Sold out: The rise and fall of America’s most ambitious sports media company —- A thorough story on how some of the OKC beat reporters got screwed over by Sellout Crowd.
Sold out: The rise and fall of America’s most ambitious sports media company —- A thorough story on how some of the OKC beat reporters got screwed over by Sellout Crowd.
Good god. The red flags had red flags. I feel for the journalists who signed on, but how did *anyone* think this was going to work given the information they apparently had when they signed on?
* Tramel signed onto an equity stake in the company without reviewing the financials or understanding where the funding came from.
* The business was funded via a single $1.5M loan at 12% interest. That’s the prevailing hard money rate–e.g., desperation money, the exact opposite of how you raise seed money for a startup. Maybe you can survive that capital structure in a different industry, but a freaking sports journalism website with an ad-revenue business model?!?
* Tramel et al quit their jobs and signed on *before receiving or signing contracts*.
> Much of Koehler’s pitch to the writers seemed outlandish. They were told their salaries would be higher, sometimes even much higher than what they were currently making. And there were even discussions in text messages shared with The Frontier where Koehler offered to pay three years of salary up front. “I know some of the promises Koehler made to us seem absurd,” said Hamm. “I guess I kept coming back to the fact that Koehler has a 20-year relationship with some of these people. He’s not going to screw them over. The promises have to be grounded in some type of reality.”
???
> “He made it a point to say ‘I want to give you what you think you’re worth, shoot as high as you want,’” Lisenbee said. His contract, which he shared with The Frontier, showed he would be paid $225,000 over three years. “I gave him a number and he never countered. And he said all three years would be paid up front. I would think about it and be like, how is this sustainable? But at the same time, I couldn’t turn it down.”
???????
> As independent contractors rather than employees, those let go faced a daunting challenge.
THEY WERE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS?!?!?
chuerta9
Tramel definitely knew more than he’s letting on. Sucks that so many talented people suffered as a result.
3 Comments
Sweet sweet karma for Berry
Good god. The red flags had red flags. I feel for the journalists who signed on, but how did *anyone* think this was going to work given the information they apparently had when they signed on?
* Tramel signed onto an equity stake in the company without reviewing the financials or understanding where the funding came from.
* The business was funded via a single $1.5M loan at 12% interest. That’s the prevailing hard money rate–e.g., desperation money, the exact opposite of how you raise seed money for a startup. Maybe you can survive that capital structure in a different industry, but a freaking sports journalism website with an ad-revenue business model?!?
* Tramel et al quit their jobs and signed on *before receiving or signing contracts*.
> Much of Koehler’s pitch to the writers seemed outlandish. They were told their salaries would be higher, sometimes even much higher than what they were currently making. And there were even discussions in text messages shared with The Frontier where Koehler offered to pay three years of salary up front. “I know some of the promises Koehler made to us seem absurd,” said Hamm. “I guess I kept coming back to the fact that Koehler has a 20-year relationship with some of these people. He’s not going to screw them over. The promises have to be grounded in some type of reality.”
???
> “He made it a point to say ‘I want to give you what you think you’re worth, shoot as high as you want,’” Lisenbee said. His contract, which he shared with The Frontier, showed he would be paid $225,000 over three years. “I gave him a number and he never countered. And he said all three years would be paid up front. I would think about it and be like, how is this sustainable? But at the same time, I couldn’t turn it down.”
???????
> As independent contractors rather than employees, those let go faced a daunting challenge.
THEY WERE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS?!?!?
Tramel definitely knew more than he’s letting on. Sucks that so many talented people suffered as a result.