Alumni Startups
Since the school's founding 100 years ago, Columbia Journalism School graduates have been instrumental in countless news media organizations. Alumni have also created well-known brands such as Simon & Schuster (Max Schuster '17), Banana Republic (Mel Ziegler '68), Edelman Worldwide (Daniel Edelman '41, Renee Edelman '80s), the Standard Hotel (Andre Balazs '79), and many more.
If you know of others, please email Dean Sree Sreenivasan at sree@sree.net. Please provide the name of the founder, co-founder or similar role.
AllThingsD - "tech and startup company news"
http://allthingsd.com @allthingsd
Walt Mossberg, '70 @karaswisher
Kara Swisher, '85 @waltmossberg
San Francisco, Washington DC, NYC
Spot.Us - "community-funded reporting"
http://spot.us @spotus
David Cohn, '08 @digidave
San Francisco Bay Area
HaveToHave - "a registry for your lifestyle"
http://havetohave.com @havetohave
Carla Holtze, '09 @carlaholtze
NYC
PeriscopePost - "news in perspective"
http://periscopepost.com @periscopepost
Thomas Gommes, '06
London
Social Media News NY - “innovative news community on Facebook, serving New York's social
mediaprofessionals and sharing our learning”
Mo Krochmal, ’95 @krochmal
NYC
Tehran Bureau - "an independent source of news on Iran and the Iranian diaspora"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/
Kelly Niknejad, MS'05, MA'06, @golnoushn
Boston
GlobalPost - "international news and US news for a digital age"
Phil Balboni, '71
Charles Sennott, '86 @CMSennott
Boston
JiNi Productions -"making art with light and sound"
http://www.jiniproductions.com
Jehangir Irani, '10 @jehangirirani
Edward Chun, '10 @edwardchun
NYC
SocialWorkout - "social goal setting for big groups and brave individuals"
Oliver Ryan, '04 @eauryan
(also co-founder of ApartmentTherapy, 50m pageviews & 20 employees)
NYC
ARA - Associated Reporters Abroad - "we cover the world for you"
Jabeen Bhatti, '97
Harald Franzen, '97
Michael Levitin, '02
Berlin
Occupied Wall Street Journal
http://occupiedmedia.us/about/
Michael Levitin, ’02, co-founder and managing editor
NYC
San Franciso Public Press - “noncommercial, public-interest news for the San Francisco Bay
Area”
http://sfpublicpress.org @sfpublicpress
Michael Stoll, ’98 @stollmichael
Lila LaHood, ’98 @lilalahood
San Francisco
Birkeland Group - "focused strategic consulting"
http://www.thebirkelandgroup.com/
Carl Guess, '95 @carl.guess
Seattle
RGLabsInc - "change how people hire, form teams and start companies"
John McGrath, '97 @wordie
San Francisco
TinySpark - "igniting debate about the business of doing good"
Amy Costello, '98 @costello_amy
NYC
WebbMedia - "tracking trends to help you take advantage of what's next"
Amy Webb, '01 @webbmedia
Philadelphia
The following two sites by Michael Cervieri, '03 @bmunch
ScribeLabs - "connecting publishing solutions to the real-time, social & mobile web"
and
Future Journalism Project - "exploring disruption, opportunity and innovation in
journalism"
http://futurejournalismproject.org
NYC - blog launched Dec 2010, project launching Dec 2011
Contently - "empowering and connecting quality writers and brands"
http://contently.com @gocontently
Shane Snow, '10 @shanesnow
NYC
Tablet - "a new read on Jewish life"
Alana Newhouse, '07, @alananewhouse
NYC
Cerosetenta - "stories to read, hear and watch"
http://cerosetenta.uniandes.edu.co/
Lorenzo Morales, '07 @lorenzomorales
Bogota, Colombia
Hodinkee - "watches worth knowing about"
http://www.hodinkee.com/ @hodinkee
Benjamin Clymer, '12 @benjaminclymer
(helped launch Jay-Z's Life+Times site)
NYC
PublicBusiness - "investing in public interest business journalism"
http://www.publicbusinessmedia.org/ @publicbusiness
Damian Kahya, MA '09 @damiankahya
Maha Rafi Atal, MA '09 @maharafiatal
NYC
Medialation - “make money doing what you do best: spreading information”
http://medialation.com/ @medialation
Khalil Jetha, '09 @khaliljetha
NYC
Well+Good - "guide to wellness culture, experts and health in NYC"
http:/www.WellandGoodNYC.com @WellandGoodNYC
Alexia Brue, MA '08
NYC
Vayable - "experience the world differently"
http://vayable.com @vayable
Jamie Wong, '06 @jamiejwong
San Francisco
OverFiftyAndOutofWork - "stories of the Great Recession"
http://www.overfiftyandoutofwork.com
Sue Siprelle, '09 @50plusoutofwork
NYC
DNAinfo - “Manhattan local news”
http://dnainfo.com @dnainfo
Leela deKretser, ’05 @leeladek
Sree Sreenivasan, ’93 @sree (only writing a column now)
NYC
ComedyBeat - "comedy business news"
http://comedybeat.com @comedybeat
Carl Unegbu, '03 @ocarls
Diane Vacca, '06 @DianeVBI
Eddie Vega, '07 @evegaonline
NYC
Noir Nation - "eBook journal of international crime fiction"
Eddie Vega, '07 @evegaonline
NYC
Newsquote - "live interviews online"
Andrea Thalemann, '94
Europe
Global Reporting Centre - "tell under-covered global stories"
http://www.internationalreporting.org @IRPonline
Peter Klein, '93
Vancouver, BC
ReservoirPhoto - “sending photos directly to desktops of photos editors”
Maya Vidon-White, ’90
Paris
Crime Scene Afghanistan - “exposing crime and punishment in Afghanistan”
Dorn Townsend , ’03 * dorntownsend@gmail.com
Kabul
Granny Cart Productions - "Creative corporate videos and documentaries"
Elettra Fiumi and Lea Khayata, '11 @GrannyCart @EFiumi @Lea_k
NYC
SWAN - Southern World Arts News
http://www.southernworldartsnews.blogspot.com
(started in 2011, to be dot-com this year)
Alecia McKenzie, '85 * alicmckenzie@yahoo.com
Paris
Blackline - The Blackline Magazine
http://www.blackline.tv/magazine/
Lerone Wilson and Robert Thompson, '08
lerone@blackline.tv
The following four sites by Jeff Novich, '04
NOTE FROM JEFF: I'm on the board of the CVC - Columbia Venture Community, a meetup for
Columbia folks. Everyone should join: http://www.meetup.com/ColumbiaVC/
VocabSushi - "learn vocab through the context of sentences taken from news articles"
used in classrooms and for SAT/other test prep)
http://vocabsushi.com @vocab_sushi
NYC
FareShareNYC - "iphone app for sharing cabs"
http://faresharenyc.com @fareshare
NYC; London launching soon
PoorSquare - “freebies on Foursquare”
NYC
PatientCommunicator - "communications and practice management for independent
doctors"
http://patientcommunicator.com
If you know of others (please provide the name of the founder or co-founder or similar role in the title), please email Dean Sree Sreenivasan at sree@sree.net.