Upcoming events in the media guru series
Quantum Media organizes the Media Guru series, an extremely popular program held in conjunction with the Harvard Business School Club of Greater New York.
In informal sessions throughout the year, a great line-up of top business leaders and innovators—"Media Gurus" of the industry—speak to club members and guests about the art and business of the media. These talks are generally breakfasts, held from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at the Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th St., New York. Subscribe to the mailing list for schedule and details.
February 28: Media Guru Albert Wenger
Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures
Union Square Ventures, based in New York City, manages $450 million across three funds. Albert Wenger will discuss the firm’s (collegial) decision processes, how he works with entrepreneurs and how he sees the future in this space. Union Square Ventures is a stand out firm that invests almost exclusively in Internet services that create large networks. Founded in 2003, it currently holds some 39 companies in their portfolio include: Boxee, Etsy, Disqus, Foursquare, Hashable, Kickstarter and Zynga.
Wenger says in a presentation in August 2011 that the unofficial motto of the firm is “You ain’t seen nothing yet. ” He views the internet not as an information technology, per se, but as a transformative economic force. And he believes the many of the companies USV have backed will help to push that force along. Wenger, who has been a managing partner with USV since 2008, combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology background. To sign up for this event go here.
April 18: Media Disrupters Lockhart Steele and Alexis Juneja
Founders of Curbed.com
Lock Steele and Alexis Juneja founded the cool and compelling New York City-based Curbed Network in 2004. The blog-turned media company publishes content that they hope "tells the stories of the cities it covers from the pavement on up.” Curbed Network’s flag ship site -- ny.curbed.com – has been described by the New York Times as a “prime purveyor of New York real estate porn: closing prices, zoning scuttlebutt, developers’ delays, digital pictures taken at open houses.” Along with its three other sites – Eater.com (restaurants and night life,) Racked.com (local shopping) and gridskipper.com (for travelers) -- the network claims more than 2 million unique visitors, and enviable demographics – more than 85% college grads, 77% under 44 years of age and very high incomes. At the end of 2011, the company launched national versions of Curbed and Eater.
The Curbed Network has gotten lots of publicity and positive reviews for its content. They say they are profitable, even though they compete in fields that are filled with many more established media companies (city magazines, newspapers and local TV ) in these content areas, not to mention the explosion of daily deal businesses and start up commentators. Find out from the founders how they have succeeded so far, how they have integrated the use of social media and email to increase their exposure, about the difficulties of scaling local sites, and how they intend to stay successful.
Lockhart Steele is President of Curbed.com LLC. Prior to founding Curbed in 2004, Steele served as the editorial director of New York-based Gawker Media.
Alexis Juneja is the Vice President of Strategic Development of Curbed.com LLC. Juneja has been involved in every stage of company development; she now focuses on strategic partnerships and e-commerce initiatives. 
Before joining Curbed full-time, she worked in investment and nonprofit management.
This event is an evening event. You will be able to sign up at the end of January, 2012.
Past Media Gurus