Nice guys finish poorer

Evan Williams, maker of Blogger and founder of Odeo, is a popular guy. Entrepreneurs, particularly the veterans with mixed feelings about venture capitalists, love him, because he recently bought out investors in Odeo, and took the company private. I mean, really private. And his venture capitalists love him because, well, he bought them out. Odeo, a tool for publishing podcasts, wasn't going anywhere. It was too complicated for most people to use, and too simple for the pros. I must have heard half a dozen times what a nice Midwestern guy Evan is. But that reputation comes at a price.

Of the $5m that Odeo raised, the company had spent about half. Evan could have told his investors that the project was going nowhere, and announced his departure. Chances are the backers, who included George Zachary at Charles River Ventures, would have wound up the company, and taken 50 cents on the dollar. And, if there were any software assets, Evan could have picked them up for nothing.

Instead, buying into the notion of the Valley's circle of trust, the Odeo founder dipped into his own pockets to ensure the investors got out whole. (Having made about $50m, before tax, on the sale of Pyra Labs, maker of Blogger, to Google, Evan can take the hit, but still.) No wonder they love him so. And I'm sure, if the positions were reversed, they would absolutely bail out Evan. Right.

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