Sethi fraud was all Mike Arrington's fault

After a frenzied week of speculation around the blogosphere, Sam Sethi has finally thrown in the towel, and posted his resignation as CEO of Blognation. And even in this closing statement he couldn't show any grace or decency. It's nice to know that it is Mike Arrington's fault that I didn't get paid for two months work plus a stack of expenses. I can sleep better at night knowing that Sam is going to sell Blognation and I can finally expect my cheque in the post. And I don't have to worry about any more threats from him because he is too busy threatening others to have time.

I don't think anybody doubts that Blognation was (and I hope will continue to be) a great idea. That is why I joined - not for the ego-boost or the party invites or the self-aggrandisement - in fact I hated those aspects of it. I'd love to see it survive but I fear that Sam will take it down with him. He writes that he plans to auction Blognation and use the money to pay his debts. I have no doubt that he will try to sell it but I have little faith in fair dispersal of the income. He has said or done nothing in the past six months to inspire any confidence in this promise.

It astounds me that in light of the debacle, so many of the comments to Sam's post wish him luck. Not so Mathew Ingram (sensible chappie) who says "this is one of the most mealy-mouthed and insincere posts I’ve seen from an alleged business person since Conrad Black stopped blogging." A year ago, Sam had his infamous spat with Mike Arrington and it is interesting to read Marc Canter's views on that part of the Sethi soap opera.

Loic has every right to call Sam an asshole. He is an asshole. A manipulative asshole. BUt that’s how they train them at Microsoft.

But Sam is gonna make a fortune on this controversy. He’ll land someplace sweet, same as Jason Caacanis did. And Scoble - too. The more controversy - the better the NEXT job is.

So, it seems not everybody was taken in by slimy Sam's charm and posh shoes. For everybody's sake I hope the last paragraph doesn't come true - serial entrepreneur my ass, more like serial cheat.

Work 2.0

The list of things to blog gets longer by the day - and the time to do it gets shorter. Last week I stumbled across a great new idea, the Open Coffee Club, which brings together innovators and investment people in a friendly and informal environment. Clubs are opening up all over the world where members can network with each other and with other clubs when they are travelling.

With a couple of hours to spare before meetings in London on Wednesday, I popped into my first Open Coffee Club event. I chatted to Sandi Wassimer from Copious, about the joys and some of the pitfalls of working from home. New to home working, Sandi is over the moon about the extra time it gives her with her family. After spending a year commuting from Devon to London to Estonia, I know that feeling.

I caught up with Saul Klein of Index Ventures - serial entrepreneur and founder of the Open Coffee Club - who introduced me to Sam Sethi. Sam invited me to get involved in an exciting new project he's cooking and will be rolling out shortly - of which more very soon. Hence less time to spare for rulabula - I'm on a whirlwind of networking, connecting and researching right now.

I would have loved to stay longer but had to dash over to the Strand for my meeting with Rod Geoghegan at Metropolis. With my customary geographic accuracy I went to the wrong building first - just as well, it was a dump by comparison with Rod's gaff - coworking brought to a new level. Rod and I sat in a comfortable and stylish basement cafe bar next door to the restaurant - the smells were great and the menu was fancy - I must get him to buy me lunch on my next visit. Rod is in the business of helping marketers to embrace the digital age and I'm helping out with some first hand insights.

So not a minute for my rants at the moment - I did, however, get around to changing my title here, and moved from the fireside to the deckchair in honour of the sun that finally made its way into my life again last weekend. I sat in the garden squinting at the screen of my laptop - too much to do to get to the beach but at least I have a deckchair.