DataPortability: Chris Saad’s Personal Launching Pad, Have Your Steak and Eat it Too

Updated below with information sent to me from a reader highlighting the fact that DataPortability resembles Chris Saad’s personal enterprise.

Looks like DataPortability is good for something after all: Chris Saad’s pocketbook.

Yes, the attention and publicity lavished upon the organization that still doesn’t exist seems to have provided a money-making opportunity that was just too hard for Saad to pass up.

“Social widget provider” JS-Kit just raised $3.6 million in funding and a small portion of that appears headed to Saad’s bank account. According to JS-Kit’s press release:

To support our growth, we will broaden our leadership and management team with several important additions. I am very pleased to share that Chris Saad (Co-Founder of the DataPortability Project, Media 2.0 Workgroup and APML) has joined JS-Kit as a Strategic Advisor to the company (read his post here).

Over at Saad’s blog, the decision is explained:

First, I get offered a lot of advisory roles or full time jobs. It’s always very tempting to help entrepreneurs pursuing their dreams.

The reality is, however, between my company Faraday Media, my work at the DataPortability project, APML Workgroup, Media 2.0 Workgroup and other projects there simply isn’t enough bandwidth left to give the attention required.

The JS-Kit opportunity is different. When I first met Khris Loux (The CEO of JS-Kit) it was clear very quickly that we had a unique connection and a shared vision for a distributed Personal Web. As a result I have broken my own rule and accepted the offer to consult with/advise the company on a formal basis. It will be a significant commitment and take up a large part of my time.

Fortunately, DataPortability is in good hands – Daniela Barbosa has taken over where Saad has left off. Which is pretty much in the same place it was at the beginning of the year. Sounds like Barbosa can put herself on cruise control. Maybe she’ll get some offers of her own after she cuts her teeth running Web 2.0’s most demanding non-non-profit.

All in all, I must admit that Saad might be smarter than I previously thought. In 7 steps, he’s found a way to profit from a “non-profit”:

1. Start a non-existent “non-profit” that appeals to Web 2.0 idealists.
2. Recruit a few supporters.
3. Go through the motions building a realistic-looking bureaucracy.
4. Promote the hell out of your new “organization.”
5. Leverage the networking opportunities it provides to you.
6. Hand everything off to someone else.
7. Profit!

While I personally wouldn’t rely on an advisory position with a “social widget provider” to pay the bills long-term, thanks to the friendly fools over at Altos Ventures, there should be enough money to keep everyone happy for a little bit longer.

Perhaps most ironically, when viewing the announcement on Saad’s blog, I was greeted by the advertisement for Ruth’s Chris steakhouse as seen above.

Since I typically don’t dine at chains (out of principle), I believe Google was hinting at something else when it chose to display this ad on this post: with DataPortability, you can have your steak and eat it too.

I hope Saad has a nice dinner. My suggestion: CUT in Beverly Hills. I’m a fan of the bone-in filet paired with a nice Bordeaux red (Lafite or Pétrus should do the trick). As they say in Australia, “cheers!”

Update – October 15

A reader of The Drama 2.0 Show sent me an email pointing me in the direction of JS-Kit’s “partner” page. On it, DataPortability is listed next to Saad’s for-profit business, Faraday Media.

(I couldn’t help but include one of JS-Kit’s other esteemed partners, I Can Has Cheezburger, in the screenshot.)

Notwithstanding the fact that it’s hard to partner with an entity that doesn’t legally exist, this begs the question: when you work with Saad-for-profit, is the DataPortability not-for-profit automatically included in the deal?

Interestingly, after a quick search of the DataPortability website and Google Group, I was unable to find any information demonstrating that any of DataPortability’s “committees” had authorized a “partnership” with JS-Kit, which creates more questions: how exactly is DataPortability “partnered” with JS-Kit and who authorized this?

I did, however, find that Saad and JS-Kit CEO Khris Loux gave a joint lecture at WidgetWebExpo in June 2008.

Note to DataPortability’s “leadership” (whoever that now is): if you do form a legitimate non-profit entity and Saad is still involved, you would be wise to take a close look at just how blurred the lines are between Saad’s personal business and your organization’s business. Three letters: IRS.