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Jim Bellows, The Last Editor, Gone at 86

Posted by andreaitis on March 7, 2009

Jim Bellows

Jim Bellows

I saw it on twitter first.  I know, I know, it sounds trite already (or, uh, twite).  It resonated, though, because our CEO worked for Jim Bellows at one time, and knew him well.  I’ve heard the stories.  Bellows was a truly great editor, by all accounts — even his own in his book The Last Editor.  He loved what he did, and he loved the people who did it with him…whether he was working in print, TV or the Internet.

LD says Bellows was known for repeatedly asking the following:  “Young man, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?”  And, LD says, you would think about that question, from then on.   Bellows  had an impact, one that was resoundingly felt by those who worked with him.  And it transcends.  I was not fortunate enough to meet Jim Bellows, but LD talked about him and shared stories.  And when we started down the startup path in July, LD sent me a copy of Bellows’ book.  “Read this,” he said.  So I did.  And in reading it I got a sense of who Bellows was, and the joy with which he approached every step along the way.

The Editor & Publisher obit includes excerpts from a 2002 interview with Bellows on the PBS NewsHour:

TERENCE SMITH: What’s the future hold in this business that you’ve been in so long, in journalism? Is the answer the Internet, will newspapers still be around, will they still be on newsprint?

JIM BELLOWS: You’re going to have a newspaper that’s delivered there at your home every day, but it’s not going to be market quotes, it’s not going to be baseball statistics; it’s going to be commentary and opinion, but you’re going to be able to get that other material that you want by the computer world and everything else.

TERENCE SMITH: Jim, what worries you, if anything, about journalism today? When you look at the news business and you look at everything from newspapers to the 24-hour news channels, any cause of concern?

JIM BELLOWS: The newspapers now are too tame. And you need more people with passion who are willing to take risks and have a commitment to making a difference.

TERENCE SMITH: Too tame when you look across the country, too tame? Papers that… you see papers that ought to be more adventurous?

JIM BELLOWS: Yes, and they ought to take risks, which they’ve got to, it’s productive to be helpful to people to make a better life and make sense out of the news.

To make a better life and make sense out of the news…

I had planned to post pictures of our new office tonight, before hearing this news.  I am still going to post them, because I think Jim Bellows would have enjoyed LD’s latest adventure.  He would appreciate True/Slant.  I can picture him standing in our office, asking LD yet again what he wants to do with the rest of  his life.  LD would look him straight in the eye and say, with conviction,  “This is it.”  I imagine Bellows would mumble in response, with a glint of pride and pleasure.   And he would look out the windows of our new office,  see the future and nod with approval.

To Jim Bellows…for always raising hell.

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startup’ing, month 8: thinking inside the box

Posted by andreaitis on February 26, 2009

i call this our macgyver period.

it all started with a not-so-little office drama.  we had a funny feeling about our nice digs in union square (yes, one floor below fred wilson!).   we were subletting, had carved out the space in the back right corner as our own…but noticed that, uhhh, the rest of the place was getting emptier and emptier.  so we huddled and quickly decided we needed a new place.  and then our landlord decided he wouldn’t continue renting the union square office at all.  since you can’t sublet if there’s no one to sublet from, the building decided to pleasantly evict us.  of course, all of this coincided with our alpha release #4.

within 48 hours our fearless leader announced it was done:  a new office that was bigger, cheaper and had seven windows, available march 1st.  unfortunately, it was january 27th.  we had another product release coming up, and a board meeting, and no place to work.   enter: the box.  we took a temp office in the helmsley building.  sounds nice, right?  join me for the trip to the box:

it was, in essence, an alice in wonderland office.  or something out of being john malkovich.  i actually didn’t mind it at first…until the connectivity problems.  and the loud day-traders next door.   and the game of musical chairs that meant the last person who arrived had to use a small file cabinet as a desk.   and the loose electrical outlet that sparked and sizzled.  and the lack of any windows which, ultimately, made it feel like we were working at a casino.  and the random electrical shocks from just, y’know, sitting down and touching a laptop.  pretty sure our cto got some free electro-shock therapy.

but, now that it’s my last day in the box… i might actually miss it a little.   it was cramped and crazy, but while we were there we released alpha #5 on time, and made it through another energetic board meeting.

oh!  i was also reblogged by fred wilson.  that’s like a rite of passage, isn’t it?  a blog mitzvah?  it was paul westerberg singing Waitress in the Sky.  after westerberg’s hit by a beer bottle in the middle of the song, he smoooothly slips in some improv lyrics without missing a beat.

