Finally Someone Blogs about Provo Labs
Thank you Michael Eager and Phil Burns for blogging about the shakedown at Provo Labs. I wondered when someone would. As you know it’s always easier for OTHER PEOPLE to be transparent. It’s a little harder when it’s YOU who has to be.
What amazes me is that everyone seems to be being very balanced and fair. This even when they had no notice and they lost their jobs. This shows a lot of goodwill towards Provo Labs.
Most are entrepreneurs themselves. They know as an entrepreneur you’ll probably fail more often than you succeed. It’s the lessons and teaching in the failure that can either crush you or make you even more determined. I see no shame in something not working. I only have shame if I do not adjust and I let it paralyze me.
Plus, we LIKE Paul Allen, he’s a great person.
Transparency can be painful at times. You give up some control in exchange for credibility and authenticity. If you’re not transparent the truth will most likely come out anyway. May as well come clean. I think it’s a good trade.
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19 Responses to “Finally Someone Blogs about Provo Labs”
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August 17th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Kory Hoopes (www.koryhoopes.com), a current employee of Provo Labs Solutions, wrote about the restructure soon after it happened but his post was taken off of the Provo Labs Planet before it could be read by anyone. Interesting that a company that claims to be so open could ban someone for being too honest. I believe the restructure will end up being a good thing. Provo Labs Solutions seems to have a lot of dedicated employees.
August 17th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Wow, that’s too bad. Again, I’m encouraged by your hopeful tone. I hope to see the ecommerce space grow locally. There is so much talent! Sometimes we have more talent than management skills. I admire the good managers out there who transform vision into motivation, action, and accountability. Most of us would make more if we left Utah. But here we are. Thanks for your comments. And Kory, I hope you get a paycheck soon!
Janet
August 17th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
I know Paul had his reasons for shutting things down the way he did. Sadly my own financial situation did not allow me to remain with the team, but I said it the day it happened and I’ll say it again. Paul made the wrong bet. Paul bet on the businesses he thought would be most successful. I think he should have bet on the teams with the greatest potential. And I believe Phil and his team will prove me right!
August 17th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
I don’t get working for no money. I’m dedicated but it there are limits. When you run out of money business stops. If it were me, I’d take the job offer elsewhere. There must be either really good will or they’re all dreaming…
I was talking to someone this week and he reminded me the dreamers need businesspeople and businesspeople need the dreams. It’s a good tension. I’ve errored on the side of too much dreaming and I think I’d rather error the other direction.
I love to see businesses succeed and people engaged and passionate about what they do, esp. locally. I also consider Paul, Phil, and others at Provo Labs friends. The personalities, the idealism, the brains…a fascinating story really…one I hope ends well.
Janet
August 18th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Kory’s comment said:
“A current employee of Provo Labs Solutions, wrote about the restructure soon after it happened but his post was taken off of the Provo Labs Planet before it could be read by anyone. Interesting that a company that claims to be so open could ban someone for being too honest…”
You know well, Kory, that it was *I* who pulled *YOUR* post. You also failed to mention that I (like yourself) was also not a Provo Labs employee at the time. In other words, Provo Labs didn’t censor you, I did –and anybody who reads your post will see why. Your post was damaging, not only to Provo Labs, but also to “Provo Labs Solutions”, a company that depended (and still depends) on looking like it is in business.
I pulled that post on my own accord and in your own best interest, and I think I’m being more “open and honest” about it than you.
August 18th, 2006 at 8:02 am
Janet said:
“Transparency can be painful at times. You give up some control in exchange for credibility and authenticity. If you’re not transparent the truth will most likely come out anyway. May as well come clean. I think it’s a good trade.”
Janet, does this mean that you’ll be telling us how “quitting your day job” went? I think your own transparency has also taken a back seat to propriety –and rightfully so. You’ve told me, in that instance, that you ended up being MORE credible by not burning your bridges, and I believe it.
