October 1998

The Truth About Burn Rate





By



When Michael Wolff dissects the personality of an unnamed "AOL exec" in his book Burn Rate: How I Survived The Gold Rush Years on the Internet, readers surely wonder who he's talking about. The executive is portrayed as a tough-talking recovering cocaine addict with "fidelity issues" who wears dark cashmere suits and half boots, and loves vintage Mustangs.



But three America Online Inc. executives claim that the character is actually a composite of three people. They claim that the executive that had a cocaine problem isn't the one who wears half boots, isn't obsessed with Mustangs, and isn't the person with fidelity issues; one of the executives and another person familiar with AOL provide persuasive descriptions of three different people to prove it. When asked to identify the executive, Ted Leonsis, president of AOL Studios, replies via e-mail, "You got me. I have never met him." Wolff says he was portraying a specific AOL executive, but would not name him. "I did not want to make this an issue of this particular person," he says. "And he was acting completely in character with the way that other AOL representatives acted."



It would be easier to believe Wolff if there weren't so many other apparent factual errors in Burn Rate. Examples include his story about an unnamed Silicon Valley chief financial officer who goes job hunting at a crucial moment in his company's merger negotiations; the CFO in question, David Thatcher of the the software firm Geoworks, says he never tried to leave the company. Wolff says, "There may be a technicality here in terms of going and looking for a job, but he was involved in a discussion with First Virtual [an on-line financial services company] about the job."



The book's last chapter claims that Microsoft executive Michael Goff had no experience as a journalist or as a gay advocate when he launched Out magazine. In fact, Goff had magazine experience as a reporter and columnist. One of his columns helped start the red-ribbon AIDS awareness campaign. "Michael Goff is not a gay advocate," counters Wolff.



Wolff, who founded and ran Wolff New Media, and is now a columnist for New York magazine and The Industry Standard, says, "In addition to being a book about my life, it is a very well-reported book."



But seven of the main characters and six others portrayed in-or familiar with-events in the book, disagree. They say Wolff invented or changed quotes. And none of those quoted recalls Wolff taking notes or recording the discussions, some of which took place three years ago.



Six of the thirteen refused to speak for attribution. Three main characters-Thatcher; David Hayden, who appears as the CEO of the McKinley Group, a software firm (and who has since left), and Tom Feegel, former technical director of Wolff New Media-spoke to Brill's Content on the record. A venture capitalist, who appears anonymously throughout the book, spoke to us but would not allow us to use his name. The minor characters who spoke on the record are Goff and journalist Gary Brickman. Another person, who says he is the unnamed Wolff New Media executive vice-president in the book, spoke to us but would not allow his name to be used. Jonathan Bellack, a former Wolff New Media employee, who also spoke to us, does not appear in the book but says he witnessed events the book describes.



Wolff says he has notes and e-mail that back him up, but refuses to release them. "I'm sure people are very surprised to see these meetings come back to life," he says. "But that's good writing. That may be great writing."





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