Cyndi Lauper had it right: money, money, money changes everything.

Scoble has been leaving clues on his blog saying he was unhappy about his pay for quite some time now, so the reality that he is in fact leaving Microsoft to join Podtech.net shouldn’t be all that surprising to his readers. He didn’t even have to wait for Mini to be outed and fired to backup his claim he’d quit on the spot.

Not even joining a dot.com? Hmm … Podtech.com “… provides product development and engineering services for air pollution measurement technologies.” Podtech.net is about — you guessed it — podcasting.

I hope Scoble received a lot more money. Microsoft, despite its many shortcomings, was a relatively secure gig; you know those checks will cash. The vast majority of startups fail and VC money can dry up in a hurry. Podcasting, despite it’s popularity, continues to remain a big question mark as far as financial viability.

There have been other rumors of Scoble leaving and he always responded by saying he liked Microsoft and why would he want to leave?

The next logical question is will his audience that was primarily interested in Microsoft leave? Robert responds:

Will I lose my audience? That’s a question I’ve seen on the blogs.

Yes.

Huh? You will unsubscribe if I don’t give you a payoff. For many of you Microsoft was that payoff. Yes, Microsoft is still an interesting company for many many people in the world. When I was at my mom’s funeral, what did we end up talking about at lunch afterward? Microsoft. Everyone had an opinion about Microsoft. Everyone knew who it was. What it did.

PodTech.net? Huh? Who are they? What are they? Why do I care?

Over the next few months if I don’t give you a payoff you’ll leave. That’d be OK with me, I didn’t do this for the audience.

Business is all about taking risks — the biggest ones can payoff the most — and this might surprise some, but I’m actually glad to see Robert taking a large one. Seems pretty obvious to me that he wasn’t going to get significantly more pay at Microsoft doing what he was doing. Perhaps if he’d have put on a developer’s hat or something he could have lubed that gigantic cash register drawer.

Scoble said that he never had any problems with his management citing that they always approved his expenses and trips:

Second, my management team is awesome and I don’t have a beef with them at all. They have ALWAYS supported me. I have, in my pocket, a corporate American Express card and they never have questioned any of my expenses. The reason I shared rooms with other bloggers is because I always treated Microsoft as a startup. I don’t believe it’s proper to waste shareholder resources if you don’t need to.

I’ve always maintained that Robert is one of the good guys out there. I’ve disagreed with things he’s said and done along the way — and been critical here about a few of these things. Sometimes he’s responded, sometimes not, but he’s always been a good guy about the exchange.

What are others saying?
Scoble’s friend, Dave Winer: “A person like Scoble can have enormous influence just by adopting some very simple ideas. It’s the ideas that have power. But Microsoft hasn’t let the changes waft over them. They still think in old terms. I’m glad to see my old friend didn’t go down with the ship.”
Toby Bloomberg ponders if he’s movin’ up
Steve Newson: “I claim no great insight into Robert’s reasons for moving on, but give the guy a break. He’s doing what’s right for him, what he feels will be best for his career and his life.”
Warner Crocker: “You’ve already made more of an impression on countless folks who read your stuff than most people get a chance to touch in a lifetime.”
Stowe Boyd: “I have long thought that Scoble would be happier in a small start-up, where the upside is considerably larger than working as a ham-and-egger, pulling down a paycheck in a slow-moving monolith like Microsoft. But that’s his positive movement toward a goal, not a negative movement away from a situation that he hates.”
Marc Orchant: “Scoble’s tenure at Microsoft lasted three years. His footprints will endure for a long time.”
Mark Evans: “While Scoble did great work evangelizing Microsoft, he also became a rock-star on the conference circuit and attracted a large personal following. I wonder if blogging has become the new speaking bureau with its ability to create celebrities who can “cash” in on their popularity.”
Jeremiah Owyang: “he’s got a strong background in journlism, this tied with his videography passion will make him a strong asset for Podtech. I believe Robert will be THE premiere tech reporter in the Silicon Valley.”
Guardian Technology Blog: “there aren’t any Microsoft bloggers on the geek A-list, with either Scoble’s name recognition nor his ability to direct lots of traffic to Microsoft team blogs and Channel 9.”
Don Dodge: “Robert is one of those people who always needs a new challenge, a new environment, a new set of competitors, and a new set of goals. I know the type. They give 100% of everything they have to their mission, and when its done they look for another challenging mission.”
Kent Newsome: “As a shareholder, I wish Microsoft had stepped up to the plate and done whatever was needed to keep Scoble in the fold. Instead, Microsoft may have stumbled into another PR mess and certainly just became less relevant in the blogosphere.”
Official PodTech blog: “PodTech will be putting out a formal announcement soon. In the meantime if you’re in SF today (Sunday) stop by vloggercon for the in-person update with Robert Scoble and John Furrier.”
Loren Heiny at Incremental Blogger: “Is it time yet for us to ponder acquisition rumors of Podtech.net? What about Yahoo!? Google? Murdoch? Or…could it be….Microsoft!? Hehehe.”

Got to gamble to get ahead
I’ll say it again: I like the idea that he’s taking risks with his career. Based on what Scoble is saying this with support of his wife, which is a critical part of the decision. If I hadn’t taken a risk in 1994, also strongly supported by my wife (although she did question it a little bit), I’d probably still be working for the same corporation instead of for myself. I’m happier and make more money being self-employed. It’s too bad Scoble isn’t making a similar move here, that might be his only regret.

Scoble may paint this picture as a non-negative for Microsoft — and why would he do otherwise? — but it’s not only his brush that matters. This is a negative for Microsoft. He was a human voice for the company. A non-developer who schmoozed with developers giving us the every day geek’s point of view of the products and services. They don’t have a replacement that I’m aware of for this position, but I suspect one will emerge. And for anybody thinking of working at Microsoft, they might be reminded of the company who didn’t pony up to the guy who was publically admitting he was underpaid for the work he was doing.

Best of luck Robert.

Update 1:20pm PST: Toby stopped by to point out the Wall Street Journal already has an article about this (see comments). Also, Thatedguy wrongly assumes by reading this post that I think Scoble’s decision is “all about money.” No, it’s not all about money but for anybody to suggest that money hasn’t played a big part here, they are ignoring the history and Scoble’s own words on the subject. Unless Scoble was just joking the numerous times he’s said on his blog that he wished he was paid more?

And yes, I do realize Scoble has also said he was offered “a lot more money” than what he was making at Microsoft for other job opportunities and didn’t leave. That doesn’t change the fact that if Microsoft had paid him more the first time he indicated he was underpaid, maybe this PodTech deal — good or bad yet to be determined — doesn’t go down.

Whatever the case, we shouldn’t be misled into thinking money wasn’t a significant factor here. Of course it isn’t all about the money. The bottom line is, well, the bottom line and Scoble can say whatever he wants about wanting to explore and take on new challenges, yadda, yadda, but he still needs to put roof over head and food on the table just like the rest of us. I do think being closer to his son is every bit as motivating factor as the money, BTW. Being close to family and having the support of family is huge too, but then Microsoft has a valley location …

Update 6/13/2006 9:20am PST: PC Magazine exit interview with Scoble:

Q: What would have kept you at Microsoft? Money? Relocation? More Channel9 cameras/staff? Free HDTVs?

A: Actually they offered almost all of that stuff (they didn’t try the HDTV’s) and it still didn’t work cause I wanted to do something completely different than what I was doing here. I also wanted to see if I could build something from scratch. Yeah, money and being close to my son played into it too, but when I looked around I didn’t see something that would keep me excited.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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