Oh wow. What?! Just this morning I had an occasion to go thru his site/blog.
Still can't believe it. 60 is too young.
I met Om finally in 2013-ish at one of his GigaOm events in the SF Bay Area. Before that, I had been a long time reader of his GigaOm blogs and other writings at Fast Company, Red Herring, Light Reading, and elsewhere, including his book Broadbandits. He was one of the few bloggers / reporters who wrote it as he saw it; his takes were often brutally honest and pointed. He called upon the excesses of various telecom execs during the dot-com and telecom bust of 2000-2001/2. His book Broadbandits is basically an invective of the go-go days of telecom companies' incestuous deals (now seen in the AI companies too).
I had a few more occasions to meet him at dinners around the Bay Area. He was always gracious, and listened intently to what people said. As a venture partner, he focused on the people (founder) and their stories much more on the businesses.
I had heard about his troubles with his heart (~age 40-ish), which made him turn his life around to focus on only a few things that brought him joy - writing, photography, travels.
He will be missed. RIP, Om.
---
(Update: the book is Broadbandits (not Telecom Bandits, as I mistakenly wrote)
I still remember him being one of the best writers about tech (a bit more than "journalism" in that a lot of it was of more evergreen value...) from the dotcom boom and then the peak "interesting" web apps period (2004-~2015 or so, when AJAX/etc was still new, and things hadn't calcified so much). Didn't know about his later health issues, I assumed he had just moved on to other interests naturally. RIP.
I had a very similar single experience with Om: I was introduced completely randomly while he was at True Ventures; he couldn't have been nicer, more curious, or more genuine despite me almost certainly reading like a total waste of time.
It's both heartwarming, and bitterly sad, to see so many other posters confirm he was one of the good ones.
I started out as journalist so I always appreciated great writing when I reinvented myself as a tech entrepreneur. There were three writers beginning in the nineties who were my tech troika: Kevin Kelly, George Gilder and Om Malik. Sadly now the only one still writing regularly is Kevin Kelly.
Generally speaking, the practice of commenting here with "I thought one thing from the title, then realized it was something else" is exceedingly uninteresting.
My condolences to family and friends. Om writting has always been a reference since Web 2.0 era. Also enjoyed his photographabout friends and travel. Sad news RIP
I liked the mid-2000s, gigaom and techcrunch actually had articles worth reading (not all, TC got sorta gossipy rag at one point). Om's were generally well thought out.
GigaOM was truly awesome at its best. Om was a special guy, I met him a few times during my years in the Bay Area. He really embodied that selflessly-helping side of the Valley: helping others with no expectations, just because it’s good. He helped one of my startups get some exposure. I keep trying to pay it forward. I will miss him.
In many other regions of the world if you ask someone to connect you with a potential investor they demand a success fee. In SV, they do not. Because they're playing a very long iterated game and understand, that even if they don't make a bank themselves, knowing future-successful people will be a great benefit.
Really sad. I grew up reading his writing. I emailed him some thoughts on one of his blog and he immediately replied in a lovely way very recently. What a shock and a loss.
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[ 0.26 ms ] story [ 37.8 ms ] threadStill can't believe it. 60 is too young.
I met Om finally in 2013-ish at one of his GigaOm events in the SF Bay Area. Before that, I had been a long time reader of his GigaOm blogs and other writings at Fast Company, Red Herring, Light Reading, and elsewhere, including his book Broadbandits. He was one of the few bloggers / reporters who wrote it as he saw it; his takes were often brutally honest and pointed. He called upon the excesses of various telecom execs during the dot-com and telecom bust of 2000-2001/2. His book Broadbandits is basically an invective of the go-go days of telecom companies' incestuous deals (now seen in the AI companies too).
I had a few more occasions to meet him at dinners around the Bay Area. He was always gracious, and listened intently to what people said. As a venture partner, he focused on the people (founder) and their stories much more on the businesses.
I had heard about his troubles with his heart (~age 40-ish), which made him turn his life around to focus on only a few things that brought him joy - writing, photography, travels.
He will be missed. RIP, Om.
--- (Update: the book is Broadbandits (not Telecom Bandits, as I mistakenly wrote)
https://om.co/about/
https://om.co/2020/07/30/write-like-a-human/
It's both heartwarming, and bitterly sad, to see so many other posters confirm he was one of the good ones.
He had a great creative spirit between business ventures, writing and photography.. a man of many talents.
Generally speaking, the practice of commenting here with "I thought one thing from the title, then realized it was something else" is exceedingly uninteresting.
In the event of a death, it is also in bad taste.
Never having lived in the valley, I've struggled to understand what it means.
Can anyone share some examples?
That takes me back, he was always great on that show.