The Big Read

Page 7
From left, Major League Pickleball owners Dude Perfect, Heidi Klum, Eva Longoria, Gary Vaynerchuk, Mark Cuban, Naomi Osaka, Kate Upton, David Dobrik, LeBron James and Tom Brady. Photo-composite by Clark Miller. Gary Vaynerchuk by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg, Kate Upton by Humberto Vidal, Lebron James by Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty Images.
The Big Read

The Hot New Trophy Asset: A Pro Pickleball Team

By Abram Brown · May 19, 2023 9:00am PDT · 10 comments
It was power lunch hour in midtown Manhattan and Central Park’s new pickleball courts had filled up with the type of sporty executives who once preferred to talk business over 18 holes of golf. I’d gone to paddle around with Samin Odhwani, an investor at NBA star Kevin Durant’s 35 Ventures, and hear about one of the... It was power lunch hour in midtown Manhattan and Central Park’s new pickleball courts had...
Marissa Mayer in the office of her startup, Sunshine. Photograph by Carolyn Fong for The Information
The Big Read

Can Marissa Mayer Eclipse Herself?

By Arielle Pardes · May 12, 2023 9:00am PDT · 17 comments
Earlier this year, Marissa Mayer—signature blond bob, talking a mile a minute—taught a class on how to start your own company. It had been five years since Mayer had become a startup founder herself, and she had prepared a slide deck describing the finer details of entrepreneurship. As she clicked through the presentation, her... Earlier this year, Marissa Mayer—signature blond bob, talking a mile a minute—taught...
Roelof Botha, senior steward of Sequoia Capital. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller for The Information (photo Getty)
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Sequoia Capital’s Mighty Struggle

By Kate Clark and Abram Brown · May 5, 2023 9:00am PDT · 5 comments
One day in March, Sequoia Capital assembled a show of force: a private summit on artificial intelligence hosted at the firm’s airy offices in San Francisco’s Mission District. Around 100 people gathered—a who’s who of tech’s hottest sector, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief... One day in March, Sequoia Capital assembled a show of force: a private summit on artificial...
Art by Clark Miller
Copy and Kill: The Ex-Tweeps Hatching a Plan to Knock Off Twitter
By Arielle Pardes · Apr 28, 2023 9:00am PDT · 6 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

Copy and Kill: The Ex-Tweeps Hatching a Plan to Knock Off Twitter

By Arielle Pardes · Apr 28, 2023 9:00am PDT · 6 comments
On the day Sarah Oh got laid off from Twitter last November, her friend Gabor Cselle called with his condolences. Then he made her an offer: Would she help him build a better Twitter? Cselle wasn’t trying to reinvent the social media wheel. He just wanted to return to a simpler time on the platform—before 4,000-character tweets or... On the day Sarah Oh got laid off from Twitter last November, her friend Gabor Cselle called with...
TikTok chief operating officer V Pappas testifies before Congress in September 2022. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg
The Big Read

The Fighter: V Pappas and the Battle for TikTok’s Future

By Margaux MacColl · Apr 21, 2023 9:00am PDT · 3 comments
V Pappas awoke to the sound of dragons. It had been one week since Pappas’ boss, Shou Zi Chew, was questioned for five grueling hours by members of Congress, and the chief operating officer of TikTok was enjoying their first vacation in months. (Pappas uses the pronouns they and them and recently changed their name to V from Vanessa.) They... V Pappas awoke to the sound of dragons. It had been one week since Pappas’ boss, Shou Zi...
Rippling CEO Parker Conrad at his home in San Francisco on April 10, 2023. Photo by Carolyn Fong for The Information
The Big Read

Parker Conrad Takes the Pain

By Abram Brown · Apr 14, 2023 9:00am PDT · 8 comments
Parker Conrad was touring me around a personal sliver of heaven when I asked him to relive his personal hell. As we traipsed through his sister Louisa’s hilly 100-acre farm at the eastern base of Vermont’s Green Mountains—Louisa’s chickens strutting in the spring sun, her goats poking their heads amiably from their... Parker Conrad was touring me around a personal sliver of heaven when I asked him to relive his...
Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

Fear the Birdie: Can an Ear-Splitting Device Make Women Feel Safer?

