Looks like they’ve shut down comments from the other article… The posts there are almost identical to those posted as comments to a blog back in the last big dustup in November 06. You guys remember the blog from the person who moved here from LA and posted her experience after interviewing for a Project Management job? I’d departed from Motricity around that time and actually saved the thread, lemme see if I can find it and post it here…

“Ever heard of Motricity?”
29 Comments - Hide Original Post Collapse comments

I hadn’t heard of Motricity until I interviewed with them for a job as a Project Manager. Wow. What can I say. This was my first interview in North Carolina and about the strangest job interview I’ve ever had.

The interview was in a noisy restaurant, which was really weird because I could barely hear my interviewers over the hubub. Also, I had to answer their questions in between restaurant orders and trying to eat my lunch. If this was some kind of tactic to see how I handled myself under pressure, it didn’t really work.

All the woman wanted to talk about was how great she was, and the dude was just being social, not really asking me anything relevant. So, when I was done with the interview, I didn’t really know what to think. I was really really suprised when I got a call from my recruiter saying that they thought my skills were perfect and I was very qualified for the job...but...I was TOO NICE!!! Yes, they said they thought people would “walk all over me” there.

What???? Let me repeat that...They said I was “TOO NICE” and people would “WALK ALL OVER ME” At what point in a job interview are you supposed to get mean? Here I was a newcomer to the South, where I think everyone is nice, and I get this label. Wow. This wouldn’t sound so crazy if you didn’t know my background.

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and have worked in Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles. I worked in Entertainment in Los Angeles for 10 years at DreamWorks, Universal and Warner Bros. I have always managed successful projects in the most crazy stressful environments...and I can’t work at Motricity because I am too nice?

Get real people.
posted by Fran at 9:07 AM on Dec 14 2006

Anonymous said…
Count yourself lucky. Motricity pulled back from their IPO because they couldn’t make the numbers work. They are spending money like it is 1999. I give them 18 months.
2:59 PM

Anonymous said…
6 months more likely
6:53 PM

Anonymous said…
Fran, trust me, you’ve been visited by angels… they’re looking for corporate arrogance and once you’ve been dishonored the Motricity way, any shred of niceness in you will result in your spirit being broken.

I’m really sad for the good talented people that have been jettisoned… Been there, drunk the kool aid.
8:22 PM

Anonymous said…
why did they not have you meet at their new offices?

At least then you could say you had experienced time travel, seeing how the new digs are straight out of the dot-com “we got all this money so lets spend it on stupid stuff and look way cool” days.

you dodged a bullet…
5:43 AM

Anonymous said…
thank your lucky stars! nothing but bad, negative things at Motricity! They have also been known to fire folks within 3 months of hiring them
6:47 AM

Anonymous said…
I also drank the Kool Aid for over 2 yrs. No amount of hard work or loyalty seems to matter anymore. The company is definitely getting a bad rep in the area. Let’s hope those options bring us some reward for our suffering…

Fran - you should send them a thank you letter and start checking out some real tech start-ups in the area.
5:44 PM

Fran said…
I’m sorry to hear that Motricity is really as bad as I thought they were. I was actually lucky to find a job a week after I had my interview.

I’ve been working for a couple of months now, and love it. I can’t imagine what would have happened if the Motricity folkes actually liked me, YIKES!

I rode the dot com rollercoaster in the late 90’s and it was great. My favoite part was the layoff package, I took the summer off to play volleyball at the beach afterwards.

Good luck to everyone who is still suffering under the angry management at Motricity. You can always hope for a layoff, or strike out on your own.

The job market is great in Raleigh!
7:38 PM

Anonymous said…
Add me to the list of disappointed ex-employees. The company had everything going for it, but the top management is all about image, not about substance. Now the company, predictably, is crashing around them.
7:50 AM

Anonymous said…
It’s a sad, sad place. If you haven’t already been fired (for no reason) then you are either:
1. Waiting to be fired (for no reason)
2. Looking for another job before you are fired (for no reason)
3. Have already left before you are fired (for no reason)

But hey, the offices are nice!
8:34 PM

Anonymous said…
I’ve also been there and I am glad that I left. The “meaness” comes from the top. Cool offices can’t override the fact that it hostile dictatorship. It’s too bad the Motricity culture sucks because the industry is pretty cool.

Having said that I am sure there are some people that have positive things to say...I mean not every hates the place.
5:47 AM

Anonymous said…
Ever heard of “The Fox and the Grapes”? I noticed only people who lost their jobs (or didn’t get one) seem to have really strong opinions here…
11:16 AM

Anonymous said…
As far as sour grapes: if Motricity were a “great” company, many people would feel equally strong about the “goodness” of the company and come to their defense. Hmmmm....let me count those positive posts....zero. That should tell you something right there. And no, I’ve never worked for Motricity nor would I ever want to.
5:46 PM

Anonymous said…
Motricity is on a one way track down the toilet and they have only themselves and the invertebrate VPs working there to blame. They ran off 95% of the talent the company originally had and I feel sorry for what few talented people remain there. I’m sure they hate their lives.