i guess that’s kind of what we did in t/s month 8…improv.   minus the flying beer bottle.

improv-ing-ly yours -
andrea

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the return of egg-phobia

Posted by andreaitis on February 21, 2009

quail eggs with bacon

quail eggs with bacon. might as well yell 'fire' or 'shark' or 'marilyn manson.'

i’ve been meaning to post this picture.  actually, i’ve been meaning to update this blog.   but i suppose if i had lots of time to post pictures and update the blog then the startup thing would maybe not be doing so well.

so, here i am, insomniac’d after finishing a draft of the board mtg deck…finally, finally posting this picture.  it’s from december, when we had our first official true/slant festivus lunch.  there were 9 of us, total: 4 on staff, the new guy who was just about to start, and 4 contractors.  in case you want to play along, here’s the invite i sent out:

on thursday, 12/18 please come and dine
at 12:45 — we should be on time
we’ll have tapas and maybe…maybe some wine
(i’m not really sure since we’re on a tight dime)
at Boqueria we’ll be festive and fine
don’t worry, we won’t be speaking in rhyme
but we will celebrate how our lives intertwine
and toast to all things true/slant divine

so off we went to Boqueria for tapas and wine in the afternoon.  of course, we had a surprise quick visit from one of our investors just before the lunch.  that’s always good.  not only are we cutting out in the afternoon, but we’re going to have a pseudo-holiday party.  excellent timing.  we got to show the investors just how we’re managing the startup schedule and the funding.   high5.

anyway, back to the picture.  i don’t like eggs.  not in the i-don’t-mind-them kind of way.  i reaallly do not like them.  so much so that a friend once put a nekked hard-boiled egg on my computer keyboard as a “joke.”   funny it was not.  i still remember the quaking shock and fear when i walked in and saw that slippery slimy smelly shiny e-g-g casually resting on my keyboard.  i’d say i’m exaggerating but i’m not so much.  gloved removal and disinfectant was involved.

so when the quail eggs with bacon were served, we had to capture the moment.  i was very brave and allowed them on the table near me.  and i’m pretty sure the yolks followed my every move.  but i survived.  because that’s what it takes to make it in the startup world.

egg-free updates to come:  union square office one day, the (shoe)box office the next…

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panel’ing

Posted by andreaitis on January 16, 2009

i participated in a panel this past week on the future of news and information.   it was my first public outing as a true/slant’r, and i have to admit i was a bit rusty.  all those high school theater performances and still, i get nervous.  a good warmup, though, for what’s to come.   david berkowitz has a  roundup of my  session.

mostly, i thought we barely covered the tip of the tech iceberg.  no one talked about twitter or google reader or iphones or other non-traditional methods for consuming news.    there’s a news generation gap: the people who get up in the cold, dark morning and pad down to the cold, dark front porch to bring in the newspaper … and the people who roll over, reach for the mobile phone and scroll through the news  while under the still- warm covers.   how do we close that gap?  that would have been an interesting discussion.

public speaking in this day and age is practically a contact sport  you are instantly analyzed, judged,  pummeled and (if lucky) applauded, all at the whim of wifi and mobile devices.  it makes it that much more challenging.   so next time, i’m definitely bringing my notes with me to calm my nerves.  and maybe a  small flask.  ;-j

i did wander through the harvard club after the panel.  prittee, prittee good.  and i was accosted by a man in the coat check area who was looking for a female ceo for his relationship-fixer-upper startup.  at first i thought he was waiting to meet someone in particular.  but no, it seems he was hanging out in the harvard club just hoping to meet a woman who might want to be  ceo of an alleged startup.  i guess all you need on your resume is estrogen.  any takers?

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dude, where’s my journalist?

Posted by andreaitis on January 13, 2009

a couple of things happened over the last few days that got me thinking:

1.  i was on a call to prep for a digital breakfast panel on the future of news and information.  it’s put together by gotham media ventures, and will be at the harvard club.  fancy.   the call was supposed to be a quick intro but lasted twice as long because, rather than just prepping, we got into the actual conversation ourselves.

2.  fredwilson wrote avoiding the big yellow taxi moment, a post about newspapers, journalists, reporters and the yet-to-be-solved business model.  it prompted a lively and insightful discussion with  over 150 responses — including a comment  from our ceo.

