I agree. In no way am I trying to rip on Scoble, I just agree that it is difficult to launch a startup and that you can't just group a bunch together and say they suck. Especially when you are Robert Scoble. Tons of people read what he says and just believe it's true without actually checking. Not that he is wrong all the time. but in this instance, what he says goes a long way and can hurt the companies that are actually good. Maybe I'm off base here, just my two cents as well. :) - Niall Connellan

I think Robert made a big mistake here. He should not have done this. Judging startups that have not even launched yet by their websites in one minute... come on! - Loic Le Meur

I don't get it -- if their websites suck (in Scoble's opinion) why shouldn't he say so. (And I have been through it Loic, many times.) People said my websites sucked, sometimes they were right, and sometimes not, but what the fuck, people have opinions, that's just the way it goes. In your world everyone hides what they think, I'd rather live in a world where people are expected to say what they think. We'd solve problems faster. Esp startups who have websites that suck. Maybe they'll fix them and succeed. - Dave Winer

And Loic, btw, Scoble worked for my startup. Just FYI. - Dave Winer

hey Dave, yes, people have the right to say startups suck before they even launched and by spending a minute on their website, sure. I also have the right to say my friend Scoble sucks for saying that, right? - Loic Le Meur

I love your face in the thumbnail for this video, Loic! - Zach Landes

From what I gather, Scoble was saying the websites suck, not that the actual startups are bad, wasn't he? - Derrick Kwa

here is the real truth: Opinion never caused a startup to fail. Let Robert say what he will. Let others say what they want. I hope those startups at DEMO bust ass and succeed through effort. I hope the startups at TC50 do the same. Those that allow the stones to break the glass houses deserve to fail epically. - Micah Baldwin

you are wrong Scoble said they suck, not only the websites: "I just visited every one of these companies. Boy do they almost all suck (at least their Web sites and if their sites suck, I can’t believe their products are going to do much better)" from http://scobleizer.com/2008... - Loic Le Meur

Loic: I know you're French, but read that again, now read it again, but slower. It implies that I visited the sites, and that the sites suck. I then infer that if your Website sucks, it might infer that your product sucks, but I don't quite cross that line. I'm going to answer you next. :-) - Robert Scoble

Agree with Zach about the pic, Loic. It's priceless! - Michelle Trent

Robert, what got me started is this shortcut you made "I can’t believe their products are going to do much better". How can you judge a product not even launched by a crappy website? WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT A COMPANY WEBSITE anyway? I don't even have one for Seesmic. In fact, we're building one, I will ask your advice. - Loic Le Meur

Loic: my point is that first impressions matter. A lot. My first impression of Seesmic still stands today. My first impression was seeing this really cool conversational video site that was different from any other I had seen previously. Now THAT was a launch. These? Well, OK, let's rejudge them on Friday. See ya then! - Robert Scoble

Wow, this is getting crazy, I think that people need to understand that everyone comes from a different perspective, Robert Scoble didn't understand the effect this would have on everyone because he has never actually been an entrepreneur. It is not his fault that he has different life experiences than others because everyone takes a different life path and Robert's is as a blogger. - Andrew Fielding

Loic, everyone cares about a startup's website. It's the first thing most people see when checking out a new product & it has a huge impact on the visitors attitude & vision for what the startup will be - surely you don't disagree with that? - Zee.

By the way, Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, in a separate post here on FriendFeed, said the same thing that these sites really sucked. So did Andrew Baron, founder of Rocketboom. I'm not alone here. - Robert Scoble

The fact is Robert made a statement about the quality of the landing pages of these soon to launch products and thought most of them sucked - and frankly I agree. Where he screwed up was he then implied that their actual products/companies sucked too and that's where the uproar lies..it's as simple as that. If Robert was writing for TIME Magazine, this story would be have been reviewed by a half a dozen people before going to publication & that critical error would have been pointed out.... - Zee.

however this is his blog and in the tech/web industry carries almost as much weight at a TIME magazine article and so it's understandable why so many people are pissed off. - Zee.