If you want to work in a hollow environment (just like the new building) to become a highly trained specialist at backstabbing, brown-nosing and self-absorption, Motricity is the place for you. I wouldn’t trust any VP there with painting my dog house, much less managing money and running an e-commerce business. The new headquarters is just like the company philosophy: all flash, no substance (or ethics).

Talented, honest, hard-working people will not fit in at Motricity because that contradicts the company’s management style and “character.” Consider yourself lucky if you’ve left there, gotten fired or don’t get hired there.
1:35 PM

Anonymous said…
I worked there too for 2 years and hated it. If you think anything of your happiness, professional development and mental well-being, don’t work there.
1:45 PM

Anonymous said…
Round the bowl, down the hole Go Motricity Go…

Yep you can take Motricity and probably fertilize your lawn with it. Run by the best snake oil salesman in the world. Proof that money does not buy class...or brains.
7:44 AM

Anonymous said…
Without a doubt some of the most unqualified, dumb and shockingly ignorant people I have ever worked with in my life. The few token smart people imported into the company from elsewhere either got canned or quit. Each day was a drama and I was shocked that some of them had enough sense to spell their own name.
Ever seen Deliverance?
Put mobile content in the hands of those guys from Deliverance, add a dash of shameless spending and enormous undeserved ego from their “CEO” (and yes thats a quote because he is no where near qualified for that title) and you have Motricity.
Banjo music anyone?
10:04 AM

Anonymous said…
It is a sad place to be sure. Many very good people committed their life and career only to be deceived and disrespected. There have been a couple of excellent senior leaders there, but they were run off as soon as the CEO recognized they were much more qualified than he was. I would like to have followed their past President & COO but I don’t know where he ended up. Anyone know?
10:49 AM

Anonymous said…
First I think it’s funny how Fran’s Blog has turned into such a lightning rod against Motricity.

Second, I have never worked at Motricity and don’t know that much about the place. I have worked in a couple start-ups however and I can say that one of the reasons they often fail is because of the laissez-faire culture that most of them have. Without a sense of urgency and lacking a warchest start-ups are doomed for failure. So then, who instills the culture required for a start-up to be successful? Sr. Mgmt of course, and sometimes (well, most times) that means being they must be a-holes. Without that strict discipline and focus that start-ups demand, they too often become more about 2 hour lunches, foosball, endless meaningless chat sessions, and a slow meandering death. While I might be generalizing a bit I think it’s fair to say that Motricity has seen a fair bit of success. Does anyone know another company that has raised 150+ million, hired several hundred employees and is in a position to have a successul financial event?

So go ahead and bitch, but frankly if you don’t like the place leave and get a job at IBM where you can do your 9-5 and work in relative obscurity. Motricity didn’t choose you, you chose Motricity...so get out and quit yer bitchin’.

If it turns out that Motricty is successful and makes your stock options worth something, will you still complain or will you thank God that management didn’t allow failure to happen. If on the other hand the place really is that bad then they will not be able to get the talent they need and they will die because of the culture they created.

From reading the posts I have no doubt it is a “difficult” place to work. but sometimes success is “difficult”. If you are not up for it, then vote with your feet. As Fran said, there is a fair bit of work in the area for talented people. Go find a better place to work.

Amen
11:31 AM

Anonymous said…
So to follow up on the above comment, more people have quit then been laid off. People are exiting by their own choice in droves. So...people are not choosing Motricity and ask anyone familiar with the company how many people have quit in the last 12 months. And those that are there are all looking - including me!
5:52 AM

Anonymous said…
This thread has taken an interesting turn. Regarding the perception of ‘bitching’ by current and former employees, you really need to pick up the clue phone.

Motricity was able to leverage its market & position, funding and good PR to recruit talented people from all around the country. Very few folks who are or were there are on their first (or 2nd) startup. Many have achieved success and prospered elsewhere at respected, high growth companies. No one here bitches about working hard, the prospect of doing so and being on the vanguard of success in an emerging market is among the reasons we landed here. Sadly, the problems at Motricity are exactly as have been discussed here.

Motricity’s most vexing problems start at the top. Some say they’re manifested in its inability to deliver what’s been promised on schedule. Some of this has to do with execution by its staff. But others are vocal that it’s because the CEO makes promises his company can’t (and sometimes shouldn’t) keep. Worse is when these promises are made to customers that will never generate meaningful revenue, but adversely impact delivery to those who do.

Motricity is a story of conflicting goals from the top, and a blind mandate to do it all at any (unfunded) cost - a recipe for disaster. Despite Herculean efforts, product quality suffers, schedules slip and people get run through a shredder. Senior management appears to act as though its people are disposable, but this is not SF, Seattle or Boston where talent is abundant - all of this could come back to haunt the company.

If you hear bitching, it’s because this company, with the right leadership, could have been every bit as exciting and fun to work at as any startup in the Valley. Instead, Motricity will either be acquired soon (likely case) or its coming implosion will be as bad as any from the dot bomb days.
1:40 PM

Fran said…
Brilliant post, I couldn’t have said it better. In fact, I don’t feel like I have to say anything else.

I do think that they will have trouble getting anyone to buy them though. All the venture capital they have on loan to them has made them very, very expensive and I imagine their company is owned by many, many people at this point.