3.  i spoke to a sportswriter who is now teaching journalism at loyola college in maryland.   i asked her:  how do you teach journalism today?   she said she is asked that question more than any other.

it occurred to me this morning that there is a correlation between what’s happening in the video world and what’s happening in the print world.   we used to watch tv by network — must-see-tv on nbc — we were loyal to the network.  now, i can watch tv on my pc or when i’m mobile using hulu, or i can use boxee and watch anything i want on my tv.  i become the network.   my loyalty is not to the tv networks of old, but to the shows and personalities.    i watch house and  jon stewart and true beauty.    (btw, ashton kutcher and tyra banks might be geniuses.)

it’s the same with print.  i talk about andrew sullivan’s  ‘why i blog’ and michael hirschorn’s ‘end times.’ both are connected to the atlantic, but that’s not how i reference them.  i am aligned with the writer, not the publication.  my loyalty is to the human brand.  this isn’t 100%, of course.  there is credibility attached to certain media brands, tho that’s been impacted by an influx of fakes and phonies like jayson blair and stephen glass, among others.

which leads me to my next thought:  are journalists a dying breed?   to me,  ‘journalist’ was a word uttered with wistful reverence.  it was aspirational, something to work for and earn, almost like being knighted.   in all my years in news, i never called myself a journalist; i thought of myself as a storyteller.  but i know i did the job with integrity and ethics.  i know i was careful and thoughtful in my reporting.  i was never cavalier; the details mattered.

there are different pieces to being a journalist: the research, the angle, the hunches, the facts, the writing, the presentation….the parameters when you’re chasing the story, and the boundaries when you’re telling the story.   it’s the training, the skills that build solid reporting and credibility, that allow you to responsibly push those boundaries.

anyone can  ‘report’ today.  we all know that, and we’ve talked about mass quantity and the credibility spectrum.  but below the surface is this question: will the next generation learn the skills of basic reporting?  will they want to, or will they feel it’s unnecessary because they can instantly publish?  we learned so much of the craft from actually being in a newsroom, eavesdropping on phone conversations and hanging out in the bar.   every newsroom in every media company had such a bar.  we didn’t even use the name, just called it ‘across the road.’    i’m not sure digital communication can replace that physical presence.   and those bars?  some aspiring journalist would do well to take a tour of those bars and pubs.  there are stories to be heard and stories to be told, and they won’t be there forever.

it’s possible today to  be a ‘reporter’ without ever leaving your house.    i’m just not sure that’s a good thing.   the role of the journalist will be redefined and reshaped as the industry continues to change; we’re just at the beginning of that transformation.  and up-and-coming journalists?  i guess the ones who will make it will understand the steps they need to take along the way.  at least, i hope so.   because, content isn’t king anymore.  credibility is.

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board meeting day: a brief debrief

Posted by andreaitis on December 12, 2008

it was raining.   which might not be a big deal for you, but for me it always leaves the possibility of unhappy  hair expansion.  so much so  that sarah palin could probably see my hair all the way from her house.   in alaska.

but the day is off to a good start.  i and my umbrella step onto the sidewalk, turn to look for a taxi and one pulls up right in front of me.  must be a good sign, i think.  until he goes the wrong way… twice… makes an illegal u-turn in the middle of irving place… and is on his mobile phone the entire time, completely ignoring me.  and, by the way, are ALL taxi drivers constantly on their phones these days?  is that some common code to drive passengers crazy??

but i digress…

at the office, we are printing the final three copies of the board deck when the printer decides to take a breather right in the middle.   and then it starts  printing the deck all over again from the beginning without finishing the first copy.   and then, yes, it stops again.  but i quickly step in, assess the situation and magically fix the persnickety printer:   i, um, realize it needs more paper.

so, decks printed.  projector tested.  water provided.   no muffins or snacks – we’re a startup in tough economicl times; they should applaud our food frugality.  we hope.

our ceo is doing a final check in the conference room.  we’re in the back  discussing the whereabouts of burt reynolds and his hairpiece and the merits of smokey and the bandit.   y’know, important and relevant pre-board-meeting conversation.  when suddenly our ceo strolls back with one of our investors,  tim forbes (from, yes, forbes).    and very nicely he tells us he’s  pleased with what he’s seen so far.   this, before the board meeting even begins!   we immediately forget burt reynolds (where is he, anyway?).    after the board meeting, tim’s comment is echoed by one of our other investors,  jon miller (formerly of aol and currently of velocity interactive group).  which is a long way of saying the meeting went very well.  the powerpoint performed as expected, and the conversation was good.  i’m sure we’ll have tough meetings at some point, but it feels pretty good to have two solid ones behind us.

