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True Ventures

Om Malik

Om Malik

Om has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist covering technology and business news. He was part of the founding team of Forbes.com as a Senior Editor. He then went on to become a senior writer at Red Herring during its glory days before joining Business 2.0 in March 2003, covering telecom, innovation, and broadband stories. His contributions have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and MIT Technology Review.

Additionally, Om is the author of “Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist.” He is the recipient of many industry awards, including Excellence in Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2001 and the Gold Award from American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2001. He also started Desiparty.com, a South Asian entertainment portal before giving it up for his true love: technology.

He was born & raised in New Delhi. He moved to New York and eventually to San Francisco. You can find his extended bio on GigaOM.com and Wikipedia.

True Story

My grandfather once told me, “Do not bank money, bank people.” I was a little boy then, who did not quite understand what he meant. His advice, however, stayed with me and is at the heart of this True story.
I first met Toni Schneider back in 2004 when I was researching my “The New Road To Riches” story for Business 2.0. It was back in the early days of Web 2.0 when everyone knew everyone. He was CEO of Oddpost, a start-up that was acquired by Yahoo. Toni, along with Oddpost co-founders Ethan Diamond and Iain Lamb, were featured on the cover of my beloved magazine. Toni introduced me to Tony Conrad, who become an instant friend.
In 2005, I was kicking around the idea of starting a new kind of a media company. I had gone around and met with a lot of venture capitalists in the valley, who gave me some stellar feedback and helped me craft a game plan. When I ran it by Tony and Toni, they suggested that perhaps it was time for me to meet with Phil Black and Jon Callaghan. The meeting was set.
It seems like a long time ago that I walked into the sparsely furnished Presidio offices of True Ventures. I was escorted into a cold conference room only to see Jon, Phil, Toni, and Tony sitting around the conference table. John Burke, who lives in Virginia, was the only team member not present. I had already said hello to Shea Di Donna and Braughm Ricke before walking into the room.
I guess it was time to start pitching my story to this group, who were, like me, venturing on a new journey. I opened my Powerbook, fired up the Powerpoint, and was getting ready to go through the whole pitch when Jon handed me an envelope, signed by all members of the True family. “Go make your dream come true,” he said. I did not look to see what was inside the envelope, but soon enough I took the first step into the roller coaster world of entrepreneurship.