I would like to know if they are profitable, and if so, what is their money multiplier? If they are up for sale at 10x their yearly profit, plus the 150million debt to the venture capitalists, they could be very pricy indeed.

I dont know much about the valuation process, just what my husband’s company is worth and how the VC’s valued it. It was an interesting process for my husband and his partners and they chose not to go with VC money right now.
3:03 PM

Anonymous said…
there’s been a lot of consolidation in this market recently, including jamba, mobilitec, mqube. I’m no expert, but I believe those deals were done at strikingly similar valuations of approximately $300M, which is 2x Motricity’s VC funding. Not sure that they expected to get 2x when hey placed that bet.
3:13 PM

Anonymous said…
Guarantee that the VC’s were looking for , MUCH more than 2x their investment. Could get that in much shorter order with less risk in real estate.

The overriding theme of the posts here is related not to Motricity’s business model but the upper management. That is where the issue is. When you have upper management, read the CEO, making medium 6 figures, very generous perks, etc. while employees are being let go, well that tells the story. In short, they seem to be confusing activity with results. I do not wish them ill will, I only hope that those who own COMMON shares see a return. Based on the upper managements history you can bet they will get their payday, question is will anyone else? Doubtful
7:44 PM

Anonymous said…
Oh, the CEO is making far more than that. His wife is on the payroll, has been forever. Currently as Senior VP of Community Affairs, but the title just changes over time (to protect the innocent?). I’ve seen her in the office maybe 3 times in a couple of years. It’s disgusting the way they’ve abused this promising company as their own play toy.
4:57 AM

Anonymous said…
Oh… the CEO also only travels by private jet or uber first class acommodations. (I have SEEN the Presidential Suite he has stayed in!) Additionally the lunches served on china and crystal glasses are legendary. I have seen it with my own eyes. The man has company employees pick up his dry-cleaning, do his grocery shopping and he never, EVER been a guy to roll up his sleeves or get his hands dirty.
He lives a very lush, plush life and reminds you at every turn almost daily that he is rich.
Ask HIM where the $160m went to.
Take a walk thru the “Taj Mahal” of his personal office suite in the new building and you can do the math pretty quick.
7:39 AM

Anonymous said…
Just a little background about Ryan Wuerch, the Motricity CEO, might provide perspective for those who think the comments about Motricity are “too harsh”.

Before Motricity, Ryan was the CEO of PalmGear, the Internet’s no. 2 retailer of Palm OS software, based in Brentwood, TN. He reached his lofty management position by purchasing the company from its financially distressed owner. Nothing wrong with that, but it serves to underscore his serious lack of any previous business management experience.

His management style then was pretty much the same as it has been described now. He was totally unable to set clear priorities or delegate responsibility to his subordinates. To work for Ryan, meant you had to be willing to put up with continual micro-management, verbal abuse, and threats.

Nepotism ran rampant. Not only did his wife ostensibly work for the company, but he also hired his brother-in-law for a “marketing” position he was no more qualified for than Ryan was to be the company’s CEO.

Ironically, Ryan would tout the book “Good to Great” to his employees as his model for running PalmGear. Apparently, Ryan skipped all those chapters that talked about how the CEO’s of great companies were modest, non-assuming individuals who gave most of the credit for their success to their subordinates, because he was just as egocentric then as he is now.

Ryan does have a great deal of charisma, so I have no doubt that his silver-tongued oratory has served him well to this point. But charisma wears thin quickly when the business continually fails to deliver a profit. I have little doubt that under Ryan’s inept leadership that Motricity is eventually doomed to failure.

The true shame of it is that many decent people will end up going down on this ship with him.
3:00 PM

Anonymous said…
Amen to that! The way the ship is headed, it won’t be long now.
6:35 AM

Anonymous said…
OMG...I work at Motricity and I think these people may be right
1:11 PM

“Anonymous said…
Fran -

Oh dear I beleive we have gotten off on the wrong foot

Let me clarify my thoughts as I do believe we are not that far apart in thought.

1. Perhaps A-hole was the wrong term. What I was suggesting was that every company creates its own unique culture. That culture is dictated by Sr. Mgmt, and some Sr. Mgmt are A-holes and others as you’ve stated with SKG are respectful and generous. Most are somewhere in the middle. From all indications the culture at Motricity is more on the “a-hole” side of the ledger. In short, however, a company is what it is. Complaining about the culture is fruitless and the best recourse for any worker is to find a culture that best fits their needs, desires, and tolerance. And in turn a company will reap what it sows. I would much rather work in an SKG-like environment (and do) and you couldn’t pay me to put up with a sucky environment - believe me I have worked in those places. If Motricity’s culture can attract high quality talent who can thrive/tolerate that culture then great, otherwise that culture will come back and bite them in the ass. I would also say that a culture that doesn’t provide leadership, direction, AND accountabilty is almost as bad as one that is dictatorial, and frankly are both short term plays.

2. I never meant to suggest that Motricty people are lazy. I never said that and certainly didn’t mean to imply it. All I said that complaining about the place is a waste of time and energy.

