Sorry to hear that - selective amneasia is very common I fear. I guess thats the importance of keeping day books and writing emails such as "Further to our recent discussions..."

how is that shafting you if a deal never was finalized? If it was the reverse and VCs took some entrepreneur's idea to another startup most would say, thems the breaks.

Come on Alan, I deal isn't a deal until signed. From what you present (and maybe there is more) they had the right to walk away from your offer in spite of the hours of your time. Did you tell them you expected a deal under your terms in exchange for your ideas?

Did that half million change hands, or is this one of those "not quite signed" VC deals?

One of those beware who you do business with eh.. I would have signed for the $500k does that make me less intelligent?

1999? This means you had five years (if you thought it was such a good idea) to implement a site of your own like this at Jupiter (i.e, you could have beaten these guys at their own game). How many sites have you started and shuttered in the last five years? And what would have been the incremental cost to you of one of those being a LightReading-like site? I thought so....

Sour grapes, Alan?

Let me correct a few of your numbers:

1. CMP bought Light Reading Inc. for $27,000,000.

2. You offered us $250,000 for 20% of our company – which was a crappy offer, and the reason why Peter and I didn’t take you up on it.

3. You didn’t spend hours with us. Nor did you offer us any advice. The meeting (one, singular, less than two) took place at your office in midtown and lasted about 15 minutes (approximately 0.25 hours). You spent most of it taking calls from other people on your cell phone.

If you really did understand our content-based B2B publishing model, why didn’t you either up your offer, or simply form your own equivalent startup to kick our butts? We were, at the time, simply two unemployed journalists with two secondhand IBM ThinkPads.

As most of the posters on this board are smart enough to have spotted, we never had a deal with you, so it’s hard to see how we “shafted you.”

If this is how you react to disappointment, then I doubt Light Reading would have thrived with you as an investor.

Best,

Stephen Saunders
President
Light Reading
www.lightreading.com

Alan, you were my hero until you posted this type of stuff about your business dealings. You can't cry foul when the contract was never signed--either party had a right at any time up until that contract was signed to walk away from the table. Maybe lightreading was worried you would walk away with their idea and make a competitor.

"LightReading is a terrific site and business. I should know since I helped to create it"

Really? You built it? You made marketing decisions? You wrote and directed editorial content? And you gave them how much money? Zero?

Who's dishonest here?

Alan,

Delusional? Heavily medicated? What's the deal?

You *didn't do it*. So you can't get credit.

--Joe P.

Though I think this is actually quite unprofessional for Mr. Meckler to be airing this type of dirty laundry (and also unprofessional for him to expect something from Light Reading when zero contract was in place), it is VERY professional for him to actually accept all these negative comments!

Kudos to Alan Meckler for not deleting comments negative to his cause. It shows you have balls--and that is very respectable.