Hello Medium readers, authors, editors and publishers
I’m the new CEO.
There are so many different reasons to read Medium and so many different reasons to publish on Medium. We are a very large community consisting of hundreds of millions of readers and many thousands of authors. That is our strength.
I know this because I’ve been deeply involved with Medium from the start: first as an advisor, then as an author, and most recently as a publishing partner.
Some of you have bumped into me already on Medium. For example two million people visited my 75-minute-read on optimizing your iPhone. Many more of you have read my publication Better Humans, which is both one of the oldest and one of the largest on Medium.
Every day that I’m on Medium I fall more in love with this product and with this community. For me, this is the job of a lifetime.
The first thing to know about me is that I place a tremendous value on listening and open discussion. Good thing Medium is the perfect platform for that. You will find me to be a very active participant in the community, as I have been from the start.
So before I go any further, let me put out a full hearted invitation. Help mold the future of Medium by telling me what is important to you. This is exactly what Medium’s response feature is for. I am listening.
Regarding the future of Medium, there is something I have complete conviction in.
I’m coming to Medium to double down on our publishing tools on behalf of authors and to double down on the quality of our subscription on behalf of readers.
I see enormous potential in both to become pillars of the internet. Our publishing tools already help so many express their ideas. As Ev said in his post:
We’ve never taken our focus away from our core beliefs: That people from everywhere and from all kinds of circumstances have valuable perspectives to share and are capable of doing so in thoughtful, articulate ways. And, also, that the world is better if they do so.
On the subscription, there are many ways to judge quality. I know only that our readers deserve the best, and we will constantly strive to give it to them.
By doubling down, we strengthen Medium as a place for constructive conversation. Ideas and information emerge, are debated and sharpened thoughtfully, then reach readers in ways that improve their lives.
The Internet deserves many homes for constructive conversation, and I feel deep pride in being associated with building one of them.
For now, that’s what I can tell you in terms of plans. This is day one for me and my top priority is listening.
Before I sign off, I need to offer a deep debt of gratitude to Evan Williams.
First, Medium wouldn’t exist without his vision and hard work for the last decade.
But also, every time I’ve worked alongside him I’ve learned a ton and our work has made a massive impact.
It’s 17 years now since I helped him build the team that prototyped and launched Twitter. Eleven years ago, we sat down to design a positive reinforcement app that changed millions of lives. This will be our third time working together and I hope just as impactful.
He is a person who I respect and admire, who has taught me many lessons, and who operates with so much integrity. It’s an honor to take over from Ev, and I hope to do this job justice.
With love and curiosity,
Tony
P.S. I’m listening. Let me know what is important to you about Medium.