3. I agree that the fact that they raised a bunch of money and hired (and layed off) a bunch of people is no measure of success. I did say that they are in a POSITION to be successful. Certainly more so than the start-up that is scraping to meet next week’s payroll, let alone have the means to execute on those initiatives that will bring success. I was there in the dot-com age. Had the Herman Miller chair, catered lunches, and game room...and the wrecking ball that crushed it all when things came apart.

4. I actually do sense that Motricity does have focus and discipline, its just in an environment that seems mean-spirited and nasty. Does it have to be that way? No. Is it that way? Yes. Can the rank and file do anything to change it? No.

5. I am not crying sour grapes, just pointing out the obvious as an innocent bystander, and working from experience of where bitching and moaning about things get you - nowhere.

6. Comparing Motricity to SKG is kind of funny. Sort of like comparing Frankenstein to Brad Pitt in a beauty contest. But I recognize you were doing so from your experience.

7. As many have acknowledged, “not being good enough for them” sounds like a compliment. Take it as such. Frankly I don’t know what all the emotion is about. I hardly know about them other than from this blog and the odd N&O;article here and there. I do know that when a small company like this can generate such a negative response to a posting in a blog about moving from CA to NC then something is severely dysfunctional there. SEVERELY disfuntional.

8. It sure makes for great theater though doesn’t it? I might even be willing to pay to just go there and watch what happens on a day to day basis. It sounds like a bad VH-1 Reality show.

Can we be friends again now
2:41 PM

Anonymous said…
Although I haven’t worked there, you’ll come to understand that this is a small town...especially in the start-up arena. I was sent your link from a former Motricity person who “got out” a few months ago and worked with me in a previous life. I also hope that they ultimately succeed as it will be good for the area, particularly for start-ups. At the same time I am baffled by the comments your post brought forth. I can’t say I have seen anything like it. I suspect there is some bitterness laced in with the comments but even with that there seems to be a clear concensus on the inner workings.

I would like to hear the other side of story as I have to beleive there are people that love it there. If not then that place is doomed.

Glad to hear you found a better position. I think you’ll love it here.
7:44 PM

Anonymous said…
A-hole was not the wrong term in this case. You might want to throw in degenerate also. The fruits of Motricity’s labor are starting to come into harvest and it’s not the fruits they were hoping for. It serves them right.
9:26 AM

Anonymous said…
Some clarifying points:
-The folks here who have complained or voiced negatively about Motricity (and yes I worked there) are not doing so because they are mad they were let go (if that fits their situation). They are upset because they were sold a bill of goods by the snake oil salesman of a ceo.

-I would not classify them any of them as a-holes. There are indeed some very capable managers and employees. Frankly the only one that virtually any had any issues with as far as style, honesty, ethics (etc. etc.) is the CEO. This is because IMHO, that he spins everything so that it is about him. To see what I mean Google his name and look in the past. Hmmmmmm..... not a single success comes up. Oh wait, he is on the board for the Miss America pageant. Now look up the past of the original companies that made up motricity, i.e. Power by Hand (the company he led) and Pinpoint Networks. Two more steps; One: look up who started those companies, Two: Look at the motricity.com pages and the ceo bio.... Fill in the blank XXXXXXX below from the bio page:

“Ryan Wuerch XXXXXXX Motricity in 2001 and has since served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.”

The point is that this company is all about feeding his ego, living the lifestyle of Larry Ellison but without the profits, etc.

For a profile of an accomplished, humble and more CEO, take a look at the founder and CEO of Costco. WOW.... Regular guy, makes barely $250k (may be less, do not recall from the article I read about him a while back) while running a company doing BILLIONS in revenue and MILLIONS in profits.

I am all for C-level types making big-bucks BUT not when goals have not been met AND not when they are the ONLY ones profiting. As far as valuation, certainly not a wall street type though with the funding and share prices that need to be seen before common stock holders see anyone the valuation would need to be in the $500 million range ON THE LOW SIDE. Realistically closer to $1BB. Lower than that and the common stock holders get little, probably nothing. No worries though, the ceo will already have his multi-million dollar house paid for with his and his wifes salary, perks, etc. Sad part is that if they do get the big buck valuation it will have been in spite of the leadership, it will be simply the market.
6:08 AM

Anonymous said…
From your local paper:
http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/486958.html

Ryan Wuerch, the 39-year-old CEO of Durham-based Motricity, dropped out of college after a year because he was frustrated that the curriculum was “book-related,” rather then stressing real-world applications.

Motricity has prospered under Wuerch’s leadership. The company—whose technology helps people buy and receive games, graphics, ring tones and music on their mobile phones—has raised $152 million from investors to date, likely the most venture capital ever raised by a North Carolina company. The company has about 400 employees worldwide—including about 300 in Durham, up from 170 last summer.

Wuerch, the father of three sons, wants his boys to go to college. “I actually tell my sons to do as I say, not as I do,” Wuerch said. “I want them to have the discipline.”
9:15 PM

Anonymous said…
Wow! Imagine having to go to college and actually having to crack a book! Had he stayed in school long enough, someone might have told him that the business cases he refused to read in college actually come from real-world applications. Business case-studies blueprint both success and failure stories and all of the different components that went into those campaigns. Grounded, time-tested examples would have been helpful to Motricity 5 years ago.

