Mamdani Hires Lisa Gelobter as Chief Tech Officer

Post by hobs » Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

CharlieDigital wrote: post #13

andsoitis wrote: post #2

https://archive.is/fM36L Lisa Gelobter, whose work helped shape the modern web, was also on the launch team at Hulu. Ms. Gelobter was the director of program management at Macromedia where she helped develop Shockwave into a web plug-in that allowed for video games and animation on the web, turning still images into moving GIFs — animated images known as a graphics interchange format. Notably absent on resume and in…

CTO is typically an executive position, not an IC position. The CTO at my $500m, YC, series-C startup is not the most technical member of the staff, does not have the broadest technical knowledge, is not the most experienced, nor is he the best in any single technical field in our team. You misunderstand the role of the CTO in most orgs. His job is to guide technical strategy based on where business is headed. Manage…

Post by jtokoph » Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #14

What is this business about her role in GIFs? She helped invent Macromedia Shockwave.... Not remembering any kind of connection between those things... I mean, animated GIFs were already a thing that popularized on their own.... nothing to do with Shockwave really. Just both contributing at the same time to popularizing or encouraging the use of animation on the web, yeah?

Post by idop » Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 4:09 PM UTC

bob001 wrote: post #9

andsoitis wrote: post #2

https://archive.is/fM36L Lisa Gelobter, whose work helped shape the modern web, was also on the launch team at Hulu. Ms. Gelobter was the director of program management at Macromedia where she helped develop Shockwave into a web plug-in that allowed for video games and animation on the web, turning still images into moving GIFs — animated images known as a graphics interchange format. Notably absent on resume and in…

The job is 99% program management and 1% tech. It’s the government. Anyone focused on tech will burn out in 2 weeks and quit loudly via twitter. You know, like DOGE.

Post by indoordin0saur » Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 4:14 PM UTC

ch4s3 wrote: post #11

bob001 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The job is 99% program management and 1% tech. It’s the government. Anyone focused on tech will burn out in 2 weeks and quit loudly via twitter. You know, like DOGE.

Every tech person I know who tried to work in NYC government burned out rather quickly. The government is so sclerotic and shackled to laws meant to break up the Tammany Hall machine that its impossible to do anything good or fast.

Post by mbrumlow » Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

jtokoph wrote: post #23

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #14

What is this business about her role in GIFs? She helped invent Macromedia Shockwave.... Not remembering any kind of connection between those things... I mean, animated GIFs were already a thing that popularized on their own.... nothing to do with Shockwave really. Just both contributing at the same time to popularizing or encouraging the use of animation on the web, yeah?

I don’t have access to the article, so I’m basing this response solely on your comment. I wonder if the author thinks all animations on the web are called GIFs. So being part of creating one of the early methods of publishing animations on the web (Shockwave) confused the author.