When it comes to the proudest moments of a career, it’s hard to beat a launch. I can still remember the first day Wired or The Standard rolled off the presses, the day we opened the very first Web 2 Summit or DOC, and of course, the day my first book came out. That last one might stand as my proudest: I’d worked mostly alone for nearly two years, but on launch day, there I was, standing in a room of 100 or so of my friends, family and colleagues, each holding physical proof of my labors.
Today is exactly that kind of a day for my friend Joe Marchese and his co-author Jonathan Bing. They’re launching Human Dot AI: How the Fight for Your Attention Became the World’s Biggest Business. I was fortunate to read the book in galleys earlier this year, and can recommend it without reservation. If you’re deep in the advertising and media business, it’ll be a fun walk down memory lane, with a healthy dose of skepticism about where our industries are heading in the age of AI. If you’re not, it’ll be an education that ends with one clear insight: The single most valuable commodity in human history is our attention, and how we treat that commodity deserves more scrutiny that it’s gotten so far.
Marchese is an entrepreneur and VC whose career is both enviable and well earned. Human Dot AI is part memoir, part argument: Marchese weaves entertaining stories of founding early adtech pioneer TrueX (nee SocialVibe) with his experiences as President of Advertising at Fox, where he had a front-row seat to how television was changed by the rise of digital. Along the way Marchese began investing in human-centric startups through Human Ventures, a venture platform that serves as a launching pad for his irrepressible energy and ideas. Human backs a lot of tech and media companies, to be sure, but it’s also behind one of Marchese’s most remarkable achievements: Komos, an ultra-high end tequila brand that actually lives up to its marketing. (It really is that good).
But beyond the stories of SuperBowl parties and founder mishaps, Human Dot AI contains a warning about the world we’ve built as technology fused with media over the past thirty years. “The greatest business models in the world are the advertising platforms attached to online search, engagement, and shopping,” he writes, and I’m inclined to agree. “An astonishing percentage of the global economy—trillions upon trillions of dollars in market valuation—is built on top of algorithms competing to attract, harvest, and monetize attention.”
Lest he be accused of admiring a well-established problem, Marchese also identifies the opportunities that the rise of AI might yield, if only we were wise enough to steer our economy away from the mistakes of the past. “The same technology that has been used to capture our attention might also be the one that helps us reclaim it,” he advises. “The outcome will depend, in part, on whether AI is used to accelerate the current business models or disrupt those models entirely, fundamentally changing how we reach and influence people and the value we put on their attention.”
It is precisely this point that Marchese hopes to debate through the publication of his book, and readers of this site will identify a fellow traveler* in his writing. Marchese has long been a trusted sounding board for my thinking, writing, and companies over the past 20 years, and I couldn’t be happier for him as he celebrates the publication of his first book. Congratulations, Joe!
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* In more ways than one. We share a passion for convening – getting interesting, well-intentioned folks together in a way that maximizes connection. If you’re ever invited to one of his events, dinners, or parties, my advice is to make a point of being there.