Revision3 Lays Off Staff, Cuts Shows--Oh Noes!!!

Good ol' Revision3, the internet geek's favorite high-budget webshow company, has laid off some staff. With this comes a cut of some shows. What shows? Well, PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy to start, as well as PopSiren with Sarah Lane, and everybody's favorite East Coast-er, Wine Library TV with Gary Vaynerchuk. Sad sad sad. Not only does this impact the people laid off, but I think it's got some really negative impacts for Revision3.

So, what's this mean in general? Well, Bert's a Photoshop legend, he's fine. Gary Vee? Pfft. He can and will always take care of himself--not like Rev3 was the only outlet for his show anyways. Sarah Lane, geek goddess and fanboy's idol? She's smart, she'll always have that going for her.

What's this mean for Revision3 though, specifically? Well, primarily, it means the loss of some friends of Kevin's, especially Sarah, who has been a long-time friend and co-worker. Sad, and hopefully no bad blood. Gary knows that business is business, and is not one to get butthurt about it, I would assume.

But Gary is what my main sticking point is to this whole thing. Gary Vee is HUGE right now, and getting more and more attention each week. Not only for his wine knowledge, but for his business sense, and immensely passionate abilities as a motivational speaker. As more and more startups vie for funding, blog attention from the likes of Mashable and TechCrunch, the more and more people are attempting to get into this game we call "teh social intarwebs" (or as Kevin Rose put it, "Web 2.5"). More and more attention is being brought to those who have made it, and aren't at this untouchable level that make Tom Anderson and Mark Zuckerberg feel like they're not "one of us" anymore.

The ordinary startup guys in your school, your workplace, your friend circle, they identify with people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Rose (although he's pushing it a bit), because they're passionate, smart, successful, and most of all, approachable. They are (or at least appear to be) just normal guys who happen to be doing well.

This all comes back to where Revision3 went wrong. They cut Wine Library TV--and Gary Vee--loose at a very wrong time in Gary's career. With a strong following that he's got currently, one that will only continue to grow, I think that Rev3 will look back at sending Gary back to the "minors" and wish they hadn't.

I have a feeling that Gary Vaynerchuk is going to blow up HUGE. Forget Cliff Blezinski, Gary Vee is the new Dude Huge. Sorry, Cliff.

You'll always be CliffyB to me anyways. <3