Robert, the more you comment, the more I disagree. Nobody gives a shit about a company website. Does Friendfeed have a company website? here is my video comment with more about this http://seesmic.com/video... - Loic Le Meur

Zee: if I worked at Time the story would have gotten killed because their editors don't care about startups. Oh, and if it were run it would be in four weeks in a back of the magazine where it wouldn't have gotten noticed anyway. But, you are right, it would have been fact checked and edited and all that. That's what happens to my FastCompany magazine column. - Robert Scoble

Friendfeed does have a company website Loic & it actually looks pretty damn inviting. - Zee.

Robert thanks for the compliments on Seesmic, really, but this is not a company site, it is our product, that is the whole difference. The startups you are talking about have not even started yet - Loic Le Meur

Loic: I think we're talking past each other. Let's remeet on Friday and then we'll compare the actual website and product (if they are different -- I don't think they are. Unless you think that Zoho is different from the spreadsheet inside). - Robert Scoble

Robert, deal. - Loic Le Meur

Look, Robert do have the same rights than any other one in a free world. He may tell you his opinion about topic. If people do rate the opinion of one person, in this case scoble's, it's not a problem of Robert, but of the people who think an opinion by a specific person is more worth, than any other one. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Nice to stand-up for the lil' ones trying to be "the little engines that could". Until Scoble comes up with a brand new idea and forks his own dime down for the start-up...then @loiclemeur it appears we've all been *had* by @scobleizer. Scoble just needed another article. plain and simple. yet it's the good fight to stand-up and help the little ones. - Jes Tu

I think scoble's post will make me and others put more effort into out sites. It's a positive influence on the web. Needed to be said. - Andrew Warner

Not continuing the discussion Loic? - Zee.

Loic, I appreciate you standing up for these start-ups here, and I agree with you...being in the middle of the whole startup thing myself, I've found myself to be a real believer in 'get something out there' -- even if its not perfect, polished, and with all that marketing jazz around...I think even Scoble deep down agrees with that - Michael Broukhim

And before you guys start insisting that sartups can't look any better before they launch, checkout how causecast.org setup their landing page. Quick and easy to create, but it's also a good representaion of the company. - Andrew Warner

Jes Tu: in my career I have worked at four startups and a fifth small company. I've put my own sweat into these things, which, for me, IS money. - Robert Scoble

Loic: would you allow a site you were about to launch look like some of these sites? - Andrew Warner

Michael, surely if you were going to go & spend $18000!!! on a product launch at DEMO. And you knew that your company was going to be mentioned before the actual event...you would create a really well designed intriguing, inviting, impressive landing page which made potential journalists & bloggers think "woah, this look interesting & impressive...i'll look out for these guys". - Zee.

i gotta say, i'm pissed off Loic has just jacked the debate & discussion...what happened to listening to your community Loic? - Zee.

Zee: I think there's something to that...I think it's a stretch to extrapolate from suboptimal PR strategies to products and the companies behind them 'sucking' ...there's limited time/$ and a lot of things to do... - Michael Broukhim

I think its inevitable that we judge a product by the company website - first impressions. In this case -the products haven't even launched yet. If they haven't launched yet, there is nothing for the website to do - they are just place holders at the moment. Will Scoble say they are great if the real website do some utterly neat AJAX? And maybe do some neat SAAS tricks as well? Both Loic and Scoble have valid points. - Roberto Bonini

@Scoble “Loic: I know you're French, [. . .]” OK: that was offensively condescending. There is no grammar ambiguity in what you wrote, and you did cross that line. Cultural hint: apologies would be welcome. - Bertil Hatt

Loic: I would love to know how the meeting went between you and Robert? - Thomas Cook

" I did not really appreciate Scoble's comment about you being a French" I had missed this one but I know Robert this one is clearly a joke. Where is it? On this page? - Loic Le Meur