Scott Kidder

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 cafe 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 gratefuly to Calacanis. I had been taking it easy, and he roused the competition in me. Gizmodo now has 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.