Tag Archives: Clearspring

5 years ago this week I retired from AOL

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I was concerned that I would have nothing to do – I was terrified of leaving the company that employed me for almost 14 years.

In that 5 years since I retired from AOL I have:

Acquired the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center; and spent more time with the Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics;

Made 3 films; “Nanking”;” Kicking It”; and ” A Fighting Chance”; I am working on a 4th film now too;

Founded SnagFilms; and acquired indieWIRE;

Helped to start Revolution Money- served as its chairman; sold the company to American Express; now I serve on board of directors of American Express;

Authored a book – “The Business of Happiness”;

Invested in and became Chairman of Clearspring Technologies; still serve on their board;

Invested in and serve on board and as Vice Chairman of Groupon; the company went public last month; it has a $14 billion market cap;

Made 15 angel investments in some great start ups; all told; these startups and the companies that we sold have a combined value approaching a billion dollars;

Became a partner in Revolution Growth Fund 2 – a $ 450 million ” speed up capital” fund ; focused on East Coast startups; partnered with Steve Case and Donn Davis on this NEW fund;

Bought a house – sold 2 houses;

Worked with more than 400 charities via my Family Foundation; and Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundations and SnagFilms;

Serve on the board of directors of Georgetown University.

It has been a nonstop hectic 5 years – some of the best and most productive and enjoyable years of my career and life.

Retirement from a corporate career is nothing to be afraid of. Onward. Thank you.

“First to one billion wins”

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That is something I said a long time ago at an AOL all hands meeting.

One billion unique visitors.

One billion page views per month.

One billion down loads.

One billion users.

Like McDonalds…billions and billions served!

We have progressed so far as an industry.

Here is Google Earth – it has just been down loaded for the one billionth time. Click here – add to the community.

Google has a billion unique visitors around the world.

Facebook will too soon I assume.

I know Clearspring and its Addthis piece of chrome has 1 billion monthly unique visitors too.

Amazing social acceptance.

Figure 2.2 billion people around the world connected to the Internet. 200 million or so in the United States. A global phenomenon. Google earth makes the world seem smaller.

Clearspring Technologies Adds a New CEO

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We are so pleased to add to the great team at Clearspring Technologies. Ramsey McGrory – formerly head of Yahoo’s Right Media group is joining founder Hooman Radfar to team and lead this fast growing company to even greater heights, as our new CEO.

Clearspring is a company that I am very fond of and I really believe in; it is located in Northern Virginia and NYC. I was one of the first investors and served as Chairman for many years. Hooman Radfar – the founder of the company – will now become founder and executive chairman; Ramsey will be CEO and I will move from Chairman to being a board member .

Clearspring is hitting its stride. It is booming in terms of usage on the network – the number of publishers that utilize the Add this button; how many times the window is activated by users; and the number of user – (more than a billion!) that share across our network.

This is fantastic news for the company and the Big Data industry; Ramsey is a true leader and great executive – and the team at Clearpring is the best; the company is ready to take the next step forward and I am grateful to be involved with this company; it is growing; it is hiring; it is creating value and serving its customers well.