Hi! It’s time for me to speak up and introduce myself. I’m the CEO of Wearable World, the company that bought ReadWrite back in February. To the many who have loved this site for more than 12 years, I’d like to say “Thank you.” Thank you for sticking around and believing in ReadWrite.
Like you, I’ve been a reader. I’ve also been a sponsor of ReadWrite. I’m now its owner, and after this post goes live … I’ll be a writer, too.
Having participated in all aspects of this business, I’m humbled to have the opportunity to contribute to a publication that matters to the 5 million of you in ReadWrite’s larger community. (That’s my best estimate of the extended audience reached by ReadWrite’s website, social presences, and distribution partners. There are a lot of you!)
As Owen Thomas, ReadWrite’s editor-in-chief, has told you, we’ve been reorganizing ReadWrite’s editorial output around new sections that tell you how to build new products and bring them to market. We did this after seeking your feedback and listening to you, and we’re going to continue to listen.
The thing is, this is what ReadWrite has always done. When ReadWrite chronicled the social and mobile revolutions, it prepared you to take advantage of those opportunities. When Richard MacManus wrote about the Internet of Things, he forecasted a huge market. And some of ReadWrite’s most popular stories have been guides, tutorials, and explainers about new technology. The only thing Owen is doing differently is presenting it with a more explicit focus on learning and action—what’s new, and what you can do about it.
I’m committed to this new editorial direction. Owen and his team are bringing new voices and new insights to the table that would have benefited me when I was building my own startups.
ReadWrite In The Real World
When Owen and I agreed Wearable World would be a great new owner for ReadWrite, we saw eye to eye on the need to do more than just deliver great reporting and analysis on ReadWrite’s website. We also wanted to build valuable real-world experiences that lived up to the ReadWrite brand and its promise of democratizing technology and leveling the playing field.
You, the ReadWrite community, inspire and help me, and I want to inspire and help you. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to connect with you directly and share something our team has been working on tirelessly: e2e, a new kind of conference for people building products.
I want to share with you how this conference came about, and invite you to attend. This is the first of many opportunities I hope we’ll have to connect, and I’d like to start by saying I am thrilled to be able to engage with ReadWrite readers—the next generation of creators of game-changing technology.
Unfreezing Innovation
Innovation in its first form is never perfect. Entrepreneurs who want to create impact do not do so by moving slowly. But I’ve seen so many get hung up due to constraints—lack of resources and lack of knowledge. We live in a sea of hard choices. That’s startup life. But some entrepreneurs freeze up at key moments in fear of making the wrong decision. If building a startup is difficult, creating an intelligent and interactive product feels nearly impossible.
At ReadWrite and Wearable World, we are always looking for ways to connect and educate our community. Our vision is to be the innovation chain for entrepreneurs looking to bring their products to market, for corporations looking to partner with innovative startups, and for governments turning to technology to solve civic problems.
A few months ago we came one step closer to this vision when we solidified our partnership with Jabil, a hardware manufacturing giant based here in the United States. By working with Jabil, we’ve secured guidance for entrepreneurs looking to bring their products to market more efficiently and are thrilled to watch what our community will create. (You can count on me to shoot straight with you, so I should let you know that this is a commercial relationship and Jabil is backing the e2e conference financially and working with Wearable World in other ways. We’ll always disclose these relationships to you.)
Everything To Everyone
So we’ve created the e2e conference to usher in our new partnership and kickstart innovation in our community. This jamboree takes place October 13–14 at Jabil’s Blue Sky Center in San Jose. What’s e2e? Well, depends who you ask, because e2e stands for many things, including “end to end,” “entrepreneur to entrepreneur,” “engineer to engineer,” and “experience to experience.”
This event delivers on our innovation-chain vision by going through every step you’ll take from idea to market. It’s the most important event for people building a business in IoT and connected hardware, and will provide attendees the opportunity to work closely with the brightest minds in the industry.
You are the builders and the dreamers, and I cannot wait to see what we will create together.
And if you can’t make it in October, all I ask is that you keep reading ReadWrite—because next to sitting down with us in person at e2e, there’s no better place for you to learn how to build the future than right here.
Photo by Martin Fisch