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Om Malik has died

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Re: Om Malik has died

#131

Post by n4r9 »

jmsflknr wrote: post #71

About 11 years ago, I cold-emailed Om for his guidance. I was an absolute nobody, living thousands of miles away. Not only did Om patiently explain how I should think about my career, he kept in touch over the past decade checking in on how I was doing. I left journalism last year to do something else -- coincidentally, again, following Om's footsteps -- and had been meaning to write a long email, sharing so much. I…

You might find it helpful to write the email, if you can find the time. Even if you never get to send it.

Re: Om Malik has died

#133

Post by ghaff »

sokoloff wrote: post #86
mikeyouse wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a really tremendous streak of people helping people with no strings attached that I hadn’t found anywhere else I’ve lived. Especially but not exclusively on the engineering / product side - for a long time you could take a greyhound to Soma and have a couch to crash on and a job interview lined up without knowing anyone. Introductions are made without a second thought (extremely contrary to my east coast exp…

As a life-long east coaster, I am reluctant/unwilling to make an introduction of someone I don’t know at all. It’s not that I have to get something of worth to make an intro, but I think my intro carries an implied vouch (at least a tiny one) and I can’t do that if I don’t know you. If I know you and can actually vouch for you, I’ll happily make any intro where I stand to gain nothing. I somewhat frequently get a col…

I think you and I (also east coast) seem to have similar philosophies. I'm more retired than not these days. I'll certainly respond to a query by email or talk at a conference about my various former professions/experiences (which more often than not never get responded to). But I'm not going to refer someone just because we went to the same school but I've never met or because we had coffee for 30 minutes (unless they really impressed me in some way).

Re: Om Malik has died

#135

Post by brador »

sokoloff wrote: post #86
mikeyouse wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a really tremendous streak of people helping people with no strings attached that I hadn’t found anywhere else I’ve lived. Especially but not exclusively on the engineering / product side - for a long time you could take a greyhound to Soma and have a couch to crash on and a job interview lined up without knowing anyone. Introductions are made without a second thought (extremely contrary to my east coast exp…

As a life-long east coaster, I am reluctant/unwilling to make an introduction of someone I don’t know at all. It’s not that I have to get something of worth to make an intro, but I think my intro carries an implied vouch (at least a tiny one) and I can’t do that if I don’t know you. If I know you and can actually vouch for you, I’ll happily make any intro where I stand to gain nothing. I somewhat frequently get a col…

SV is more a connection when you introduce someone. “You two might get along” kind of thing. And since everyone was there for tech it was guaranteed.

East coast is more of an introduction, with the implied vouch. Setting up a business relationship.

Re: Om Malik has died

#136

Post by kevmo »

jeffiel wrote: post #114

I’ll share my favorite Om story. It was 2010 and we were launching Twilio SMS. I went over to his office to pitch him the story, hoping we would cover the launch. He listened for 10 minutes while I walked through it, then said “Yeah yeah I’ll write about it. But I want to talk about your health. Are you taking care of yourself? You could lose some weight…” He wanted everybody to learn from his health journey. While m…

That's an incredibly nice story.

Are you taking better care of yourself?

Re: Om Malik has died

#137

Post by brador »

__patchbit__ wrote: post #62
sneak wrote: post #59

Take care of your heart, people. If you smoke, quit. If you eat a high cholesterol diet, change it. If you don’t exercise, start. Heart disease sneaks up on you, and it can happen to anyone. There are frequently no warning signs, as without an angiogram, there’s no clear indicator in normal checkups (EKG can look normal the day before MI, coronary arteries are the same density as surrounding tissue on normal no-contr…

A handful of unsalted nuts consumed daily helps the heart.

Note: peanuts are legumes not nuts.

Re: Om Malik has died

#138

Post by mesibo »

Personally, it's sad news for me and many other founders Om helped.

Back in 2008, my company, TringMe, was making news with browser-based telephony. We had been covered by TechCrunch, but never by GigaOM. So I decided to email Om directly and ask, half-jokingly, "Are we not worth your time?" I also asked if he had any advice.

He apologized, explained that health issues had limited his writing, assured me it was never personal, and then offered a simple piece of advice: "Bring me fresh and exclusive information."

We took that advice seriously. Our next launches, VoicePHP and the first Mobile VoIP app for BlackBerry, were both covered by GigaOM.

What I remember is not the coverage, but the kindness in his reply. He did not have to respond to a founder he barely knew, let alone with honesty, encouragement, and actionable advice. We stayed in touch after that.

Thank you, Om. Rest in peace.

Re: Om Malik has died

#139

Post by NickDouglas »

I knew Om when I was an ankle-biter writing for a Gawker blog. He was gracious and generous. Felt like everybody's favorite uncle. I hope I can be as kind to others as he was to me.
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