but here’s the strange part…
after the meeting, when we were debriefing, there was some excitement… and relief… but it was tempered.  i thought we would feel light, buoyant,  but that wasn’t the case.  we were all quietly absorbing what had happened.  why, i wondered, after such a positive board meeting do we not feel exuberant?  and i think it’s this:  we’re setting expectations, big ones.  not intentionally, really.  we try to stay focused and we hold ourselves to a high standard, but it’s different when you know the board is now also holding you to that standard.  expecting it.   more pressure on us to push forward harder and faster.

which isn’t a problem since we’ll do that anyway.  but i know the board will walk into the next meeting and expect everything to be at a certain level, from our progress to our powerpoint.  so while part of my brain is excited and happy the meeting went as well as it did, the other part of my brain is thinking about whether  i should present the next update as an interpretive dance…

at least i’ll have a couple of months to stress about it.

startup’ingly yours -
andrea

ps:  burt reynolds is here.

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startup’ing, the second trimester

Posted by andreaitis on December 9, 2008

there is a rhythm to the startup cycle, at least for us.  the first three months or so were the dreamy times: everything fresh and new, imagining what we might build and how it might work, all 3…then 4 of us conspiring together in gleeful anticipation.

then, in the fourth month, there was a noticeable shift.   just as we were launching our first bits of functionality, the mood changed.  personalities became…sharper.  not in a bad way, it just suddenly became simultaneously apparent that this is all real.  big, and real.  seeing some working parts pushed us along, and we each became intensely focused on our particular role, what we had to bring to the project.  for the guys, that meant they were grumpy at times.   i, of course, was a ray of sunshine.  as always.  ;-p

we’ve continued to launch other bits and pieces in a closed alpha, and that initial burst of intensity has eased into a good, constant buzz.  we’ve got a name, a tagline and a logo.  we’re working on site design now, and prepping for our second board meeting.  and, still, seeing signs along the way.   when we were at the jeff jarvis news summit a few weeks ago i happened to notice a display in the hallway: the new york herald tribune.   our tagline — “News is more than what happens” — is a quote from jock whitney, publisher of the new york herald tribune.  there’s more to that story for another time, but here’s a look at the display…

we’re finishing up our second trimester in a good place.  more after the board meeting…

buzzingly yours -
andrea

ps:  oh!!!  i saw fred wilson TWICE last week.  once in the elevator, and once when i went with our New Guy to the sandwich place around the corner.  i think i was a little less dorky, but fred wilson would have to confirm that.  of course, he doesn’t really know my usual level of dorkiness so it might be hard for him to judge…

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the magnetic fields of dreams

Posted by andreaitis on October 27, 2008

i know, i know.  not all that original a title.  i can see stephin merritt giving me that flat, dry, unswerving stare.  which he actually did on sunday night at the magnetic fields show.  f’real.

i was sitting in the front row thanks to (ridiculously cheap) ebay tix, and stephin merritt was no more than 20 feet from me.   and, um, he shushed me.   !!!!   i whispered ONE word to my date — literally, a single whisper of a word — and stephin merritt looked at me, put his finger to his lips and oh-so-quietly shhhh’d me.   in a nice sardonic way, actually.   but that brings me to a little known merritt fact: he’s got hyperacusis.   any sound louder than normal begins to “feed back” in his head.  that’s why he wears earplugs when he performs, and why he doesn’t like applause.

a review of the show here.  i was happy to see them live, to revel in the pointed and poignant misery they so lovingly harmonize.   found some videos from earlier shows on the tour — a few of my favorite moments:

papa was a rodeo

the book of love

all dressed up in dreams

give me back my dreams

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today is the day i met fred wilson

Posted by andreaitis on October 23, 2008

really.  i did.   and it happened through happenstance.

we attended the New Business Models for News Summit today at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.  the program, in its second year, is organized by jeff jarvis and had an all-star turnout.   andrew heyward, craig newmark, jay rosen,  larry kramer … so many others and … fred wilson.  but, it wasn’t just that fred wilson was attending the summit.  oh, no … fred wilson was also the leader of my break-out session.  yep.

all through the strange happenings of happenstance.