August 18th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Jordy -
I did say how quitting my day job went. Did you not read it? It’s titled something like, “long list of lessons learned - quit my day job”. My main contract changed what he was doing without notice, sort of like what happened at Provo Labs. Yeah it was tough. I didn’t have time to have my own business work. Promises weren’t kept. I have goodwill for him and quickly moved forward. I draw the line at personal attacks.
When I started to interview for jobs I had to answer some hard questions. Since that was my first forray into entrepreneurship (unless you count selling tie dye t-shirts one summer) I had a lot to learn.
I really like having coworkers! I like regular paychecks. I’ll work on my things on the side. It may take a lot longer but I hope next time I quit my day job it’s for good.
You said: “Provo Labs Solutions”, a company that depended (and still depends) on looking like it is in business.”
This sentence says it all. A company that depends on looking like they’re in business. Phil is being open about where they are and I respect that. However, it sounds sketchy and those aren’t my words. I want him to succeed as much as you do.
It seems like if you’re going to delete a blog post, you ought to talk to the person first (maybe you did).
Thanks for your honesty.
Janet
August 18th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
Jordy,
Kory did not write that comment, I did. I am Kory’s wife and now I feel really bad that it was assumed that Kory wrote that comment and that Kory is getting blamed for something that I did. I guess this should be a lesson to me to always attach my name to the things I write rather than simply saying “Anonymous.” I take full responsibility for that post. You see, I was the one who first noticed that Kory’s post was taken off of the Provo Labs Planet like 3 weeks ago. I called him from work to ask him why, but he didn’t know why. That was the last time I spoke to him about it. I just happened to be surfing the internet last night when Kory was working down in Provo and I happened upon Janet’s comment to Phil’s post. In her post, she complimented Phil and Michael for finally blogging about the changes at Provo Labs. I guess I let my emotions get the best of me. I thought to myself, “Kory was honest about things up front and his post got taken off so nobody could read it.” Anyway, I responded with what I said. Kory had nothing to do with this and frankly, he hasn’t talked about being taken off of the planet with me since it happened so I wouldn’t have known if you talked to him afterwards or not. Kory is probably one of the most honest guys you will ever meet. I have re-read his post and still can not see how it was damaging. He was being honest. I am new to the whole blogging world, but that’s what I thought the Web 2.0 experience was all about. It seems to me that it is better to be open with people than to try to cover things up. That is how you build trusting relationships. Please forgive me.
August 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Janet, sorry if I came off a little strong.
I did see your earlier post, but it seems like “get things on paper” was the only thing you mentioned about Jeremy. I’m sure that there was more to it than that, but nobody wants to highlight the faults of others through their own transparency. That’s what I’m saying; I think we agree here.
What I’m saying is that former Provo Labs employees are trying to adapt to their situation gracefully. We haven’t talked a lot about the situation because the dust hasn’t settled. Phil and Paul finally met today to negotiate Provo Labs’ ownership in the consulting company, which still doesn’t even have a name. There’s still a lot to negotiate before we even know what to talk about, and even when we do we’ll want to address it gracefully, like you did.
As far as pulling the post, it was one line of code that I commented out at 5:00 in the morning. There was no one to call that early without waking someone up. I saw Kory that same morning, briefly discussed it, and it didn’t seem like a big deal. And I didn’t delete it, I just temporarily stopped syndicating it on the company blog. I was just erring on the side of caution, while the deal is still on the table. The post could have easily been resyndicated, but neither Phil, Paul, nor Kory himself seemed interested in that prospect, so I forgot it, literally, until today. What I take offense to is that Kory was implying that Provo Labs had censored him, when in fact he knows that I did (if you want to call it that). And it wasn’t a big deal then, why bring it up now as though it was some kind of conspiracy?
Anyway, looking forward to U|Tech. I hope that the consulting company can afford a booth by then.
I also know someone else that might be interested. Give me a ring if you’re interested.
