Google (GOOG) | Chief Business Futurist Blog

Apparently Google has considerable trouble in regards to the letter D.

First the Dmarc founders left Google.

Now http://www.dodgeball.com/ (dead link 11/2010) founders, Dens Crowley and Alex Rainert (please drop me a note if you read this guys), not only have left Google but they posed for a thumbs down photo that they have posted on Flickr, a Yahoo! property. The photo already has over 26,000 views and appears to have a viral element based on the view count growth, the interesting comments on the Flickr photo and a lot of blogosphere reaction. I’m trying to imagine how frustrated someone must be to post of photo of this nature, announce new project associations and state that they are throwing a party “to celebrate our escape”.

Putting my investment management hat on, I’d like for independent analysts to be allowed on the earning call this Thursday. If allowed to do so, I’d like to ask the following question, “Why is Google having such a hard time with HR and staffing issues, whether it is regarding hiring new employees, retaining pre-IPO employees (see podcast) or integrating acquisitions? Has Laszlo Bock’s background proven not to be the right style of leadership and is it time for a change?” The “all big companies are always ineffective” is a major cop out as there are big companies that are admired and in fact some cases adored.

Ideas on what to do with Dodgeball are everywhere you look. The comments on the Flickr photo are fascinating to read. P.S. When searching for these entries on Google Blog Search I found considerable splog/spam (MFA Made for Adsense) sites – Google should work to solve that issue.

http://spudswebnews.blogspot.com/2007/04/did-dodgeball-even-have-chance.html – Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post – Dead link November, 2013

http://www.blogator.com/g/2833510 (dead post 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://www.electrolicious.com/archives/2007/04/did_twitter_kill_it.html (dead post 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://www.yugatech.com/blog/gooooogle/google-bought-and-killed-dodgeball/ Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post – dead link 12 /2013

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://mcmanus.typepad.com/grind/2007/04/two_dodgeball_f.html (dead link 11/2010)

“http://topicstop.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-alert-google_1007.html (dead link 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

“http://ipfreaks.com/dreamscene/?p=2258” (dead post 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

“http://www.tmesolutions.co.uk/web_design_kent/Marketing+News/2007-04-16/Google+dumped+by+Dodgeball+founders/3800849030” (dead link 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://yummy.vermontconnect.com/cool/dodgeball-founders-leave-google-and-that-leaves-dodgeball-probably-dead/ (dead link 11/2010)

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://google.blogoscoped.cn/?p=417 Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post – Dead link November, 2013

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://www.spiceee.com/pensaletes/2007/04/16/dodgeball-founder-quits-google-will-google-kill-the-serviceDodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post – Dead post November, 2013

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://www.teknolife.com/tech-news/disgruntled-dodgeball-founders-leave-google-infoworld/ post removed

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

http://averageiq.org/dodgeball-founders-google.html – Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post – dead link November, 2013

Dodgeball Founder Departure – April, 2007 post

EDIT: November 25th, 2012 – all of the URLs below are no longer active on the web, I’m removing them active link status:

http://youngmanhattanite.com/2007/04/ym-exclusive-dodgeball-founder-leaves.html
http://www.hypersuper.com/article/google-dodgeball-founder-quits-google-will-google-kill-the-service–610415
http://www.wayneporter.com/2007/04/16/dodgeball-knocked-out-by-twitter-google-snacks-on-dclk-is-twitter-next/
http://cellop.com/news/?p=2621
http://www.vecosys.com/2007/04/16/google-google-going-gone/
http://www.kpsforum.com/rss-news/10998-dodgeball-founders-leave-google.html
http://internet.webexpresspro.com/internet-news/disgruntled-dodgeball-founders-leave-google-infoworld
http://www.fixmood.com/dodgeball-founders-crowley-rainert-quit-google-in-frustration/2007/04/16/
http://techfold.com/2007/04/16/exodus-from-dodgeball-googles-growth-working-against-innovation/
http://www.infobong.com/wordpress/2007/04/16/linkdump-for-20070416/
http://pcniche.info/index.php/disgruntled-dodgeball-founders-leave-google/
http://indianinside.info/blog/2007/04/17/dodgeball-founders-quit-google/
http://socialnetworking.knowhow-now.com/blog/2007/04/16/disgruntled-dodgeball-founders-leave-google/
http://www.supermogul.com/2007/04/dodgeball_founders_dodge_veste.php
http://googlified.com/2007dodgeball-founders-leaving-google/
http://www.personalbee.com/227/12457964
http://dodgeball.sport-blog.biz/8626/dodgeball-founders-stop-playing/
http://mobiko.blogs.com/mutant/2007/04/dodgeball_found.html
http://coloradostartups.com/2007/04/16/overheard-at-the-googleplex/
http://ecpm.typepad.com/clickety_clack/2007/04/roundup_tellme_.html
http://www.vidfreeblog.com/2007/04/17/startup-meme-%C2%BB-dodgeball-founders-quit/
http://www.unofficialseoblog.com/2007/04/17/dodgeball-founders-quit-google/

I thought you’d like to be aware of these, it’s interesting that they announed these almost simultaneously.

Yahoo! to present at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference and
Thomas Weisel Partners Internet Digital Media Conference

Terry Semel, Chairman and CEO, and Susan Decker, Executive Vice
President, Head of Advertiser and Publisher Group and acting Chief Financial
Officer, will present at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference. The
presentation will take place on Tuesday, March 6, 2007 at 12:30pm
Eastern Time / 9:30am Pacific Time.

Jerry Yang, Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo!, will present at the Thomas
Weisel Partners Internet & Digital Media Conference. The presentation
will take place on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 6:15pm Eastern Time /
3:15pm Pacific Time.

A live webcast of both presentations will be available on the Investor
Relations website at
This link on Yahoo! Investor Relations website

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
announced today that Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, will
present at the following investor events:

Morgan Stanley Technology Conference
Monday, March 5, 2007
3:15 p.m. ET / 12:15 p.m. PT

Bear Stearns 20th Annual Media Conference
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
8:45 a.m. ET / 5:45 a.m. PT

To access the audio webcasts of the presentations, please visit
This link on the Google Investor Relations website

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