Funny @nicknotned (@nickdenton) story about failure & competition from WIRED magazine... good memories. :-)

from wired: Nick Denton
FOUNDER OF GAWKER MEDIA
In 2004, while vacationing in Brazil, I learned that Jason Calacanis
had set up a rival blog network and hired away Pete Rojas, the editor
of our gadget site, Gizmodo. There I was, a mogul at leisure, stopping
by an Internet café only to find that one of my top editors had been
secretly working on a copycat site. It was the business equivalent of
a kick in the balls and a sucky way to end a vacation. Engadget soon
overtook Gizmodo. But I’m grateful to Calacanis.

I had been taking it easy, and he roused the competitor in me. Gizmodo
now has some 10 times the traffic it had then; it’s eclipsing
Engadget. I always say to myself: It’s never as bad (or as good) as it
seems at the time.

Jason on Twitter Mahalo.com This Week in Startups