Raising venture capital is one thing; delivering on what you promise to developers and partner companies is another. This company doesn’t have the technology to do it and is reduced to being simply a paper tiger.

If there are two people in a race and you finish last, you can always make the public think more highly of you by saying you finished second. Motricity is straining to put a positive spin on its predicament because the News and Observer also mentioned the company is “trying to be profitable for the first time.” If the true nature of its lack of profitability were known, VC funding would probably come to a screeching halt and the company would cease to exist. Either way, Wuerch would be the only one to profit from that debacle.
11:57 AM

Anonymous said…
To the blog that said:

“Ryan Wuerch, the 39-year-old CEO of Durham-based Motricity, dropped out of college after a year because he was frustrated that the curriculum was “book-related,” rather then stressing real-world applications.”

That is nothing more than a fancy way of saying he was too lazy and couldn’t hack it in college.
12:08 PM

Anonymous said…
I have to disagree with the statement “he was too lazy and couldn’t hack it in college.” College isn’t the be all to end all and lacking a college degree doesn’t always classify someone as “lazy”. While I think the majority of those without degrees probably hinder their success in life, I think college can stifle the entrepreneurially inclined. Who can argue that most of what is taught in business school is not applicable in most business environments. You really learn about business by working in business. Some of the smartest people I know do not have college degrees and some of the dumbest people I know have PhDs.

While I can’t speak to this CEO, I wouldn’t classify all college dropouts as failures. Something tells me that there are about 300 college graduates working for this CEO and earning a fraction of what he does. Perhaps if he had made it through college he’d be working at Motricity for another CEO prick. As for his style, ethics, ego, etc...the Board of the company ultimately measure his overall performance. If he is living this lavish lifestyle it’s only because they allow him too. I have too assume they know about his extravagance and approve of it based on the results he delivering. If not, then maybe they need to go back to college.

As a side note if he is the person that is being described I can almost guarantee you that he doesn’t give a crap about what people think.
2:20 PM

Anonymous said…
Ryan Wuerch also had a company called “The Nobility Group” that bought a magazine called “Success Magazine” in 2001 and then he fired everyone. The previos owner (Stanley Van Etton) is being investigated by the SEC for a pyramid scam.

http://www.usatoday.com/educate/entre2.pdf

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2002/01/14/story3.html

“Frugone says Nobility’s (Wuerch’s Company) short involvement did some damage to Success in that Nobility didn’t produce further funds after making a downpayment on the transaction, but closed the magazine in the interim. Frugone cited the pending litigation when asked about specifics regarding Van Etten and other parties. “
5:19 PM

Anonymous said…
I appreciate the point you’re trying to make regarding the value of a college education being relative. But you’re off base here, Ryan is no Bill Gates.

Ryan dropped out of college to whet his entrepreneurial spirit as a nutritional supplement salesman. He couldn’t craft a vision or corp strategy to fight his way out of a paper bag. I’ve been in many meetings with him where it’s apparent his credentials stem most from the fact that he has the best hair and a hot wife, a dimbulb former Miss America.

One minute, he’s a megalomaniac, berating his staff, the next he’s aw shucks, ingratiating and obsequious; waxing platitudes about the importance of Motricity employees and their families that allow them to make such a significant personal sacrifice and work such long hours.

Oh yeah, then he fires or lays them all off during Christmas.
5:37 PM

Anonymous said…
Ryan Wuerch was also VP of Sales at Natus Corporation - a multi level marketing firm. Multi level marketing is another name for pyramid scheme

http://www.secinfo.com/dRc22.9Q5.d.htm

(i) direct selling
(by virtue of multi-level marketing or otherwise) and distribution of skin-care
products, vitamins and related products, and (ii) the marketing and distribution
of Patches in the Exclusive Market, as such terms are defined in the
Distribution Agreement.
5:43 PM

Anonymous said…
hehe...this is like a freaky spy novel. I don’t get it though, it doesn’t mention any of this in his bio? What this about Miss America?
7:26 PM

Anonymous said…
She’s a really sweet girl and a Miss America 1996. The perfect trophy wife that others that are enamored by the CEO want to emulate. Looking successful is part of the game.
9:27 PM

Anonymous said…
From personal experience, and not having a college degree myself, the lack of a degree is not the issue in this instance. I have managed a couple companies and founded a couple on top of that as well. All were successful, bringing in low 7 figures in revenues and were profitable. Were there things that might have been done better had I had a BS or Masters? Of course, but lack of did not lead to failure in my instances.

From reading the posts about Motricity here and the recent replies about the CEO, and other info I have heard and/or read about the CEO, the issues are his arrogance and never-ending need to feed his own ego. I actually heard him do a speech once which was littered with him extolling his own experiences though none were with substance. They were about how he rented a yacht to woo some Best Buy C-level folks, how his ethics and virtues were so high, etc. Reminded me of an old saying (though I cannot remember the exact wording) that went something like this: “Beware of the man who tells you how great he is over and over as he is in his words making himself to be a believer along with you.”
5:40 AM

I don’t think they turned off comments on the other thread, it just only displays the first 100.  It looks like the site needs to be updated to account for that situation.  I doubt it has happened before.

Thanks for moving the thread!