By Annie Goldsmith · Apr 7, 2023 9:05am PDT · 6 comments
A few months ago, I broke down and bought myself a Birdie, a $30 personal safety device that’s the size of a canary and the color of a candy bracelet. When activated, it emits an electronic shriek that is said to reach 130 decibels, loud enough to make your ears hurt and, theoretically, to keep bad guys at heel. Already my relationship... A few months ago, I broke down and bought myself a Birdie, a $30 personal safety device...
Photography by Katie Thompson for The Information
Search Has Its Goliath. Could Richard Socher Be Its David?
By Arielle Pardes · Mar 31, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments
Photography by Katie Thompson for The Information
The Big Read

Search Has Its Goliath. Could Richard Socher Be Its David?

By Arielle Pardes · Mar 31, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments
On a rare rain-free afternoon this spring, Richard Socher stood atop a hill, surveying the direction of the wind. The wind often interests Socher, the 38-year-old co-founder and CEO of search engine You.com, because in his spare time he likes to fly around on a paramotor, a parachute-like contraption supported by a backpack propeller. We were... On a rare rain-free afternoon this spring, Richard Socher stood atop a hill, surveying the...
Cover art and portraits by Clark Miller
The Big Read

The Instant Oral History of the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

By Abram Brown, Annie Goldsmith, Margaux MacColl, Arielle Pardes, Nick Wingfield and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 17, 2023 11:26am PDT · 2 comments
On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble began last Wednesday, the panic spread via group texts and Twitter threads on Thursday, the bank went under on Friday, the government got its act together on Saturday, and on Sunday every current and former customer of SVB could breathe a cautious... On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble...
Photo of Kopit Levien by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller
The Big Read

The News Business Is in Crisis—but Not The New York Times Co.

By Abram Brown · Mar 11, 2023 6:00am PST · 9 comments
Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York Times Co. spends three days in New York—“sometimes more if needed”—where a pied-à-terre gives her easy access to the company’s landmark Eighth Avenue headquarters. The rest of the time she spends in Washington, D.C.,... Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York...
Photo-illustration by Clark Miller. Palmer Luckey: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg; Kim Kardashian West: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg; Henry Kravis: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg; Peter Thiel: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg; Bob Iger: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg; Jon Winkelried: Bess Adler/Bloomberg; Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images; Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Charles Kushner: David 'Dee' Delgado/Bloomberg; Mukesh Ambani: Prakash Singh/Bloomberg
The Big Read

Josh Kushner’s Budding Empire

By Kate Clark and Abram Brown · Feb 24, 2023 6:00am PST · 16 comments
As summer turned to fall last year, Josh Kushner and his Thrive Capital offered a shiny new perk to some of the firm’s portfolio companies: How about a one-on-one meeting with Bob Iger, the 71-year-old former Disney CEO turned freshly minted Thrive venture partner? Eric Glyman, CEO and co-founder of Ramp, a New York–based credit card... As summer turned to fall last year, Josh Kushner and his Thrive Capital offered a shiny new perk...
Art by Clark Miller
‘We All Have One Big Dream’: How Ukraine’s Tech Companies Evolved to Survive a Year of War
By Flora Tsapovsky · Feb 17, 2023 9:00am PST · 6 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

‘We All Have One Big Dream’: How Ukraine’s Tech Companies Evolved to Survive a Year of War

By Flora Tsapovsky · Feb 17, 2023 9:00am PST · 6 comments
For an average startup founder, dealing with the unexpected and unknown is an everyday reality. But in February 2022, the Ukrainian tech community encountered a disruption of unfathomable proportions. Nearly overnight, reality flipped the table on investors’ meetings, funding rounds and expansion plans, turning leaders’ focus away... For an average startup founder, dealing with the unexpected and unknown is an everyday reality....
Graphic by Clark Miller
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Tales from the Shredder: How a Quarter-Million Fired Tech Workers Are Picking Up the Pieces

By Arielle Pardes · Feb 10, 2023 9:30am PST · 3 comments
On a brisk Wednesday in December, Pakin Wirojwatanakul made his usual commute to the downtown San Francisco office of fintech startup Plaid. But when he arrived, the front desk security guard told him to go home. Puzzled, he left the office and reversed his commute. Then he received a cryptic text from a friend: “Are you safe?”... On a brisk Wednesday in December, Pakin Wirojwatanakul made his usual commute to the downtown San...
The supplement stacks of 11 founders and investors. Photos courtesy of subjects.
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The Supplement Stacks: All the Pills, Powders and Potions Filling Tech’s Kitchen Counters

By Annie Goldsmith and Margaux MacColl · Feb 3, 2023 9:00am PST · 7 comments
When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle upside down. The co-founder of venture firm M13 takes a dip in his cold plunge—shocking his system awake—before stepping onto his Bulletproof vibration plate, which shakes him, getting his blood flowing. His morning routine crescendos... When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle...
Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

TikTok’s Last Stand: Can an Army of Lobbyists Quell a Washington Uprising?

