Internet History Podcast

Mark Selcow and Matt Glickman were the founders of BabyCenter.com. The story of BabyCenter is a combination of several themes we've discussed on this show: creating community as a strategy for building a sustainable audience, attempting e-commerce in the 1990s, and, most interestingly, we get into an in-depth discussion of their experiences  of the DotCom bubble.

Direct download: 108._BabyCenter.com_Founders_Mark_Selcow_and_Matt_Glickman.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:15pm EDT

Summary

Larry Kramer was the founder of MarketWatch.com. He’s also been the President and Publisher of USA Today and he’s currently interim CEO of TheStreet.com. We talk to him about creating a brand like MarketWatch in a space dominated by powerful incumbents like The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and others. But we also hear what it was like to work in the legendary Washington Post newsroom in the 1970s and 80s, as well as what it takes to bring success to modern media properties like USA Today in the digital era. If you want a first hand primer of when digital and old-world media collided, you couldn’t do better than to listen to the career path of Larry Kramer.

Direct download: 107._Founder_of_Marketwatch_Larry_Kramer_lkramer.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:07pm EDT

Summary

Marc Tarpenning, along with Martin Eberhard, was the cofounder of Tesla Motors back in 2003. But before that, Tarpenning and Eberhard were also the cofounders of NuvoMedia, which produced one of the world's first ebook devices, the rocket eBook. So, for the first part of the episode, Mark recounts the story of NuvoMedia and then about 25 minutes in we begin the founding of Tesla, in my opinion, perhaps the most amazing startup story of the last 20 years.

Direct download: 106._Co-Founder_of_Tesla_Marc_Tarpenning.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:05pm EDT

Summary

Tom Rielly was the founder of PlanetOut, the largest LGBT website and community of the 1990s. Tom recounts the unique impact the web and online technology had on the LGBT community and, prior to that, remembers the early days of the Mac industry. But of course, Tom is best known today for his work at TED, where he is director of Community as well as the TED Fellows program. So we get some interesting TED history as well, especially how posting TED Talks online has transformed the organization.

Direct download: 105._Tom_Rielly_Founder_of_PlanetOut.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:51pm EDT

Summary

What more do I need to say? Joey and Carl are back for round two.

You can visit the Suck archives here.

 

Direct download: 104._Suck_Again_Joey_Anuff_And_Carl_Steadman_Return.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:41pm EDT

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