There has been an exodus of founding staff members from Electric Minds in recent weeks, and the company had trouble making its payroll on Tuesday, sources told Wired News on Wednesday.
One former employee at the San Francisco company said the Web-based conferencing hub, piloted by virtual communitarian Howard Rheingold, has lost at least seven of its staff of 20, including chief operating officer Randy Haykin and chief technology officer Jim Race. Executive producer Abbe Don has moved into a consulting role. Rheingold declined comment Wednesday night.
The news comes at a time when the site is premiering a new conference sponsored by IBM, devoted to the upcoming chess match between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue.
Electric Minds has been roundly praised in print and online for its interweaving of smart editorial content and Well-style community building. E-Minds made Time magazine's list of ten best Web sites last year.
When ad banner sales didn't bring in as much revenue as expected, E-Minds looked to sponsorships - like the Deep Blue conference - to put the project in the black. The site is still very active, with more than 1,000 posts a day.
"You can support a company for a little while on venture capital," said the former employee, "but then you've got to figure something else out."
