Blognation: Blognation May Rise From The Ashes
Michael Arrington about Blognation...
When Oliver Starr (former MobileCrunch writer) attacked employer Sam Sethi (former TechCrunch UK writer), the person who currently controls Blognation, in a 3,000 word diatribe, a lot of people came to the conclusion that Blognation was dead in the water.
The chain of screw ups was just too long. Sethi had an emotional explosion and threatened to kill his cofounder over a legal dispute. He reportedly lied to his editors flat out that he’d raised a £1 million (more here) so that they’d continue to work for free. He allegedly forged bank transfer documents to stall for time. To sum things up, even when Sethi had something truthful to say, he apparently lied anyway just to make things more interesting.
But he may raise an angel round of funding anyway, and keep Blognation alive for a few more months. We have been emailed a draft term sheet that shows the willingness of Secora PLC, a London based company, to invest £250,000 for 25% of Blognation. Payments would be made in stages, with £130,000 payable as soon as the deal closes.
If the deal closes, Secora will prove itself to be an investor with a backbone. Not many entities would back a startup with this much baggage.
Putting Sethi aside, this is good news. Mostly because the 13 or so Blognation blog editors, some of whom are reportedly due as much as 30,000 Euros for past work, were looking at a bleak holiday season. Now, at least, they may be able to put food on the table and buy gifts for their children.
More on this as it develops. Term sheet is below.
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