I first read Om in 2004 as a young tech journalist. He was the smartest guy writing about geeky tech and putting it in context. He was able to discuss the nuts and bolts of technology and reveal what new developments would mean and how people would react. Everything from news releases about a new type of fiber or a boost in Ethernet speeds. As someone bored with the pace and diet of trade tech journalism, I read his writing to learn how to make that same connection. I’ve spent 25 years as a journalist and I’ve never been able to get past what Om is doing – writing tirelessly about how technological advances have affected people in a way that’s connected to everyone.
He was able to do this because he was human. Yes, he was crazy and not impressed by bigoted or sloppy thinking, but basically he believed in people, was interested in people, and wanted to see them succeed. That is why many people are affected by his loss. Om can invite you and give you a book of your choice or respond to a text for a two-hour phone consultation where he will explain clearly how to set up your media business. He was generous with his ideas, his time and his ideas. By reading stories from people who knew him, it is clear that Om did this on a scale that many of us would find impossible.
Om hired me to work at Gigaom in late 2007 after I followed him to an event to tell him how much his writing had influenced me and to ask him how he planned to bring the site’s journalism style returns. He called two days later to give me a job which later took two months to complete because Om did not focus long on the details of running Gigaom when there were matters to cover and initiatives to be found. My first day at work was right after my heart attack before it became public. I was devastated that I might have lost my chance to learn from him and I felt like the entire tech world was screwed.
My first instructions were to go out and buy a MacBook (I challenge anyone to produce Om images of anything less beautiful or well-designed) and start writing. For weeks I spent my days trying to cover the semiconductor and broadband bits that Om had covered, feeling like I had broken into my idol’s house, stolen his shoes, and was trampling all over his clean space. Then I started getting emails from Om. He would send a link to the story and tell me I did a good job, but did I see what this new skill would mean to the opponent? Sometimes he would say that I missed the real story and put it. Sometimes he would tell me that I had done well.
Those last emails were the best. This industry giant has been reading my stories closely and helping me get better while recovering from a heart attack! For a year or two, Om was back every day and I knew I had made it when Om sent me a news story to write without telling me what it meant. He knew I got it. He was my mentor and changed the course of my life.
He brought together some of the smartest people in their industries and convinced them to work as hard as he did and somehow made us all a family that went through the tech blog struggles of the late 2000s and came out better writers and better thinkers. He made us a platform and truly hoped that we would be bigger and better than him. He did the same to anyone else he met. He will invest in you, push you, and try to make you better. I once watched him lecture a group of GSMA executives who came to Gigaom’s offices about their failure to meet the deadline when it came to mobile broadband. Om was among the circle of officials who called them and they were raped. And he was right. Om was often right when it came to his views on technology.
When Gigaom came in 2015 it destroyed Om. In Silicon Valley the founder is ultimately the man, the legend, and the legend behind every successful company. But companies have a lot of moving parts and a lot of people to look after. Om found many business opportunities that generated profits that the newsroom did not. The conferences were profitable, but they were “out of control.” Research can be both profitable and scalable. But there was only one Om, and he had to rely on others to make that impression. And despite that persistent Silicon Valley myth, founders have to let some things go. And what was moving before he left in 2014, he stopped moving completely in March 2015.
I hate that Gigaom is still around in zombie form. I think Om hated it too, although the most he would do to show it would be to give the wrong advice telling people not to name their site after themselves. (I didn’t listen.) But what else could he do? Om created Gigaom because he wanted to talk to people. To connect with them and have conversations about the topics they were most interested in. And Gigaom was a way to measure that. Om was always in the comments, reading and arguing. He would email anyone he contacted. And when he hired people on site, he pushed them to do the same. Evaluating technology as they work and listening to others and re-evaluating. He did it for his colleagues and budding founders, he did it using Gigaom.
And he found a way to make that scale. I don’t care about the return of the business. If you look at the investment that Om has made in people, either through direct advice or by writing the road of where their inventions or ideas should go, Gigaom has produced huge returns. He influenced every industry.
That is why his loss now, when he is rebuilding to bring the road of the current technology industry, is so shocking. After Gigaom folded, Om stepped back and focused on photography and crafts. She indulges in beauty and design, writing well about cameras, pens, menswear and more. Even then you make sure you understand the basic “technologies” that go into each job.
Om knew that you have to understand something deeply before you can see something for what it is and what it can be. After doing the work, he would translate that material into something accessible and clear to all of us. He would show us why this matter is important and make us care too. For Om, technology was a way to connect people. Sure it could make money, but he cared about making it easy for people to communicate.
And as technology tends to alienate us and companies serve the balance sheet rather than users, we need Om’s voice more than ever. This week I am reminded of the position I was in almost twenty years ago when I joined Gigaom. I am devastated that I lost my opportunity to continue learning from him and I know that the entire tech world has suffered.
Posted Thank you, Om Malik. appeared first on Stacey on IoT | Internet of Things news and analysis.