lisasong.com

Came back from vacation and saw my old boss Terry Drayton is on Seattle Business’ cover. As I was writing a message to congratulate him, I discovered he and his company, Count Me In, are in a deep legal mess.

It looks like Count Me In used membership fees that they are managing on behalf of the little league teams for its own operational use.  Some commentators are outright nasty, calling Terry “the Little League thief”. The Godfather of Seattle start-ups, John Cook, thinks the accusation is serious enough to warrant an indepth interview, which revealed a  distraught chief executive on the defensive (”This is not my legacy“)

I worked for Terry at HomeGrocer. He was the kind of leader that inspire loyalty: energetic, articulate and decisive. When WebVan started with billions dollars of funding, hoping to “do it all and end it all” in the online grocery business, I asked Terry why we were still focusing on high-end clientele only. He said it clearly, without any hesitation, that it is the only way the online grocery business could take hold.  Eight years later, I asked him the same question and he gave me the same answer. I had doubts eight years ago but now found myself coming around to his point of view.

Regardless of business acument, personally, I thank him for giving me one of the best moments in my IT/programming life. Therefore, it is quite painful reading through the interview he gave to Cook. I only hope and pray for the negativity to blowover soon and Terry to go back to his old self.