By Nancy Scola · Jan 27, 2023 9:00am PST · 4 comments
There’s perhaps no one in Washington who distrusts TikTok quite as much as Brendan Carr. Carr, a 44-year-old Donald Trump appointee to the Federal Communications Commission, has spent much of the last year going around cable news and elsewhere calling for the hugely popular short-video app to be restricted, if not banned, over its ties to... There’s perhaps no one in Washington who distrusts TikTok quite as much as Brendan Carr. ...
Art by Clark Miller
Citizen Marc: Why the Andreessen Horowitz Founder Can’t Stop Chasing Dreams of a New Media
By Abram Brown · Jan 20, 2023 9:10am PST · 11 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

Citizen Marc: Why the Andreessen Horowitz Founder Can’t Stop Chasing Dreams of a New Media

By Abram Brown · Jan 20, 2023 9:10am PST · 11 comments
The pitch was right up Marc Andreessen’s alley: a fledgling but buzzy digital media startup, which intended not only to produce its own content but to sell its content-management software to other publishers—and, if that worked, to scale its platform to anyone willing to pay. The co-founders? Three men in their 30s, deeply fascinated... The pitch was right up Marc Andreessen’s alley: a fledgling but buzzy digital media...
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

From Instagram’s First Employee to Tech’s Newest Thriller Writer

By Annie Goldsmith · Jan 13, 2023 9:00am PST · 3 comments
Josh Riedel was getting hit by a bomb cyclone. From his home in San Francisco’s Mission District, the former Instagram manager and first-time novelist found himself in the eye of one of California’s endless storms. Driving through the city near SoMa, he passed cars halfway submerged in murky water, huge limbs torn off trees and other... Josh Riedel was getting hit by a bomb cyclone. From his home in San Francisco’s Mission...
Art by Clark Miller. All photos courtesy Josh Wolfe/Lux Capital
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Josh Wolfe’s War: The Lux Capital Founder Blazes a Controversial Path in Defense Tech

By Margaux MacColl · Jan 6, 2023 9:21am PST · 7 comments
Josh Wolfe arrived at a remote island in the Philippines by inflatable boat, surrounded by men with large guns. It was 2019 and the founding partner of the New York venture firm Lux Capital was on a very strange work trip. Over the course of two weeks, American soldiers escorted Wolfe through the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and... Josh Wolfe arrived at a remote island in the Philippines by inflatable boat, surrounded by men...
Jasper founders Dave Rogenmoser, Chris Hull and J.P. Morgan. Art by Clark Miller; photo courtesy Jasper.
The Big Read

The Best Little Unicorn in Texas: Jasper Was Winning the AI Race—Then ChatGPT Blew Up the Whole Game

By Arielle Pardes · Dec 23, 2022 9:15am PST · 27 comments
A few weeks ago, Sam Altman, CEO of artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, logged onto a Zoom call. On the other side of the screen was Dave Rogenmoser, CEO of Jasper, a copywriting startup built on OpenAI’s flagship large-language model, GPT-3. The two companies share a Slack channel, where they trade updates and feedback about GPT-3,... A few weeks ago, Sam Altman, CEO of artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, logged onto a Zoom...
Art by Clark Miller.
The Buzz Is Gone: Tech Companies (With a Few Exceptions) Are Reining In Once-Legendary Holiday Parties
By Arielle Pardes and Annie Goldsmith · Dec 16, 2022 9:00am PST
Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

The Buzz Is Gone: Tech Companies (With a Few Exceptions) Are Reining In Once-Legendary Holiday Parties

By Arielle Pardes and Annie Goldsmith · Dec 16, 2022 9:00am PST
On December 8, several thousand Adobe employees and their guests milled around San Francisco’s Chase Center arena for the company’s holiday-slash-40th-anniversary party. Starting at 7 p.m., the Adobe workers and their dates shot hoops in an arcade, received spray-on temporary tattoos, and grabbed drinks and food (tacos, sliders,... On December 8, several thousand Adobe employees and their guests milled around San...