Author Archives: meanguy

John Maloney, wizened President of Tumblr, claims responsibility for “all business operations, staff, strategic growth, capital raising.” Not for long.

Founder David Karp’s progression under Maloney’s mentorship provides clues as to why:

The Observer, 2008: “Mr. Karp is tall and skinny… He speaks incredibly fast and in complete paragraphs.”

Los Angeles Times, 2010: “We don’t know if we’re pricing it right,” Karp said about the design store, before fumbling through a series of phrases you might hear from a get-rich-quick book pitch. “I don’t know any of this talk.”

Inc. Magazine, 2011: “People tell me I need an assistant, but I don’t want one… I’ve found that if you’re not responsive to e-mail, it trains people to leave you alone.”

Also on Maloney’s watch: staff vanity blogger topherchris posting his peepee. Fashion misdirector Rich Tong’s Project Runaway. Co-founder Marco Arment building another company while ignoring Tumblr. And Poundcake:

A few emails later, after I was hired, I think, I asked [John] if I should send him my resume… I was the girl who gave everyone romantic advice in line at Chicken Deli… I spent whole days in taxis and other people’s offices, and whole days on my computer doing nothing… I demo-d Tumblr to big magazines with my Dashboard full of naked women and the tracked tag “COMING AND CRYING.”

But times change. After five (!) rounds of financing, Young Luke and Yoda no longer run the show. Karp’s pissed at having his wings clipped. Maloney might be too dumb to notice.

Ladies and gentlemen of Tumblr, meet your new overlord of Reblogs and Cat Pictures:

Andrew McLaughlin led Global Public Policy for Google and was deputy CTO in the Obama administration. Leaving the White House, “he will focus on [Tumblr's] growth, internationalization, community and monetization.”