jimborey

For me, the worst part of his writing is his use of foul language. I do not want to have my mind littered with such filth. I have nearly two decades of business experience, and I have never come across anyone who comes remotely close to approximating the grossly unprofessional manner in which Dave communicates. How could professional colleagues and entrepreneurs put up with that? His style is a reflection of substance -- substance which is unprofessional, irresponsible, and uncivil. From the perspective of fellow investors, Dave's writing comes across as very sophomoric and utterly unprofessional. From the perspective of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs merit more than any money, contacts, and accumulated wisdom that an investor can offer -- they also deserve a responsible and professional role model. Dave's writing is reflective of one whom I would hardly find to be a good role model. It is just simply improper and disrespectful of others for anyone to communicate in the manner that Dave has, and it is highly irresponsible for an adult to project himself or herself in such a manner especially when serving in an advisory or mentoring capacity.

Thanks, Ron, for calling a spade a spade. I watched an interview with Ron about a year ago, and I found him to be very forthright, insightful, sincere, and professional - and clearly one who wants to try to help entrepreneurs out as much as he can. He seems to be a good role model for entrepreneurs. Thanks too to Mike Arrington for breaking the story and to Mike and his team for their follow up reports.

The style is a reflection of the substance. The style reflects the thought process and the concrete representation of thought as expressed in writing. The (mis)use of the English language by Dave is reprehensible and abhorrent and has no place in professional discourse.

I agree. The author comes across more as a midshipman in the US Navy talking with a fellow enlistee rather than as a professional. As an entrepreneur, I would not want to have as an investor someone who thinks in the terms that his writing reflects. Life is too short. Others have similar or better qualifications and are more pleasant to deal with. I would prefer someone who comes across as being more "bien eleve."

I will take a contrarian position here in thanking Aaron for his write up. Maybe he should not have posted it here to a community that might be very familiar with the details that Aaron describes. The piece in the HuffPost is targeted to an audience that probably is less familiar with Aaron's story and timed to coincide with the release of the film abt FB's early days. What society may value is less important than what society should value. Aaron thanks for exposing your story and helping us to keep a focus on behaviors that we should value. Maybe you should try to propogate a case study for use in ethics training in business schools.