John Battelle is an entrepreneur, journalist, investor, and author who has founded or co-founded scores of media, tech, conference, and other businesses. They include:
Wired Magazine and its spinoffs, including HotWired, the first commercial website to run banner ads.
The Industry Standard – An integrated weekly magazine, research, online, and conference business that set records for advertising pages sold in a single year. It didn’t end well.
The Web 2 Conferences Founded in 2003 with partner Tim O’Reilly and later TechWeb, this “grandfather of all Internet conferences” is one of my proudest editorial works. I decided to stop doing it after 2011, started NewCo shortly thereafter.
That Book I Heard He Wrote (The Search) Chronicling not just the history of Google, but the forces that gathered to make Google possible. I may write another, now that it’s been a good 20 years.
Federated Media Publishing Founded in 2005 based on the insight that a new form of media was emerging that needed a new economic and technological platform. Sold in early 2014 to LIN Media, spun out sovrn Holdings at the same time.
NewCo (formerly OpenCo) A new kind of event/media platform launched in 2013, now owned by Vision7.
The Recount. A new approach to news in the world of post-linear streaming and social media. Co-founder and CEO, sold to The News Movement in early 2023.
Board seats: Chair, sovrn Holdings. Director, LiveRamp. Advisory Board, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Various other informal advisory boards.
Investor. I invest in media and tech companies that fit into my general thesis that we need a world where data, intelligence, and control are pushed to the edge of the Internet. If you want to reach me about investing, please drop me a line at jbat at battellemedia dot com.
Consulting Has to be the right client.
Teaching. I taught at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for four years (2002-5) and Columbia’s School for International Public Affairs, also for four years (2018 – 2022), where I also did research on how data flows in our society. I’m now attached to Northeastern, where I teach at the College of Media and Design, and am a Fellow at the Burnes Center.
Etc. Father of three. Drums (R&B), mountain biking, yoga, whiteboarding with friends, taking pictures, cursing at closed systems.
May 8 2929
Hi John.
The threat to our democracy is greater than it has ever been. DJT will steal election by closing USPS for just a few days in late Oct. Please see my May 4, five-thread tweet- @BWDnow.
Please forward to John Heilemann.
Thank you.
Bart W Daly
Punta Gorda FL