Five years of GigaOM: The story of us [Video]

The GigaOM staff in front of Nasdaq, March 22, 2011, by Pinar OzgerOn May 30, 2006, after nearly five years as my personal blog, we incorporated GigaOM, the company. Just 24 hours later, our investors, True Ventures, wired me the seed money to get going. They also presented me with a check in an envelope that had three simple words: Live the dream. GigaOM was True’s first investment. A few days later, I told my boss, Josh Quittner (who just joined Flipboard) that I was going to leave Business 2.0. Of course, someone leaked the news to Gawker’s Valleywag.

And just like that, five years have gone by. These have been the startup equivalent of street fighting years. I’ve shared the lessons I’ve learned on occasion, but when I look back over these past five years, I always think of people. I never think of the stories I did, the news I broke, the analysis, the interviews, the money, the fundraising, the offices. I just think of the awesome people who have worked to make my dream come true.

I didn’t want to write a five-year blog post. I didn’t want to do a stat-based round-up, though it would have been pretty cool. So when I brought my dilemma to Chris Albrecht — a dear friend, confidante and our creative chief — he suggested that perhaps we should do a video. And so we did. We have a lot of people, so not everyone is in this video, but they are all part of who we are. They are GigaOM!

One regret — Chris is not on camera, but he is in the video – he shot it, edited it and conceptualized it. And like everyone else in the team, Chris did everything to make me look good.

In the end, this video is about us and also about you, our readers, our community. You give us strength to do what we do, every day, every hour and with every single post. We succeed sometimes, we fail often, but we try. Thank you for lavishing us with your attention, for without you, we are no more than “yet another dumb website.”

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Om Malik

Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. More....

51 thoughts on “Five years of GigaOM: The story of us [Video]”

  7. I remember day one when you left Business 2.0. You’ve had an eventful 5 years with business and health changes. Good for you on making it this far and here’s to your success.

  11. Om, you give me far too much credit. You assembled an awesome team that’s a treat to work with (and film), and a daily source of inspiration.

    Thanks for almost-four of those five years I’ve had the pleasure of working here, and to many more, sir.

  19. It’s amazing to see how GigaOm has developed over the last 5 years. Great team. Om – you made a dream come true.
    Congratulations.

    Kevin

  20. I like what you said about adding value to the reader. As one of those readers, I can say you have succeeded. It is always inspiring to see someone’s dream come true after a lot of hard work. Congrats and good luck for the future.

  22. Congratulations GigaOm and Om! Om – you are an inspiration. Every time I look at someone like you, I am more determined to “follow my dreams”. It’s an excruciating decision to leave a paycheck but the thrill of starting something and seeing it blossom has rewards that can not be described in words. Congratulations guys! You all ROCK!

  26. Great job GigaOM team. I have been following articles on your site from early blog days, and they are just awesome and right to the point. Keep up the good work in coming years too !

  27. Kudos to Om and his team. I’ve been a reader for 4 years now and in those 4 years I have gone from using GigaOm’s blog for my graduate school work to my professional investment research now. Well, now I am a pro research subscriber as well :). So, you guys have me hooked. Keep up the great work!

  28. Congratulations GigaOM – It’s great following you !!!! And Om,your posts are delightful.
    Thank you for helping me find my way in the world of tech.Cheers !!!

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