Blog Business Summit: Jason Calacanis Keynote

Nick Denton who was already running Engadget. This moment led him to realize they needed to brand their blogs individually instead of as a subdomain. Calacanis learned another lesson when he wanted to hire an editor for WeblogsInc, and Judith Meskill applied for it, and he told her he didn't really have any magazine qualifications. She pointed out to him that you don't actually edit bloggers, so as an organized blogger she had the qualifications he needed. She was right. Jason also knew Mark Cuban from the earlier days of the web, and at a SXSW conference Cuban told Jason he wanted to blog. Jason said they'd set one up for him, so Brian Alvey was a little hesitant, and Jason pointed out that when a billionaire asks for a favor, you do it. So Alvey stayed up all night creating a blog for Cuban. Shortly thereafter, Jason asked Cuban for a little investment, and Cuban agreed right away. Easiest investment Jason had ever received. He then spoke about starting to talk to AOL and other media companies, and how Nick Denton had also been talking to them, although Denton claimed publicly that he'd never sell Gawker and it wasn't for sale. He then proceeded with some funny Denton impersonations, but pointed out that he and Denton are now good friends so he feels okay giving him a hard time. Calcanis wasn't so sure he wanted to sell to AOL at first because the company was so young, and that he told AOL that they'd want to edit the bloggers, and that just wasn't okay. He pointed out that the Weblogsinc team worked for the bloggers, not the other way around. He also pointed out how bloggers are generally misfits and outsiders, and pointed to PayPerPost. He said "I realize a video of this speech will show up on the web right after I'm done, but I don't care." He's called out Draper on his blog as well, and said he hasn't heard a response about why someone who supports the blogosphere can support PayPerPost. Next up on Calacanis' discussion list was to talk about podcasting. He said two years ago he said podcasting wouldn't work, and again admitted he was wrong. He realized he's now listening to more "radio" then ever, but he's not turning on the actual radio, he's just listening to podcasts. So, he's announcing today that GoDaddy will sponsor his new . They're paying $100,000 in total to sponsor his podcast and the money will be donated to a private school in Brooklyn to put two kids on scholarship who couldn't afford it. He then finished by answering some questions about Netscape, PayPerPost, and a few other issues. Overall, an intersting talk with some funny anecdotes and refreshing honesty. Update: Pro PR from Thorney Fallis Jason Calacanis Podcast Gets 100k Sponsorship from PodTech and Godaddy Netscape "Scape This" Feedburner FeedFlare Heading to Affiliate Summit Right Media, the business unit owner for Conversion Rater blog.