In an unusual move, Odeo's employees are buying the podcast search engine from the VC and angel investors and launching a new company. Two things are notable about this deal:

1) Rather than soldier on into mediocrity, all the while praying for an exit, the employees of Odeo spent their own money to gain their freedom.
2) They will wrap Odeo and Twitter into Obvious Corp and then roll out new services. It's one of the first business models I know of built on the belief that the Web 2.0 industry has become a hits industry and that your best chance of success as a startup is to launch a number of services.

There's a lot to the idea of Web 2.0 as a hits industry. How long until a VC funds a Web 2.0 production studio?

For more on the birth of Obvious Corp., see
Evan Williams
George Zachary

Tags: odeo, charles+river, vc, venture+capital.