Technology’s chief geeks
get schooled in media savvy
Young CEOs and entrepreneurs turn to presentation pros
in effort to polish their public personas for prime time
■ BY ALEXANDRA BRUELL
abruell@adage.com
AT NO POINT does a media trainer
want to see a client sweating in his
hoodie when All Things Digital’s
Kara Swisher throws a curveball
question about privacy—especially
if the client is the 20-something
CEO of Facebook who had been
down that road just months before
with the famous “The age of privacy is over” comment.
That’s now a lot more unlikely
to happen with Mark Zuckerberg,
who is looking decidedly less sweaty
these days. The same is true for
other tech startup founders who are
more comfortable communicating
through code than media. The reason is media training, either formal
or self-taught.
Clarity Media Group CEO Bill
McGowan, who has trained over 60
executives at Facebook including
Mr. Zuckerberg, said in the past two
years the tech industry has shot to
40% from 5% of his business.
“There’s a total acceptance and willingness in the industry to realize
that this is just a professional development tool,” he said.
Despite some bumps along the
way, it’s been a relatively smooth
ride for Tumblr founder David
Karp. In an interview with Ad
Age, the 20-something CEO and
engineer reflected on a News
Corp. panel with unabashed tech
blogger Robert Scoble. Having
previously recognized that one of
his shortcomings is witty, opin-
ionated debate, he was better for
sitting, smiling and not taking the
bait when Mr. Scoble spoke unfa-
vorably about Tumblr.
