Moore. If he did, he would know Dick is one of the most honest, straightforward individuals on the planet. Dick was brought into SiVault as a consultant to clean up an existing mess and to assess their current technology. Eventually, the Board asked him to become CEO and try and make a go of it with the software they had. Long story short, there was not enough investment money available to take it to the next level and the company had to shut down -- not terribly unusual in this day and age. Dick was not responsible for the loss and probably did more than most could have done to prevent more. Dick is an exceptional businessman and is a great asset for Odeo. We're lucky to have him.


09/16/07--00:01: By: Instant Media Grinds to a Halt « NewTeeVee (chan 1951535)

[...] early company in the Internet video space, was also at risk of going out of business, but recently sold its technology assets to SonicMountain for [...]


09/16/07--22:13: By: Doug Arrison (chan 1951535)

Seems like there is a lot of garbage being proffered lately. I'm compelled to respond to jay dedman's post above regarding "expanding the backstory". He whines (in the friendly confines of his moderated blog) about the "bizness" guys... Well, suffice to say that immediately after Mr. Dedman's June, 2006 departure from the company, three investors stepped up, the software was re-designed (to support private labeling and advertising) and relaunched (in the first proof-of-concept private label app) as "FeedYourZune", http://feedyourzune.com. Say what you will about the Zune - for our strategic purposes, the Zune software was lacking the exact functionality that we provided. The launch was timed to coincide with the launch of the new Zune player and met with considerable success (500,000 Google hits 1 week after launch and 10,000 downloads the first two weeks). This was an attempt to break free of FireAnt's core, early adopter audience and associate the software with a device (making it a necessary tool for Zune users). This branding strategy was also easily replicated for other devices "FeedYourZen", "FeedYourArchos", "FeedYourTreo" etc. as the software was now designed for "plug and play" branding, advertising and feeds. This was the software that SonicMountain bought. It was a far cry from the original FireAnt. The interface was clean, the bugs were gone and we had a marketing strategy and revenue model that, for the first time, had some potential...


09/16/07--23:20: By: Sandy Oldham (chan 1951535)

I love a good start-up success story, but FireAnt isn’t one of these as far as I can tell. They never finished or delivered the beta software as promised, and all but turned their backs on their core users and community. So when I hear that the same CEO (Kinberg) who obviously ran FireAnt into the ground is going to oversee the combining of ODEO and FireAnt into one offering, I can only imagine the train wreck that’s about to happen there! FireAnt RIP!


09/17/07--01:23: By: Clint Sharp (chan 1951535)

A post-mortem from my perspective on FireAnt is available on my blog. http://clintsharp.com/my-fireant-story/ Best of luck to all of us who were involved in the little video startup that didn't make it. Clint


09/17/07--09:44: By: Scarcity Illusion, Traffic Delays, Last.fm, & Excel Tips (chan 1951535)

[...] Sonic Mountain eats Fire Ant (NewTeeVee) [...]


09/17/07--12:33: By: Sandy Oldham (chan 1951535)

After reading Mr. Sharp's perspective on what happened with FireAnt, I can begin to see why everything fell apart the way it did. But if what he's saying is accurate, that he put in hundreds of hours of effort into the video directory and was only offered a fraction of company stock for this, then it's pretty clear that the founding visionaries (Kinberg and Dedman) were just as culpable in being greedy as anyone else! Even worse, because they obviously put their own interests ahead of key developers like Mr. Sharp, this in the end is what sets a company on a downward spiral with the greatest momentum. What Sharp says about development coming first before business offers another key insight into the failure of this organization. Development is either going all the time, or there is no company, there is no business. So by what he says here one can assume that the original developers must have stopped coding and folded their arms waiting for something to lift them out of their full-time jobs, including Mr. Sharp who obviously left for greener pastures. As for the video directory he helped build, from what I saw over the past year the FireAnt.tv site that housed this directory was rarely, if ever updated. This tells end-users one simple message, don't come back to this site because you're not going to find anything new here. One can only suspect that potential investors and corporate partners also got this same message loud and clear. Whatever the ultimate cause for the death of FireAnt, it honestly doesn't excuse kinberg for turning his back on his core community and worse, to lie to us about software updates and upgrades that were never going to happen!


