Have you seen this man?
I’ve been trying to get in touch with Vern Raburn. You remember Vern, who was an early employee at Microsoft, Lotus, and Symantec. Vern was very involved in pen computing, ran Paul Allen’s investments, created the first Very Light Jet — the Eclipse 500 — and most recently sold Titan Aerospace to Google. That’s a busy career. Well I’ve been trying to get in touch with so far no success.
I contacted a couple old mutual friends, but they’d lost touch with Vern, too. I saw he was on LinkedIn so I tried to connect. No luck. Then I upgraded my LinkedIn account so I could send Vern e-mail, to which he didn’t reply.
Oh Vern, where art thou?
But that’s not the real point of this column. The point is what happened seven days after I e-mailed Vern and he hadn’t yet replied. LinkedIn sent me a refund of sorts. The message I’d sent hadn’t been answered in seven days so it wouldn’t count against my monthly quota of annoying messages I could send to people to whom I wasn’t already linked.
They gave me credit for the unanswered message then suggested other people I might contact who are like Vern Raburn.
If it actually worked this could be the apex of social networking. If you can’t find the one you seek, here’s the next best thing — nearly as good. Except it wasn’t the next best thing. It wasn’t good at all. Half a dozen names and snapshot pictures were on my screen, some of them men and some women.
Vern is not a woman.
Some were software executives and some aerospace, but nobody had invented the Very Light Jet, nobody had worked for Paul Allen, nobody had been interviewed in Triumph of the Nerds.
I wasn’t just disappointed, I was offended.
Then I wondered who LinkedIn would say is like me?
Heck, in my mind I’m pretty much one-of-a-kind, but what if I’m not?
Who is like you???
There’s an Australian rock group, The Whitlams, whose big hit around our house is a song called Up Against the Wall that includes this wonderful lyric:
Some say, love, it only comes once in a lifetime.
Well, once is enough for me.
She was one in a million, yeah.
So there’s five more just in New South Wales.
Did you try Google?
Another door has opened wide for Titan Aerospace chief executive officer Vern Raburn, an early computer evangelist who got fired from his old company in a hail of criticism only to watch Google announce it would acquire his new employer—a start-up—today.
http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/hot-shots/2014/04/14/meet-ceo-of-google-new-drone-company.html?page=all
Yes, a simple Google search is often amazing. For the past decade I’ve been looking to replace a couple of jackets I’ve used since the 80s. (I lost one and recently broke the zipper on the other.) Searching online and brick & mortar stores specializing in outerwear came up empty since I wanted a specific feature: a permanently attached hood that’s completely hidden until you need it. Finally, I decided to search for “concealed hood” and Google was smart enough to realize I wanted a “hidden hoodie”.
I’ve had a lot of luck with Spokeo. It’s scary how much information they know. Unfortunately, the pricing plans just got a lot more restrictive.
Maybe he IS a woman now — that’s why you can’t find him. Just saying.
Scotland’s finest King Creosote sings:
“She’s one in a dozen,
Yet you’ve seen the state
of the other eleven”
(works best in a Scotish accent, mind 😉
Seriously, Bob? Offended? Linked In gives you a rebate you didn’t expect, then tries to offer you some help finding a similar contact and you’re offended by this??
Maybe that Forbes gig is rubbing off on you. Seems like the old Cringe is slowly disappearing….Sad.
I tend to agree. Getting mad at routine LinkedIn spam, harassing a Home Depot checker: these moves are not classy, they are cringeworthy.
Cringeworthy. I saw what you did there.
One in a million, you say? http://youtu.be/Zn6gV2sdl38
Cringley,
If you Vern were a woman I’d ask / assume you’re a stalker. 😉
Maybe he knows you’re looking for him, but just doesn’t want to give an interview….
This guy has money, is obviously very smart and maybe does not want to be found…good luck!
Ot you’ve already found him and he’s just ignoring you.
This isn’t exactly some Jason Bourne situation. The guy’s just deleting email out of his account, not creating a series black ops portfolios for exotic backstory obfuscation.
I looked you up on LinkedIn and it offers ‘People Similar to Robert’ including a woman who is a ‘Journalist, Inventor, Artist’, an ‘Experienced entrepreneur, startup editorial…’, a ‘Producer/Director’ a ‘Founder & Owner’ of a communications company, a woman who is a ‘Motorcycle Adventure Travel Author | Speaker’, a website owner, ‘Publisher, Editor’, … and many more
Funny, when I look for someone similar to Bob, I keep coming up with some guy named Mark Stephens…
Well, there’s the pen name and then there’s the birth name. My birth name is Captain Marvel and my pen name is a secret. Or maybe it’s the other way around… (I get so confused these days.)
Is LinkedIn getting creepy now? Would you join today if you weren’t already a member?
It is getting creepy. Last time I was notified that a friend had gotten a new job, when I went to congratulate they asked for my password to my email system so they “could scan for other friends of mine”….Yeah, sure. Now they are doing birthdays like FaceBook. Very creepy.
I never joined LinkedIn because it seemed like a spammy outfit that doesn’t respect people as individuals. I already have such a social network in my life. It’s called Facebook. Facebook also has a lot of photo albums and Messenger, so I was sort of compelled to join it.
I have no such compulsion to join LinkedIn.
HI Bob,
Did you try leaving a message for him at work? (443) 536-9082
He’s having the most fun he can have with his clothes on. As he told you Cringely!
You might check with some journalist colleagues like the Aero News Network. He did marry Susan in Albuquerque in 2010. Last I heard from another very rich aerospace executive schoolmate of mine who is not a nerd was that he’s living in Tijeras, NM, east of Albuquerque on I-40. Word is he’s been seen making the VC social circles selling some sort of deal in Phoenix.
IIRC, he’s from Enid, OK, he might have gone back to his home roots for a while.
“He”… Vern or the schoolmate?
Yes