Oh Great, Another Mob

As most of you know I was supposed to be Brazil right now meeting with start-ups and writing about them for TechCrunch and my book on entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Loads of South American entrepreneurs I've never met were excited about some Valley coverage and whole dinners and parties were arranged so I could meet as many people as possible. I'd planned this trip for a while, and even spent several months learning Portuguese. I was pumped.

Then, the Brazilian consulates in the United States installed a new computer system, and hundreds of visas that had been approved and promised got stalled for weeks, leaving hundreds of Americans looking to travel to Brazil to spend money and do deals with little choice but rearranging or canceling their trips. I rearranged mine first-- to great hassle and expense-- then when the visa didn't come by the second promised date, I had to cancel the trip.

Since I'd announced on TechCrunch that I was coming to Brazil, I wrote a post explaining why I'd canceled my trip. I criticized the computer "upgrade"-- just as I'd criticize any company that would bring its business to a halt in the name of improvement. And, let's face it, it's not like I haven't spilled tons of ink criticising the US visa system.

I got a ton of sweet personal emails and notes from people saying they were disappointed and hoped I'd come another time. Indeed, I said at the end of the post, I was going to come later in the year, and had started re-arranging my schedule to come in December.

And then a bunch of people went nuts.

I tend to have a knack for unintentionally inciting rabid mobs of anonymous commenters who make all kinds of threats and insults while other people wonder what just happened. But these things blow over, so the worst seemed to be that Arrington had to waste a day deleting disturbing hate speech in the comments and Paul Carr got fodder for his weekly column.

But apparently some of these people were apparently a special kind of crazy. They started targeting my husband. Someone even left a comment on his personal blog on a post about our wedding anniversary. This particular wacko seems to think that his heart-felt post about our married life was a sophisticated attempt at bolstering the "lie" that my visa was held up. I suppose the hundreds of other Americans who couldn't go to Brazil were also part of, um, the world's most boring conspiracy theory? Yeah, I spent thousands of dollars and wasted countless hours for months planning a trip that I never wanted to take all along. How'd you figure it out!?

I've been attacked in Austin, Israel, China and Africa for seemingly innocuous things I've done or written, but no one has ever gone after my husband. Now I'm in a position where he's incensed and scared for my safety and trying to convince me not to travel to Brazil at all, to cut the country out of my book completely. And if you've read some of the comments-- that's not necessarily an over-reaction.

Honestly, what is wrong with people? No one at TechCrunch has stood up for entrepreneurs in emerging markets and criticized the US visa system more than I have. Not only that, but I don't know any US business reporter who spends thousand of dollars of his or her own money to travel to other countries and give amazing entrepreneurs the exposure they deserve. TechCrunch is hardly the end-all-be-all, but a lot of entrepreneurs have wound up getting customers and funding from being written about there.

This whole thing worries me that maybe the premise for this new book is wrong. Not the core premise-- that the greatest opportunity to build the next wave of multi-billion companies is outside the US. I still believe that opportunity is there. And I've traveled enough to see that the talent is there. But when people's families are threatened over a post about burocratic ineptitude, a lot of potential investors, business partners or acquirers will decide maybe that opportunity just isn't worth it. There's a real risk that that opportunity never gets fully realized and that's bad for everyone.

Will I still go to Brazil in December? I don't know. I want to. I have my visa now. But would you go to a country where people were threatening to spit in your face and rape you as soon as you arrive in exchange for, um, you wanting to help their businesses? 

For obvious reasons, comments on this post are closed. Have the cojones to send me an email if you have something to say to me about this topic.