One other thing that hasn’t really been mentioned and that’s integrity. All leaders in this venture seem to have been asleep at the wheel, or at the very least not holding each other accountable and acting as checkpoints for each other. At this moment, there is need for an enormous amount of self control, self restraint, and self reflection. I hope the lesson is not missed here. There is much we can all learn here and these guys certainly have their work cut out for them. Let’s hope they roll up their sleeves and get into the thick of it and get back on track.

I never have time to even get ready to go out, let alone go out, and I’m no where running as big of a company as most people. My angels that I’ve got hip pocketed for when needed said first thing was that they look down on extravagant spending, etc. in a person’s personal life. One said, “if i see that, i wonder: why do you need my money?”

I also always notice the people who actually have done big things, like Jeff Skoll, etc., are never out self-evangelizing. I guess the argument is that they don’t need to, but I kind of think it’s more about not needing to be ’stars’. It’s so easy to become a celebrity these days – it takes nothing. No longer a big achievement IMO.

As it relates to Mahalo, I think it’s fitting that Calacanis was “traveling the world” when he felt the need to make this decision.

I wrote about Calacanis’ “extracurricular activities” in a post earlier:

http://www.drama20show.com/2008/10/22/mahalo-joins-the-layoff-list/

In a few years when the Valley looks back at this latest round of irrational exuberance, I hope one of the things that people notice is the presence of the “celebrity” CEO/founder. From Jason Calacanis to Kevin Rose to Mark Zuckerberg, I’ve always been amazed at just how many of the executives that are crucial to the success of their startups always seem to be out and about “livin’ the life” – traveling, speaking at conferences, partying, working on “side projects,” etc.

I was equally amazed that so many people never bothered to ask – how can a startup achieve success when it’s leaders seem to be doing everything but working (especially when the companies these people are involved with have known issues with revenue and only surviving on VC money)?

While the outcome for many of these startups probably wouldn’t have been any different had these CEOs/founders been on the ball 24/7, that’s little comfort to the employees who trusted that their management teams were actually performing their jobs competently.

The buck stops with management and if this “celebrity” CEO lifestyle is accepted as being compatible with “leadership” in the Silicon Valley startup scene, the economy should be the least of the Valley’s worries.