Internet Content Connoisseur
The other side of the boardroom
I always wonder how other people see me. It’s a natural curiosity (see: googling yourself) that most people don’t want to admit. Often, the challenge of putting together a good picture of how we are seen is because it’s hard for us to be not us.
The Cheezburger Network’s Board of Directors is the one and only boardroom experience I have. While things are going well, I feel that it’s important for me to know how other Boards operate (so I can get ideas, experience something new, and make meaningful contributions) but I know that being on the other side of the Boardroom allows me to see myself with more objectivity.
As a board member, here’s what I can offer:
1) Everything I know about being a start-up CEO and growing it to profitability.
2) Everything I know about making the hard decisions as a person.
So, I am actively looking for a board seat at another startup as an outsider. The criteria for me is simple:
1) It cannot conflict with my responsibilities at Cheezburger.
2) The startup must have E&O insurance.
3) The company must be committed to good corporate governance.
About the author
Ben Huh is the CEO and Founder of the Cheezburger Network, responsible for such Internet culture icons like I Can Has Cheezburger? and FAIL Blog. He lives in Seattle with his wife and dog. English is not Ben's first language. Neither is lolspeak.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Ben Huh on January 30, 2010 at 12:47 pm, and is filed under Business, Personal. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 7 months ago
Well, I read about you in Wired magazine – thoroughly enjoyed it. Great photos, too.
As far as plagiarism, or “stealing other people’s memes” etc. – I see this every day in retail: There are generic copies of different kinds of granola bars, cereals, candy, etc. In a court of law, everybody could be sued, then. Not to mention generic perfumes or even prescription medicines. “If u love Opium, you’ll love __ ” perfume, etc. Yesterday I saw “Positively Radiant,” a beauty / moisturizing product made by Aveeno. Next to it was a generic product called “Absolutely ___ ” – I forget the word, but it was like they had used a thesaurus to look up the word “radiant” and come up with something that would sound good…..
So….. Should someone begin to sharply criticize those folks for imitating the others? That would be a little ridiculous, wouldn’t it?
— And of course there are imitation Coach purses!
— But, Ben, I wouldn’t have known about any of this stuff (fail, lolcats, cheezburger, memes) if I hadn’t read the Wired magazine article. I’m one of those older fogies who hadn’t known that this existed, except from maybe a few comments from my siblings that I didn’t quite understand. Still I am now just beginning to find out what “fail” means. engrishfunny is great, by the way.