August 19th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
I think all the love and avoidance of bashing Paul on the blogs is disingenuous. There may be a “oh, ya we lost our jobs but everything is really great and Paul is so neat” mentality on the blogs but in person its a Paul and Phil bash session. I’ve heard some pretty amazing second hand stories about what transpired at provo labs over the last 8 or so months. Paul and Phil should both be ashamed of themselves if even a fraction of what I have heard is true. Heck, I’ve even heard that Paul and Phil can’t stand each other anymore. I heard they had a major blow out. Does anyone know if that’s true? I wouldn’t doubt it.
Was funding universe effected by this? Is LDS Audio still in business? What about the genealogy thing? What’s the truth about what really happened at provo labs????
Paul should clear the air before the rumor mill gets too far out of control.
August 19th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
This is not the place to hash it out and to be a coward about it. Come clean about who you are. I won’t leave your post up like this. This isn’t the tabloids. Identify yourself soon or stick to the facts Katie.
Janet
August 19th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Wow, I had no idea that so many people cared about what is going on with Provo Labs! The response has been amazing and is a true testament to why blogging is so important. Let me clear the air just a bit according to some concerns brought about by a previous comment:
1. Don’t believe stories unless they come from an actual employee of the company and even then it’s better to wait for an official announcement from the company.
2. Nobody has endangered friendships with this little jostle, Paul and Phil are still friends. Many of us were concerned about losing our jobs, but that is our business unless we state otherwise. No “major” blow outs.
3. Funding Universe is its own entity and operates as such, LDS Audio/Library/Media are still in business and are launching a new site right now. Check it out at http://www.LDSLibrary.com. http://www.WorldVitalRecords.com is also still going strong and doing very well.
4. I consider myself to be an honest person and didn’t mention “names” when talking about being banned from the Provo Labs feed aggregator because I feel personal attacks are wrong.
The final word is Provo Labs isn’t the same incubator company as it was before. Provo Labs Solutions is just a few steps away from being a stand-alone and viable company. Nobody is upset with anyone else.
We are just trying to survive, and being open and honest about things is a big part. We need people to know what is going on if we expect them to trust us.
If anyone has any other concerns about this topic, please feel free to email me at KoryHoopes@gmail.com. Anonymous posts (yes, I have spoken with my wife about posting anonymously…) and angry words will accomplish nothing. Let’s get the facts straight and concentrate on getting things done!
August 20th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Good call, Kory! I agree 100%. Sorry I thought your wife was you.
That explains a LOT. 
August 20th, 2006 at 11:19 am
“Katie Couric” wrote:
“I think all the love and avoidance of bashing Paul on the blogs is disingenuous.”
Hey “Katie”, I think posting under pseudonyms is disingenuous. If you can’t put your real name by it, you probably shouldn’t say it.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:01 pm
[...] Janet, a good friend, (and several other people) has advised my team and I to get real jobs - here’s her comment: Phil, it sounds like you’re living on dreams not reality! Why not do this on the side? [...]
August 22nd, 2006 at 12:04 am
[...] Here [...]
August 22nd, 2006 at 6:51 am
Phil,
but if you get a chance, let me know. Your mailbox is full and so I’m asking you here where I know you’ll see it.
I hope you prove me wrong. If you succeed, invite me to the celebration! As soon as you have a site, let me know and I’ll blog about it. I like what Blake did for the conference site by making it a Wordpress blog. You can give us the blow by blow.
How do you post pings as comments? Also, which chicklets are actually effective? I know your minds are on code
Also, I’m curious if ‘Katie Couric’ (most definately a guy), is the same heckler who posted on Paul’s blog…
Janet
September 6th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
[...] Provo Labs and Provo Labs Solutions drama (see posts on this blog). [...]
December 27th, 2006 at 9:40 am
[...] Janet’s blog becomes the discussion board for the Provo Labs blow up. [...]