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May 25, 2006
Skype, and the Saddest Story
This is the saddest story I have every heard.One of the hallmarks of modernist literature is the existence of an unreliable narrator. While it has become so common now as to be almost invisible, or even a cliche, when it first appeared, a hundred years ago in novels like Ford Madox Ford's classic The Good Soldier, it was unnerving and disorienting. Instead of having God-like omniscient narrators, or even individuals who told the story from their unique and narrow perspective, you had telling the story people who lied, or at least didn't let the truth ever get in the way of their preferred story.
-- Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier (1915)
Selling Skype was the saddest day of my year.
-- Tim Draper, at OnHollywood Conference in Los Angeles (May 2006)
I got to thinking about this in reading Jeff Bussgang's comments on Tim Draper's recent noisiness about "regretting" clearing a billion from selling Skype to Ebay. For starters, Tim is not exactly a reliable narrator of his own story. I sincerely doubt he really think what he thinks he thinks. More likely is that it is a convenient posture to adopt, one that allows to Tim to push a particular narrative thread, the one that about monomaniacal entrepreneurs going for ever-bigger wins. As Jeff points out, however, that is a troubling plot line, one that has a great deal to do with the disconnect between entrepreneurs and investors.
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For 1% of the price I'll be happy to be sad all year long :-)