Red Herring v. AO

Tony Perkins t's off on Alex Vieux (see "French socialist" relaunches Red Herring) on AlwaysOn in retaliation for Alex’s comments in the Merc. Note that AO and (the new) Red Herring are essentially direct competitors--web site and events companies covering Silicon Valley business trends. For the record, the founders of Red Herring (of which I was one) have nothing to do with the relaunch of RedHerring.com, and it appears that Alex Vieux, new owner of the Red Herring brand, has decided to publicly criticize (in the San Jose Mercury News) the Herring of old.

I have to admit to being puzzled why Vieux would decide to position the new Red Herring against the old Red Herring (and dis the literally hundreds of people who busted their asses working for Red Herring for over a decade), rather than position it against current competitors or position it positively in the context of today’s market (perhaps it’s easier to attack an entity that can’t respond?). But then again I am puzzled why a “socialist” in the Valley wants to run a media company about capitalist ventures in the first place.

One would hope that the messaging around a re-launched Red Herring would be about a vision for the future, creativity, and entrepreneurialism, rather than derision for the past and idle chatter about ties and socialists.

If Vieux is embarrassed by the brand, then he shouldn’t have bought it—go create your own brand, Alex. If he is interested in building a new future for the brand then he’s going to have to show a lot more imagination that has been displayed thus far. Good luck to the folks at Red Herring—especially those who played a role in Herring’s past—I hope that you overcome this inauspicious start.

Coda: to all the people of Red Herring’s past, employees and supporters, who worked so hard over the years to make it the great company it was, while I regret that some may not appreciate these efforts, this is one person who has eternal gratitude for what you did and will never forget you.