What strikes me as strange is how many people who should have been in the know told me that Motricity was a “great” company when I was considering a senior position there.  It was obvious that it wasn’t for anyone with access to Google:  executive suite filled with college dropouts, CEO who hadn’t done anything but pyramid marketing (for nutritional supplement scams, of all things, which particular ones he did no longer exist, I wonder if anyone got the products the ordered) and buying a bad business (bankrupt magazine) from a fraudster, CEO who left his first wife in Tennessee, no sign that they were making any money (kept having to ask daddy VC industry for bigger allowances), different stated strategy every week, stale market data on their website and in their “white papers”, 2 different guys both claiming responsibility for strategy, acquisition targets demaning cash rather than options, etc.  They were also too highly hyped by the press.  I think the local investment community just got hoodwinked.  Now they’ve got a sophisticated player in Icahn, who gave them exactly 1 year after his original investment (anyone noticed increasing irritability and panic by the CEO over this time?) and then pulled this jujitsu merger to position Motricity to fold into Infospace for sale to Motorola, Seimens, or Microsoft.  Icahn will get paid (no one else will).  Employees who’ve been wronged can rest assured that the CEO will lose his job (it will surprise him), his house (looks like Motricity, thereby the investors, own the house and hold the mortgage), and maybe this trophy wife everyone talks about (their lifestyle will change dramatically).  Being a college dropout with a high-profile failure such as Motricity, he won’t have many places to go after this, certainly nothing paying six figures.

It was laughable reading Motricity’s statements awhile back that they had “selected” Goldman and Morgan to run the IPO.  Those guys wouldn’t touch this money pit with a ten-foot pole.  I bet they saw the books and ran screaming for the aiport.  The days of going public with a story and a fat wad of VC cash are long over.  It’s sort of unfortunate that such vacuous people (management) can “succeed” for so long.  Look what we let this guy do:  take important roles in the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and give speeches to our youngsters about business.  Reminds me of the parenting book written by Britney Spears’ mother, which almost got published.  But we in the public were fooled so long that we must be part of the problem:  We should all have a little more healthy skepticism, especially in the press.

It’s been written on these threads that the CEO often dropped the names of executives of other companies with whom he had had lunch or dinner.  But it doesn’t seem as if many of these meetings came to much fruition.  Wasn’t he a little embarrassed by that?  Or did anything actually ever happen?

What was the internal talk at Motricity about having bought a company (Infospace) that consistently lost about $15 million on revenue of $50 million per year?  Is this layoff of 200 people (assuming each gets $75 thousand including everything) an intent to cut that $15 million, so they’re back to only Motricity’s original losses, now on $100 million revenue?

What a fun sandbox to play in you all have here! What I keep wondering with all this pontification is who among you has real money. I mean market swaying CEO trembling lip money. None of you do! So lets look at what real money has said about MO. The biggest baddest VC partners have put not just Investor funds into MO but also their own money. These are not people who make such selections arbitrarily. They get to look at the best deals all day long and only chose the ones they think will make them a lot more money. Also they tend to be more engineers than financial types. They have been there and done that and have the air medals from taking their own company to the point where they did and IPO and walked away with enough serious money to turn back around and play the VC game.
Also take a look at Daddy WarBucks Carl Ichan. Now here is a guy who some 45 years ago began a crusade to turn a few thousand dollars of investment funds into one of the most successful portfolios in history. CEO’s and senior management hate this guy because he agitates changes that have no regard for feelings and the soft side of corporate life. The changes are for the best results of the company and the growth of the company in terms of success and equity. In the past few years out of numerous investments in public companies his selections had two losers and the rest winners. If you were along for the the ride in this portion of Mr. Ichan’s portfolio then you would have watched a 54 billion dollar rise in equity.
What if the guy running the place is a bone head? It maybe that this needs to be expressed to the VC’s and Mr. Ichan. To all you billionairs reading this my appology to you but as for the rest of you I offer you the same type of sincerly felt appology as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

So what you’re saying is, the only people who ever learn anything when dealing with/working for startups is the VCs?  It’s a shame that only the investors can have any insight on the process, despite the fact that many of us have worked for various startups for years.

VCs invest in a range of companies with potential because they *know* the majority of these startups fall down, for whatever reason.  I’ve seen plenty of companies with talented folks go down because they misjudged the size of their market, misjudged their potential niche in that market, or misjudged their strategy for entering it.  VCs invest in the *potential* of the company, not because they magically know it’s a sure thing, and when that potential works, they make 10x what they put in, but that one thing that works out is paying for the 5 others they invested in that didn’t pan out.

And as for “It maybe [sic] that this needs to be expressed to the VC’s and Mr. Ichan.”—I’m sure that would work as well as you’re accepting the opinions of the employees and former employees of this forum who aren’t billionaires. 

Whoa.  Settle down there fella.  We didn’t mean to touch a nerve with our meager hundreds.  I think you’re actually in basic agreement with most of the postings here, in that it appears Motricity has a sufficient technology base to deliver some value to society.  It looks like Mr. Icahn and the super-smart billionaire VCs you so admire, in their infinite, loaded wisdom, have determined that it will require changes in control, strategy, management, capitalization, and even location to unleash and capture that value.