so, here it is.  i get to meet fred wilson.  and, it’s weird.  because, as it turns out, the moral of today’s story is this:  social media = social awkwardness.

let me explain.   i keep up with the must-read industry blogs.  including fred’s blog, avc.com.   i follow the usual culprits on twitter.  including fred wilson.    between blog posts and twitter, you get to know someone. the music they like.  the sports teams they follow.  their perspectives and opinions.  the things that make them happy and the things that drive them up the wall.

these social media mechanisms create an intimacy with people you have never met.  i know stowe boyd wakes up every day and twitters ‘good morning edgelings.’   i know jeff jarvis was working on his book while on the acela train.   and i know fred wilson has currently been on an okkervil river kick.

so i know stuff about fred wilson.   and as i was about to meet him, i felt like maybe i’d rather not.   that meeting him after i already ‘know’ him was some strange social shift, going in reverse from personal to impersonal.

and let me be clear: i am not the socially awkward type.  i am typically the one who puts people at ease.  after all, i spent years convincing people to spill their guts on national television.

but the flow of social media meanderings – publicly available, open to all – creates this sense of intimacy.  our tech version of the celebrity syndrome, i suppose.   in our world, though, we have no paparazzi.  we control the flow of information.  it is, in many ways, a social experiment: what goes out, what comes back, what evolves…

and my little experiment still leads me here:  social media = social awkwardness.

the panel led by fred wilson was great – an active, open, lively discussion.  the meeting of fred wilson was okay.  slight to moderate awkwardness.   on my part, at least.   i really don’t know him well enough to gauge what he thought.   we’ll see if he swings by to check out our prototype.  i hope so.  i’d kind of like a do-over.

socially yours -
andrea

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inside a startup, looking out

Posted by andreaitis on October 22, 2008

as the money’s melting down, we’ve seen post after post from venture capitalists.

smart people, with a particular perspective . . . from fred wilson to tom evslin to alan patricof.

they are the fairy godfathers for many an internet story.  but now, with the economy dipping and diving, some of those tales are looking grim.   (or, uh, grimm.)

the view is a bit different from the inside.  when we officially started on july 1,  we were truly starting up from scratch — no product, no site, just the rough rock of an idea we were anxious and excited to polish.  and we set about doing just that.

then, almost four months later, the markets went mad.  and we knew we needed to do something.  here’s what we did, our startup steps for keeping dollars and sense:

1. pay attention
what happens outside affects you inside.  the economy matters, for your product and your audience.  do not ignore what’s happening.  we thought about what we’re building, and how it would play in a good economy and a bad one.  we thought about adjustments we might need to make, and the associated costs and efforts. we’re big on back-up plans.

2. show me the money
repeat after me: i am running a business.  i am running a business.
now figure out if – when – how that business will make money or provide an equivalent value in a lopsided economy.  we looked at our potential revenue sources, and estimated high and low scenarios.  the more information we have, the better equipped we’ll be to roll with whatever happens.

3. stretch
update your operating plan and budget.  if you don’t have one, do one now.   n-o-w.   we have some initial funding, and decided we’d like it to last through (at least) december ‘09.   so we went through the budget, line by line, and made adjustments.  we spent money on a very good biz dev/finance guy in order to do this.  money well spent, in our opinion, with an eye on long term survival.  we know what we need to do, we’re comfortable with the changes and we did it all in a week or so.  we also reviewed it with our investors, to get their input and support.

4. scrimp AND spend
sure, you’ll need to hire contractors instead of staff.  and maybe you’ll have to let some people go.  or you’ll hold off on a particular product feature or partnership for a bit, or closely evaluate open source tech (we are big into open source).  but spend where it makes the most sense, where you’ll get the biggest bang for your bucks.  be objective and unemotional when making those decisions.  think about the greater good, not your particular pet project.  we have a solid core team of 4, and we will invest our time and energy (and our investors’ money) in our product.  we know the experience we want to create, and we are unified in our pursuit.  which leads me to. . .

5. focus
stay focused.  that’s it.  know what you need to do, and do it.  do not get distracted.  do not panic.

oh, and use common sense.  lots of it.

we are aware, but not scared.  we know when we’ll need to go for a second round of funding, and we’re doing all we can to be smartly positioned.  there are, of course, plenty of unknowns (including how the advertising market will be impacted).  we keep up, we think, we talk and we plan.  and we do.  we are launching phase 1 of our alpha next week.

as always, we are appropriately anxious.

sensibly yours -

andrea

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