I had the “pleasure” of bumping into Daniel Brusilovsky when I was Producer for the Apple Phone Show. At the time, he was being touted by Robert Scoble as the next bright kid in Silicon Valley and someone who was going to rule the world. It was hard to argue; the kid had connections all over the valley due to his “friendship” with Robert Scoble and other “elites.” He had a podcast at the time called Apple Universe, which he asked me to be on. Figuring why the hell not, I agree. We set a date and a time and I never hear from him. I wait for hours and he never appears. Turns out the “prodigy” of Silicon Valley had school work he had to get done and didn’t feel the need to inform an interviewee of such a fact.
His excuse was equally lame. He explained to me that school was his priority and he had to drop everything when he needed to do something for school. That’s cool, but that doesn’t explain away why you didn’t have the decency to do the right thing about our interview which I was left hanging for. The “prodigy” who understood everything and was brilliant and talented was now taking the “I’m just a kid” defense.
Fine. His lame-ass excuse not withstanding, I forgave him. No need to hold a grudge.
As time moved on, more and more of the tech world got to know the vunderkind and his name became synonymous with the wonder that is tech for young people. In fact, two years ago he made the astonishing discovery that if you buy a domain and install WordPress on it, the idiots in the tech media will call you a brilliant entrepreneur. Brusilovsky was again touted as a great prodigy because he figured out how to install WordPress, give out accounts, and call it a business. He also had an associated conference of the same name. How could he fail! He’s a prodigy! Oh yeah, and all his friends from the valley promoted it for him free of charge. Damn straight the kid had people attend. Any monkey would attend a conference if you got enough heavy hitters behind it.
Of course, the WordPress install got bogged down, and eventually hacked because it wasn’t maintained properly. On top of it, Brusilovsky was caught flat-out lying about the uptake of his new “venture.” When the whole thing started collape, Brusilovsky and his supporters yet again dragged out the “he’s just a kid. What did you do at 17?” defense. Well, probably not as much as him, but then again I didn’t have bloggers who get thousands of comments on every post every day and hang on my every word telling me how I great I was because I toasted a hotpocket.
But that’s me.
Now Brusilovsky is in trouble again, and this time it’s pretty damn serious.
On Monday evening I received a phone call from someone I trust who told me that one of our interns had asked for compensation in exchange for a blog post. Specifically, this intern had allegedly asked for a Macbook Air in exchange for a post about a startup.
After an investigation we determined that the allegation was true. In fact, on at least one other occasion this intern was almost certainly given a computer in exchange for a post.
The intern in question has admitted to some of the allegations, and has denied others. We suspended this person while we were sorting through exactly what happened. When it became clear yesterday that there was no question that this person had requested, and in one case taken, compensation for a post, the intern was terminated.
Ooof… That sounds bad with a capital B. Kid gives up a cushy job at Tech Crunch for an attempt at securing himself a MacBook Air? How long before the prodigy trots out the “I’m just a kid” defense?
Answer: not long.
In some way or another, a line was crossed that should have never been. At this time, I do not want to go into details, but I will publicly say that I am truly sorry to my family, friends, TechCrunch, and especially the tech community. Since 2006 when I first got into the internet, I have felt comfortable, and working at TechCrunch has made this experience even better. TechCrunch is not to blame for any of this — TechCrunch has given me the opportunity of a life time. I can never say thank you enough for TechCrunch for the amazing last nine months I’ve had.
This is the first day of the next learning stage for me. Yes, I am young, but from here, I can only learn more. To my family, friends, colleagues and especially, TechCrunch, I am sorry. I am taking this entire experience, learning and moving on.
For those who have messaged me with your thoughts — thank you. At this point, I’d like to take some time to myself after the Teens in Tech Conference, to focus on school, and enjoy being a teenager. I’ve invited Michael and my friends from TechCrunch to come the conference as well.
In some way or another a line was crossed? Wow, he really is a prodigy. That’s right along with how the government points out, when they eff up, how “mistakes were made,” not how “we made mistakes.” But he’s careful to remind everyone that, in fact, he’s just a teenager.
Really, Daniel? Because from what everyone says about you when you do right, you’re a prodigy; someone who’s so smart we all pale in comparison and someone who’s huge success is due to his massive knowledge.
In reality? You are just a kid, but in this case, right and wrong are still pretty damn obvious. You crossed a line, you screwed up, and you blew a great opportunity. “In some way or another, a line was crossed.” No Daniel, you crossed a line and it wasn’t because you’re a kid or because you didn’t know better. It’s because you got greedy and sought to use the power you had to better yourself materially. I refuse to believe that you didn’t know that was wrong, so stop playing the dumb kid game.
You failed.
The true measure of our life is not our failures, but what we learn from them, so make sure you stop with the “I’m a kid” crap, take responsibility, and get yourself all squeaky clean as soon as possible because frankly, from what I’ve seen of your time as a prodigy, I’m not all that impressed.