Wow.  Forum troll on the loose in here?  Way to go Charlie Bit Me.

Thanks for the responses RR and toCBM
The point here is that MO is not an hatchling like you find in an incubator group. Start ups are funded in figures way lower than what MO has gotten and you don’t find big fish going after them. VC firms back some small start ups but the game is more rewarding when they let the forces of bad management, poor execution and other factors weed out the firms that despite a good idea just did not make it. Ichan is not an investor in hatchings and companies don’t go IPO for peanuts anymore.
So this gang has a killer concept and huge market share especially after the M&A;and is in a growth arena. What is needed now is to meet the demands of a Morgan or Goldman and what Wall Street dictates for the expectation of a firm to go IPO. Getting lean and squeezing out redundancy following M&A;is always expected. Bemoaning the fact that the darling of Durham may leave town and lay off a lot of folks is what started this blog. Guess what? If it makes the firm more profitable and Wall Street likes it then what disgruntled wannabes and ex-employees think will not matter to investors, or the underwriters.
If the top management is as messed up as is being said I am sure they will be corrected, moved, demoted or replaced. Mo has an opportunity to do some great stuff if it holds course. Could it be a Titanic in the process of going down, hey anything is possible, but I tend to believe that this situation is a tempest in a teapot for now and that if this is turning into a strange brew there are back up systems to change the course ie change the top management.

Charlie, I guess the real question is, what’s “killer” about it?

Motricity’s main product is Just Another Web Store with a slightly specialized interface.  The only thing Motricity has over the billions of web-based purchasing software developers out there is “relationships” with big carriers and tech folks with good knowledge of mobile phone browser quirks, and my impression was that most of the folks Mo had “relationships” with didn’t have a lot of goodwill left after rollout.

Those relationships and mobile browser skills certainly still have value, but I don’t see how it’s “millions of dollars and getting a big ol’ IPO” value.  I can see that as something that could work as a small startup making customized mobile portal web software, but I can’t see it as a 600-employee behemoth making customized mobile portal web software.  I got hired on when Motricity was still relatively “small” and it still seemed like it could be possible to do something reasonable with it, growth-wise, but the expansion that occurred later just didn’t make sense to me, and the explosion in management made even less sense.  That’s when it was time to get out.

If the concept was “killer” it would have killed by now.  If you ignore the name changes, this beast has already been around almost 10 years.  It’s what people refer to as “the walking dead”.  And a “huge market share” of a money-losing market is not a good thing.  I think the complaint of most people is that the underlying value, and their efforts, have been wasted too long without the back up systems to which you refer kicking in.  Face facts:  neither Morgan nor Goldman is ever going to touch this thing.  But there are other banks that do IPOs, so who knows?.  Icahn’s game isn’t really venture/IPOs, he’s more of a mature company guy, so he’s aiming to sell to a big strategic buyer.  Here’s what’s going to happen:  they’re going to get rid of all Durham management, maybe everybody in Durham, and take the technology and customer contracts to Washington, change the name to something else, and have another go at a 3-year IPO window, trying to sell it to a strategic investor the whole time.  Icahn and the last round of investors will get paid first.  They said he got 9% for his $50 million, so the whole $185 million round he lead was around 30%, which is a control percentage, so they’ll be willing, able, and happy to force a sale for about $250 million within the next couple of years, getting a healthy return and letting the other investors MAYBE get out with their skins.

We can all learn something about business ethics from the links below:
http://www.darden.edu/corporate-ethics/pdf/mbep.pdf
http://www.corporate-ethics.org/

A corporation’s goal is not simply to maximize shareholder’s profit.  There are employees, environment, media, government and other stack holders that a company needs to consider.

Is dumping employees at such a scale ethical in terms of this particular situation?  If it is a management responsiblity, do they own employees an apology?

It’s ethical as long as it’s not theft, fraud, or laziness.  Laying off all the smart professionals in the Durham office will allow them to participate in endeavors which generate more value for the rest of society, which is more ethical than having them waste any more of their lives on a value-destroying pipe-dream boondoggle.  If a corporation does anything other than maximize profit, it’s making value judgments on behalf of the groups you claim are stakeholders that the individuals in the groups would themselves perhaps not make.  And let’s leave the media and for gosh sakes, the government of all things, out of the list of people whose stakes needs to be delicately and protectively held for them.  The government can and does take care of itself just fine through its monopoly on violence.  Let’s get all indignantly ethical for the poor who can’t care for themselves and for employees affected by economic dislocations and decisions over which they have no control.

I’ve been through many companies through my 25 years as a consultant and I have never seen a company throw money away like the Big Motrocity.  Icahn must be embarrassed to be associated with this POS.  Wuerch could sell ice to an eskimo.  I am sure he had Icahn drinking the kool aid as well.  This company will never be profitable and will never have positive cash flow with its current leadership and the way they piss away cash.  Wuerch uses the company’s cash like his personal pocket book.  Most of the incompent VP’s could never survive at a real company.  Does anyone have any idea what Nathan does other than pick up Ryan’s laundry? 

