Pryor Work

Joel Spolsky co-founded Fog Creek Software with Michael Pryor. That's right. Co-founded. Startup CW says you should create a start up with a co-founder. Helps divide up the work.

But you hardly hear of Michael Pryor. Why is that? Presumably because Pryor, like many software types is an introvert, and doesn't like the limelight. Perhaps Joel is so much better at being interviewed. Hey, there's no shame in that, right? Recently, the two were interviewed by Robert Scoble (I think, as I have no idea what Scoble looks like). Scoble has his own website and is one of those big bloggers, much like Joel himself.

I am reminded of a movie I saw long ago, called Prick Up Your Ears, which was well-reviewed, but I never knew much about it until seeing it. It tells the story of Joe Orton, a gay writer, who lived with Kenneth Halliwell, and the two became lovers. Eventually, Halliwell killed Orton, though the reason isn't clear. The film posits that Halliwell was frustrated with Orton's success and when Orton won an award, he invited his editor, instead of him, it pushed him over the edge. As this murder was actually a murder-suicide, the actual reason is not known despite a suicide note from Halliwell. The film stars Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina, when they were not so well known (Molina is still not that well known, but played Dr. Octopus in the last Spiderman movie).

I have yet to listen to the full interview which runs about an hour, having only listened to the short six minute highlights version, but I suspect Joel does most of the talking. It begs the question why Michael Pryor is in the interview at all.

To be fair, being an interviewee requires thinking quickly and being able to give interesting responses, though this has not stopped Shaquille O'Neal (though he does say some funny things, despite his rather whispery voice--one time he was talking about how he is able to do well at the end of a season when it matters. He says "some guys are all roses and chocolates". By itself, it's not much, but in context, you see that this is incredibly funny.)

(OK, fine, I'll explain it. Why does someone give roses and chocolates? To woo women. Why? To get women in bed. So, thus, Shaq is joking that some guys are great at the beginning, when it doesn't matter, and can't deliver in the end. It was his analogy to his situation in basketball.)

I don't know why the two relate to me, only whether there's a sense of wanting to share more of the visible face of Fog Creek. Google has two lead guys, but I'd say Sergey is the more outgoing of the two. Indeed, I'm told Larry Page spends more time at the "Googleplex" than Sergey.

So why did I blog about this? I read some followup comments where someone felt bad for Michael, and he followed up himself. I suppose he was mildly embarrassed.

Shrug.