I remember that he didn’t immediately join Escape Collective and I respected that. I assumed it meant he was taking his time and asking lots of questions before making a move.
Big loss but I still enjoy the content on EC. I hope it’s not the start of a trend.
WOW! I just listened to that podcast today too and there was no indication at all. I’ll be honest, and I mean no disrespect to the others, but James is 90% of why I subscribed. It’s always been that way. This is a massive loss for me. I’ve got some thinking to do.
They are producing more and more fluff shows but only a couple align with my interests. James leaving is a big blow….silliness and games will not replace the informative content he provided.
I think Ronan and Dave Rome are both solid, and they added that Brad Copeland will be joining Geek Warning for the next few shows. But none of them have the knowledge of the bike industry or ability to provide nuanced reviews of bikes quite as well as James (IMO.) Ronan is great for performance-related stuff, Dave is the master of tools, but James we kinda the total package.
I hope they find a new tech guru, though big big shoes to fill.
In that most recent Geek Warning episode James was emphasizing at the end during the membership pitch that EC is not profitable. So my guess is they couldn’t afford him.
EC has to become profitable soon, I assume this year.
Personally I don’t care about anything but the tech articles, so James was reason for me subscribing. Though now I’ll consider saying for the Ronan articles and podcast.
Cue the ads in podcasts and on the website…
Same here, he was one of the reasons I follow Escape collective (although, their staff is solid). A rare combination of knowledgeable and entertaining.
I usually search for his opinion or reviews before making an upgrade. But also like to listen to him even if I’m not interested in the product.
I don’t think it’s fair to speculate on the reasons or read too much into it.
I wish him the best.
That is one of the classier ways to handle a departure I have seen from any company.
They have been pretty open about the state of their profitability. Wade wrote a whole article about it when they hit the one year mark. I would doubt that James departure has anything to do with the state of their finances. All seems to be in good terms and it sounds like his decision.
They have always said they would eventually have ads in all likelihood. IMO, it seems obvious they are coming at some point relatively soon, hence the “let’s take a break” transitions in Placeholders, etc.
I don’t care if they eventually have advertising……they have been very transparent re: what it would mean for their journalism, etc. (I.e. they aren’t looking for and won’t accept paid promotions spots, pop-up advertising, etc). My guess is that they would welcome non-endemic advertising without thinking twice about it.
It could very well be that they couldn’t pay what he wanted or didn’t want to considering their finances. That would be no reason to not leave on good terms.
As for ads that was always coming the model never worked just on subscriptions alone. But it makes you a bit more resilient to dios in the ad market and what kind of ads you accept.
Bit bummed about this. I enjoy listening to Dave and Ronan, but the podcast always feels more energetic when James is on.
I doubt that. Escape Collective is a start-up and it would be unreasonable to believe it’ll break even in the first year. EC has been quite transparent about its finances.
James‘ departure is a significant loss, though, but at least he got out with a high note (his GRX Di2 review).
Just want to throw out there that while I’m very disappointed to see James leave, I just listened to Geek Warning Episode 43 with the new co-host, Brad Copeland! Brad actually did a great job and they talked about a lot of topics that interest me (tire size, pressure, sealant, wheels, etc.). Overall a great episode that I really enjoyed.
Ditto. Solid first show after the change.
Count me as optimistic about their future. 
They just posted a transparency podcast after their first year. Haven’t listened to it yet, and I would doubt it contains any significant new details from the report they already posted, but it available for a listen now.
It was promising, I am curious how they want to evolve the show.
@angryasian has a strong personality, he’d often add levity to the situation or make a good/sharp remark. So the current hosts need to find a new equilibrium on the show.
Brad is a pretty funny guy. The stuff he and Kate used to post always made me laugh. I think Dave will get more comfortable over time with hosting and it will be good content. I was skeptical, but I’m pretty optimistic right now.
Yeah honestly it seemed like just over the course of the show Brad got more comfortable and therefore funnier and quippier. I enjoyed the show and look forward to future episodes.
Still a big James-shaped hole for in-depth review pieces for the site though. Reviewing bikes/gear requires using it for a while (they don’t do “first ride” reviews, which I appreciate), so while Ronan and Dave are solid tech reviewers they need additional hands to keep these flowing. Seems like the tech pieces generally get the most comments and I have to think they’re a big driver of clicks, so hopefully they can address this. I generally really like EC and am rooting for their continued success.
Yes, his review of the new GRX Di2 was just spot on. You could just read title and abstract and have a very good idea what this new groupset is all about. The rest of the text built on that.