I only stayed for a few months at this POS and got wise before the Motrocity moved to the Tobacco complex, but had experienced many of the same things people posting here have.  I always laughed my a$$ off when Ryan would leave his office to ring the conference room bell when they signed an upside down contract.  The quarterly walks across the parking lot to the “state of the union addresses” were also rather comical.

To all that have had the experience of working at Motricity know that they only thing to learn is during your interview at the next company ask more questions regarding spending and corporate responsibility.

Here’s another POV:

Why blast Shawntel?  I have always had cordial experiences with her.  Does she humble herself?  Yes!  I did see her washing cars for charity in the hot sun at the old Meridian office while pregnant.

Ryan.  I have also had cordial experiences with Ryan.  He was always grateful for the work I had done for him.  I have seen him in situations where he “served” the employees.

Taylor Brockman.  Looks like everyone agrees that he is an awesome person.  I would work for him any day!

Overall, I learned a lot at Motricity.  I enjoyed the camaraderie and the work even though it got intense and crazy.  Let’s face it, Motricity was created to make money for the VC’s.  Yes, it is painful to lose your job.  Hopefully those who are displaced will find jobs in the Triangle.

Man… people sure hate Motricity. Me personally, always a good experience. what can I say, I do good work for decent people. Were there some issues? Hells yeah, dumbs people, nepotism, wasted money, low grade lies. But it is a business, shit happens, half those who were gluttons for punishment and went through the IBM hire...fire...fire...fire thing are suddenly the first people bitching. You should have seen people after the WRAL article, you would have though the ski was falling. Overall a lot of dumb people made some bad decisions, and there will be cuts. Will there be a move to Washington, personally I do not think so, does not make sense.

For those of you who think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, please take your bullshit and go to the other side...you’ll need it to fertilize the grass to help make it greener.

I just got laid off today, but I did get a piece of delicious cheasecake as a parting gift.

For all those who drank from the cool aid, please go see a doctor, you do remember Jim Jones (Ryan) and Jonestown(motricity).

For the love of God man DON’t drink the cool aid

Interviewed for the Executive Assistant position and realized I had made a big mistake interviewing when his current assistant when asked how she like working with Ryan (5 years) she replied “well, we’ve had some knock down drag outs”, I would have gotten up and walked away except I didn’t want it to reflect poorly on my recruiter so I went through, met with Ryan, who I felt was too pretentious, and I don’t do pretentious, shook hands and left.  Very sad that his current admin felt this way after 5 years, but glad she was able to move on!

Their content ingestion platform sucks. Really.

I have to agree with Timmah!  I can say that my experience at Motricity has been very positive with the exception of a few of the things you usually experience in any corporate environment.  Motricity has it’s share of egomaniacs like any other company and has made some very bad decisions these past few months.  There are people there that think a lot more highly of themselves than they should.  Ryan is a con artist, no doubt about that.  Lord Elfman is a heartless, soulless bastard.  These two and their cohorts are nothing more than criminals with big checking accounts and fancy cars.

The thing is, this is happening all over the corporate world and not just at Motricity.  Executives can’t seem to get it through their minds that if you want to trim the fat, you have to start at the top and work down. Is it really necessary to have a dozen vice presidents in a company of 350 people?  That’s roughly one VP for every 30 employees...most companies have mid-level managers that have more direct reports than that.  For the salary that just one of these over-bloated idiots makes you can save four or five jobs that are actually involved in doing the work to make the business run.

To Platform Sucks......you’ve obviously never heard of mCore.

I signed on for a contract as a Senior developer in ‘06. I could tell within a week that the youngsters who had designed the storefront technology had no idea what they were doing. The funny/sad part was that they were very proud of the crap code they had written and didn’t want to hear about accepted design patterns or testability or anything that smelled of software engineering (hint: copy/paste is not a software development methodology).

The other ding against them to me was their cramming the engineering staff on the bottom floor in a dark, dungeon-like area below ground level while marketing/sales/executives enjoyed open, well-lit areas. Clearly engineering was not important within the culture of this company and it showed in the environment, the quality of their technology and their ability to deliver on time.

Although I usually don’t leave contracts early I exited this one within a few weeks.

I only hope that after the crash the developers there land in new positions with kindly mentors who can help them un-learn the bad programming practices they’ve been using at motricity, before they do too much damage to themselves and others.

The problem with Engineering Operations was that we logistically above ground and physically not far enough below ground.  We had an awesome batcave at the old office where people didn’t dare venture, making work quieter and better.  The problem was that we were out in this ‘showcase facility’ and expected to be on display, but never involved.

It might’ve been nice if the ex-military duo managing Ops had been useful enough to get the right Ops people into projects in time to explain why certain decisions would/wouldn’t work, but extra lighting won’t do that.

I was surprised to learn that so many employees of Motoricity have been and are being laid off.

I am a business owner out of the mid-west and in the distant past made several attempts to contact RW for the purpose of investing in Motricity. I am happy now that RW never bothered to return my phone calls or respond to my email messages. I guess I wasn’t good enough.

I wish all former employees of Motricity well. There are many openings for intelligent people such as all of you former Motricity employees here in the mid-west. I would print my name and name of my company however I have been advised to do so would not be a wise decision.

Are Ryan and his family moving to Bellevue, Washington? I hope his wife and family will not suffer as a result of this debacle.