10/29/07--18:30: By: James Benton (chan 1951535)

SEC involved now! When will this nonsense stop?


11/27/07--20:48: By: James Gravel (chan 1951535)

Dear Rick Arturo, this is a comment section not a blog. But you should know that since you are a Podcast Hobbyist. (Rick name the last three podcasts you ever listened to?) How come you never formally announced Dick Moore as your CEO before the comment was posted here? Why was no background check made on his felony records? Did he reveal his criminal past as you state "he would know Dick is one of the most honest, straightforward individuals on the planet.” (And a time serving convicted felon?) I thought CEO's with felonies/criminal records were never considered CEO material? Come on Arturo, just what are you guys up to? Let me guess. Amergence (pink sheets – no products or revenue?) is back in the picture and there you go with your delusional plans for Odeo / SonicMountain to be used as a stock scam. It is so shameful! Do something constructive for this community! And stay east please. You were the laughing stock of Ontario this year with your "hey buddy" fake attitude.


12/19/07--11:46: By: trademark registration (chan 1951535)

Fireant was one of the first of its kind of video players that brought about such great players as Veoh and Miro. It's a bit sad that it wasn't a huge success and only sold for a meager 400 grand, but at least it isn't going to waste.


12/19/07--16:45: By: USPTO (chan 1951535)

Fireant never got the $400,000, just stock that will never be worth a penny! They deserve what they get because they partnered with criminals! Why does no one seem able to admit that Dick Moore is a convicted time serving felon! Lying that he is a good guy does not change the truth of what the animal really is! http://tinyurl.com/322f7y Additionally, Fireant were not even sophisticated from a business perspective to hold on to their own domain. All the attornies on the planet could not help them then or now! Amateurs!


12/22/07--16:34: By: Odeo fan (chan 1951535)

Sonicmountain suspended for trademark application of guess what? The "Odeo" wordmark! Too funny! Perhaps Fireant mgmt advised them on "how to keep my domain name 101". http://tinyurl.com/3y8377


12/29/07--13:40: By: Thunderbird7 (chan 1951535)

Looking at the link provided for Mr. Moore's Felony charges, it was a manslaughter charge for DUI in 1975. I'm not saying this isn't a serious offense, but even if Mr. Moore is in his 50's currently, that would have put him in his early 20's when this incident occurred. So probably a stupid mistake when he was in college is my guess. Anyway, it doesn't say whether he was convicted or not, or how he plead, but this post certainly doesn't indicate one way or another on his ability to run a business some 30 years later. Just my opinion of course.


01/08/08--18:48: By: Susan Feinstein (chan 1951535)

Dear Thunderbird7, I am completely appaled at your comment when my daughter showed me your posting. Having lost a child to a drunk driver, it brings tears to my eyes that you could forgive a man of murder. Yes I said MURDER! Zero tolerance is the only way to prevent such horrors. Taking a life is not simply " a stupid mistake"! Did you read the link? He was convicted regardless of how this man plead. I pray he has learned his lesson hard and quit his alcoholic behavior. Thank You.


01/09/08--12:54: By: Pete Jones (chan 1951535)

Yes, car accidents happen and they can be tragic events. First Lady, Laura Bush, ran a stop sign and killed a young man in a car accident when she was a teenager in 1963: http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp Digging up unfortunate tragedies in a person's past and holding it against them 30+ years later is kind of overboard. BTW, I'm pretty amazed that your "daughter" is intently paying attention to comments on a blog post that was published almost 4 months ago. Could you be Jack Roken, the famed cyberstalker ex-CEO?


01/14/08--13:46: By: Carolyn Pritchard (chan 1951535)

Folks, although we normally take a very hands-off approach to our comments section, the exchange above has clearly gotten way off topic. To that end, although we aren't deleting any of the comments on this post to date, we will no longer allow comments to be made on it. thanks, Carolyn Pritchard Managing Editor, GigaOM Network