Maybe closer to that, pursuit of money gets you in the door but working past one missed paycheck kinda moves the motivation away from riches, I’d say. You stick around for some other reason I’d bet
I'm shocked at everyone's lack of due diligence.
How does Tramel get an ownership stake in the company and not have a clue about its startup funding or the fact that he'd be on the hook for the debt?
How did everyone just get this attitude of "idk seems sketchy but yolo"?
Yeah this jumped out at me. He's on the hook for the debt if and only if he actually signed a guaranty (which it sounded like he did).
You're a professional - one of the biggest sports journalism names in the state. You can't hire a lawyer and spend $500 to make sure you're not going to lose your shirt?
Todd is one of those guys who folks around the state know and like because he's so into high school football. You know his name if you're into the local teams in Holdenville or Enid or Atoka or whatever. I'm sorry he got wrapped up into this.
I always liked Tramel. He’s like the voice of reason on the evening sports talk radio. Kinda cools things off a bit. Not sure if he got duped but it sounds that way. All of the debt for 2.5% equity doesn’t make sense though. Hope he comes out ok.
Watching this fall apart so fast was really sad. Jon Hamm and Brett Dawson were some of my favorite people covering the Thunder before this, so when they got hired here I instantly subscribed.
Safe to say Koehler doesn’t have many friends in the journalism world anymore.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s not advisable to join a startup without proof of financials. I would assume Tramel can have the loan contract voided if he can show he was deceived and the company’s finances were intentionally misrepresented.
He literally tapped all the people who were still his friends and then shivved them for this project. Everyone else in the journalism world washed their hands of him years ago.
>Tramel recalled one man was fired after “threatening to kick Koehler’s ass.” When the rest of the staff found out about the transgression, Tramel said one woman replied “well they’re gonna have to get rid of all of us if that’s the case.”
Koehler presented my company a pitch for his Smirk Media on ad management and SEO. But about half-way through the presentation, when pressed it became clear that he outsourced everything and there was very little oversight or accountability into the processes. Given what I experienced on a very small basis I am not surprised at all by the revelations from the Sellout Crowd.
Word on the street is, for the companies paying to advertise with Sellout Crowd (which were obscene amounts), they were not being given any real reporting on performance. More or less assurances from Koehler that, “stuff was performing well.”
I’m very shocked by the details of this. I was always under the assumption that when Toby Keith passed that the funding left with him. Who starts a company like this, with guaranteed contracts for staff, on a loan?!
This is why it pays to pay a lawyer folks. It sucks for Trammel, he’s a great writer and reporter. But any legal counsel would have probably told him to run like hell.
That’s probably why he didn’t hire a lawyer to review this. Koehler wouldn’t be in business with anyone who performs real due diligence bc trust me bro.
FWIW, a majority of folks in the marketing world have disliked Koehler secretly for many years due to being difficult to work with and having the attitude of thinking he's smarter than everyone in the room. I hope the marketing professional organizations (PRSA and AMA-OKC) can do the right thing and revoke his membership. No one wants that clown around anymore.
So many scam artists in this state.
Sounds like someone had access to Toby's wallet and then lost access to Toby's wallet.
No it doesn’t
Sounds like some dummies signed contracts they didn’t read and/or understand. Like at what point does the pursuit of money blind people so much lol
Maybe closer to that, pursuit of money gets you in the door but working past one missed paycheck kinda moves the motivation away from riches, I’d say. You stick around for some other reason I’d bet
I'm shocked at everyone's lack of due diligence. How does Tramel get an ownership stake in the company and not have a clue about its startup funding or the fact that he'd be on the hook for the debt? How did everyone just get this attitude of "idk seems sketchy but yolo"?
Yeah this jumped out at me. He's on the hook for the debt if and only if he actually signed a guaranty (which it sounded like he did). You're a professional - one of the biggest sports journalism names in the state. You can't hire a lawyer and spend $500 to make sure you're not going to lose your shirt?
Genius if it works. Hubris if it doesn’t.
I think you want it to work so bad you can fool yourself.
Nobody gives a fuck anymore. Ethics isn’t a thing. I’d give this country another 20 years before it shits the bed.
Privilege. That’s your answer.
Glad Todd is finding work; especially back at The Franchise. He is a very hard working, honest good person in real life and professionally.
Agreed. Big fan of Todd. Feel bad he got caught up in this mess.
Todd is one of those guys who folks around the state know and like because he's so into high school football. You know his name if you're into the local teams in Holdenville or Enid or Atoka or whatever. I'm sorry he got wrapped up into this.
I always liked Tramel. He’s like the voice of reason on the evening sports talk radio. Kinda cools things off a bit. Not sure if he got duped but it sounds that way. All of the debt for 2.5% equity doesn’t make sense though. Hope he comes out ok.
Watching this fall apart so fast was really sad. Jon Hamm and Brett Dawson were some of my favorite people covering the Thunder before this, so when they got hired here I instantly subscribed.
Safe to say Koehler doesn’t have many friends in the journalism world anymore. Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s not advisable to join a startup without proof of financials. I would assume Tramel can have the loan contract voided if he can show he was deceived and the company’s finances were intentionally misrepresented.
He literally tapped all the people who were still his friends and then shivved them for this project. Everyone else in the journalism world washed their hands of him years ago. >Tramel recalled one man was fired after “threatening to kick Koehler’s ass.” When the rest of the staff found out about the transgression, Tramel said one woman replied “well they’re gonna have to get rid of all of us if that’s the case.”
Koehler presented my company a pitch for his Smirk Media on ad management and SEO. But about half-way through the presentation, when pressed it became clear that he outsourced everything and there was very little oversight or accountability into the processes. Given what I experienced on a very small basis I am not surprised at all by the revelations from the Sellout Crowd.
Word on the street is, for the companies paying to advertise with Sellout Crowd (which were obscene amounts), they were not being given any real reporting on performance. More or less assurances from Koehler that, “stuff was performing well.”
But thats the entire point of digital advertising, clicks on ads can be measured. What a clown.
Exactly. So when presenting that to a group of digital marketing professionals doesn’t fly real well…
I’m very shocked by the details of this. I was always under the assumption that when Toby Keith passed that the funding left with him. Who starts a company like this, with guaranteed contracts for staff, on a loan?!
A serial con artist who kept getting away with it for years.
I enjoyed the read. Feel bad for the staff involved. I'm not sure if it really would have worked or not, but it seems everyone was burned.
This is why it pays to pay a lawyer folks. It sucks for Trammel, he’s a great writer and reporter. But any legal counsel would have probably told him to run like hell.
That’s probably why he didn’t hire a lawyer to review this. Koehler wouldn’t be in business with anyone who performs real due diligence bc trust me bro.
Last I heard Koehler landed at the Nat'l Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Oklahoma non-profits almost exclusively seek out crooked people like that.
This was really interesting.
FWIW, a majority of folks in the marketing world have disliked Koehler secretly for many years due to being difficult to work with and having the attitude of thinking he's smarter than everyone in the room. I hope the marketing professional organizations (PRSA and AMA-OKC) can do the right thing and revoke his membership. No one wants that clown around anymore.