Om money, Om problems

Blogger Om Malik's decision to go full-time and raise seed money (a story broken on Valleywag) is all over the blogosphere today. His tech blog GigaOM broke the 5,000 rank on Alexa (putting him at anywhere from 20k to 80k views a day) while he was still working full-time for Business 2.0. What could the man do for GigaOM with 40 hours a week and a million bucks?

Spend all that new money, of course. While the amount that True Ventures gave Om is undisclosed (for now), one source says it's "enough to hold him over for a couple of years."

Usually, that's what ad income is for. And it's unclear just how Om's ad provider, Federated Media Publishing, feels about not being able to pay Om's bills.

Especially since Om took venture capital. As any startup burnout can tell you, VCs often want two to five times their investment back. That's hard to do with a content-based site (which is why Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton funded their blog networks with their personal fortunes). It also means that in a few years, Om could feel the pressure to sell his blog. (Or, heh, go public, but let's hope the bubble pops before then.)

But who can blame him? For a Valley journalist, it's no fun to see all your friends take millions while you pull in a five-digit salary. Have fun, Om, and don't worry about the due date on that money.

It's time to transition [GigaOM]
Earlier: Scoop: Blogger Om Malik quits Business 2.0 and takes funding [Valleywag]
Photo: Om [Agendacide on Flickr]

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