If a reputation falls in a forest but no one is within earshot...the story of Wellsphere and Ron Gutman is an interesting anecdote in the evolving reputation conversation.
You can learn about the demise of the Web 2.0 venture Wellsphere on Uncov and observe the severe reputation issues faced by Wellsphere CEO Ron Gutman in TechCrunch comments - but these are obscure sources of information. Searching Google or Spock for Ron Gutman yields very little useful information related to the controversy around Wellspehere. There should be a more accessible/scanable method of assessing reputation - especially for entrepreneurs/CEOs. This is not to say that Techcrunch comments or Uncov are definitive/comprehensive sources - but they do provide data points to the reputation picture for Ron Gutman and that picture should be easier to sketch out than it currently is.
As a former employee, I definitely agree. If I had known what happened to all of the employees before me, I would not have joined Wellsphere. I know that neither Uncov nor the TechCrunch comments are definitive, but they might have swayed me in the right direction. Reputation is the summation of all information available.
Posted by: Former Employee | July 31, 2007 at 11:08 AM
It's interesting that this person, Ron Gutman, claims to have accomplished so much but not only does the proof not seem to exist, but no one has stepped forward to vouch for him. When you search his name, the results show that he's joined as many Meetup.com groups as possible (spam is the word). If I were a successful entrepreneur in the food/wine industry, I would talk about those successes (company names, accomplishments) on the Wellsphere about us section. Since he does not, it supports the view that he greatly exaggerates his past accomplishments. Where are the specifics? The proof? Others who knew him, worked with him, would call him a fair boss?
Posted by: Gutmantheriddle | July 31, 2007 at 01:47 PM
Agreed. I immediately noticed a lot of problems when I started at Wellsphere. I figured that the management was making typical rookie software development mistakes, but because they were bright people, they would learn from those mistakes and correct them for the next iteration. Little did I know that the company had already been around for quite a while and had a rich history of disgruntled employees and botched development.
Posted by: unwell | July 31, 2007 at 04:57 PM
We felt compelled to add our comment here because we were personally and professionally hurt by what was written, and we thought this would be a good opportunity to describe openly and honestly who we really are and what our company is really all about, and invite you to (please!) contact us if you have any questions.
All of us at Wellsphere share a deep commitment to our mission of helping people live healthier, happier lives. We are a group of positive, hardworking, caring people who very much enjoy each other’s company, and are dedicated to helping one another and to achieving our goals. Our ‘WellSpace’ in San Mateo is a bright, energetic, fun environment (we even have a small exercise room and beautiful views of the green hills and the Bay!). We recently launched our Beta site based on substantial research and feedback from our alpha community. We implemented a scalable technology that is designed to support our growing community. We are delighted to watch our members help and support each other everyday in their quests for well-being. We are very proud of the progress we’ve made and the growth of our community, though we know there is much more to do. We think our site speaks for itself, and invite you to visit us at http://www.wellsphere.com.
We are committed to continuing to improve Wellsphere everyday and we enjoy responding to the feedback from our community. We greatly appreciate all constructive advice about how we can improve the site and our users’ experience. Please feel free to share your thoughts (or hate mail if you must :-) ) with us at wecare@wellsphere.com. If you would like to learn more about our company, our mission, and our values firsthand, please reach out to any of us directly. You can reach us by phone at (650) 345-2100, or by email at the addresses below.
Our core team (alphabetical by last name):
Kathleen Donahue
kathleen.donahue@wellsphere.com
Ron Gutman
ron.gutman@wellsphere.com
Dave Kashen
dave.kashen@wellsphere.com
Ivan Marchenko
ivan.marchenko@wellsphere.com
Sastry Nanduri
sastry.nanduri@wellsphere.com
Larisa Rozentals
larisa.rozentals@wellsphere.com
Geoff Rutledge, MD, PhD
geoff.rutledge@wellsphere.com
Posted by: The Wellsphere team | August 02, 2007 at 02:06 PM
Instead of posting a boilerplate response, why not actually address some of the issues? How many employees left and why? Did you learn from the mistakes you made? What about your past? Maintaining a Reputation 2.0 means having an honest, open, friendly dialog with your detractors. Admitting mistakes is much better than pretending than writing marketing copy in hopes that people will ignore the bad and focus on your skewed version of the world.
Posted by: Former Employee | August 03, 2007 at 05:42 PM