Join us for an insightful episode featuring Tomio Geron, a seasoned journalist turned tech insider and content lead at Bospar. With his extensive background in covering technology, venture capital, and startups, Tomio shares his unique insights on the challenges of communicating complex tech concepts.
Discover the intricacies of startup life, the significance of clear messaging, and how to effectively connect internal narratives with external media perspectives. Tune in for a conversation that bridges the worlds of media and technology, providing invaluable knowledge for anyone navigating this dynamic landscape!
Stay up to date with Tomio: https://x.com/tomiogeron & https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiogeron/
Click to read transcript
00:05
I’m Eric Chemi and this is Politely Pushy. Welcome back to Politely Pushy I’m your host as always Eric Chemi today we are joined by Tomio Geron who comes to us from the Wall Street Journal many other top tier outlets, Protocol, Forbes, Dow Jones, VentureWire. Tomio now you’re part
00:22
of the Bospar ecosystem the Bospar empire you’re new here so it’s exciting to have someone who’s had all that experience in in the outside world in the journalism world come here inside so so welcome to the company and welcome to the show thanks thanks for having me I’m excited
00:38
to be here and uh with the company and um yeah it’s great what made you make the switch the leap from being a journalist to coming on this side of the business I did it myself so I’m curious about your take yeah well for me it’s actually not a new thing I I’ve worked
00:56
in in the tech industry before uh I worked at a start up a long time ago um after college uh got some experience uh doing um design and a little bit of programming um this is when I was in New York and then um more recently I worked at a startup uh my friend startup um who
01:21
I I really um had a good time with um as their head of content um and did that for a couple years and then went back to journalism so yeah so it’s it’s something that um I’ve done before and um uh I have you know some background working in Tech so I feel like I
01:42
understand kind of both sides of it and I still like writing and um in that whole process um but I’m I’m also like uh working kind of in the tech industry as well so I kind of um I guess I like doing both and you were a programmer too you were writing code you see a lot of
02:00
people who go from writing code to saying hey I’m going to be a writer full-time yeah yeah I mean I I shouldn’t you know I’m not uh you know I’m not um I wouldn’t say I’m a expert programmer or anything but I did learn some programming um this was really in
02:19
the early um more earlier days um but I did learn programming I did learn some database um SQL stuff so um so I feel like I understand the basics um to just be you know dangerous but not enough to really you know really program something myself how has that informed though your
02:43
writing about technology right having been at least at some level right you were doing it you were in it you were part of the tech world as a actual developer that’s so much further than most tech journalists ever get to do in the tech world do you think it informed
02:60
Maybe a different way of thinking about things a different way of asking questions a different way of of writing and framing stories uh I think so I mean I like to think so um I think I understand a little bit more about just the day-to-day of how things actually work in a
03:18
startup um how chaotic it can be how you know how many things are going on at the same time um whereas when you’re a journalist you you know some of that but um unless you’re really talking to people inside the company you don’t really know how things work and what
03:36
what’s really going on you kind of just get sort of a filtered view um so I feel like I understand some of that and some of the how the ups and downs of being in a company and all the changes that are constantly happening uh especially at startups and just sort of uh kind of
03:53
yeah a little bit of sense of that and the technology and kind of what goes into actually building things I feel the same way I feel like as a reporter you’re you’re still always on the outside I know their job is to figure out what’s going on on the inside
04:07
but only the Insiders actually know what’s going on on the inside and and I like the way you said that you you don’t have the same perspective inside versus outside yeah I think so and and and that’s you know there’s nothing wrong with that it’s just that
04:24
um it’s um that it’s just in some ways the the from the outside view you may see things as kind of linear like company raises series A then raise series B and then they raise series C and then you know they build they were they put out a product once in a while
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um but in actuality it’s usually things are going in all directions there’s no linear progression you know sometimes things leap really forward sometimes they go backwards sometime they go sideways and so there’s just a lot of change constantly happening and um so
05:00
that that’s kind of how I how I see things that’s a good way of putting it yeah we the news makes everything seem more discreet like this thing happened today but in reality 50 things were happening for the last six months all in parallel and we’re just writing about one of those things
05:19
today right right and that’s kind of the I guess that’s kind of the job is you’re trying to create a narrative of what’s happening with a company and whether they’re doing well are not doing well and where things are going but um and and a lot of times that is that is the
05:36
case but um like you said there’s there’s 50 things happening and then they put out news on one thing tell me about how did you get that job at the Wall Street Journal so you anyone can see your LinkedIn April 2016 you started their Wall Street Journal
05:53
Pro VC but but you were coming there from from you know a business job you know you were you didn’t come there directly from from a journalism job how did you make that leap because Wall Street Journal is one of the hardest newsrooms to get into how how
06:09
are you able to walk right into say hey I haven’t been currently writing any articles but I want you to hire me and I’ll start writing articles for you next week yeah that was uh that was yeah I was really grateful for that opportunity and um it’s a it’s a funny story I
06:26
multiple for basically uh like you said it’s it is really hard to get those those roles and I think happened to be for multiple reasons one is I had previously worked with the company um so I had worked at Dow Jones previously and so I already knew several
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of the people in that team including some of the people hiring um and had worked with them directly so I kind of had that experience and they knew that I could write about that topic because I had literally already done it before for um it was several years ago but I you
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know I had done it before so I I they knew me and I knew them and so that was that sort of comfort level and then on top of that the the editor who hired me direct my direct editor I had also worked with him at another job previously at at uh this company red
07:19
herring which you may know um so I had knew him even I guess even more so than the the other um people at the team so I kind of had multiple um connections with that team that I would be working with directly so that was kind of the case of like I knew them really well um even
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though I may not have known the journal and everyone there as well like I knew those specific people really well so I had a kind of um yeah they they knew that I could do the job and you know that kind of thing so that was special situation it’s always connections right
07:55
it always it always is like anything in business anyone will tell you it’s the people not anything else right so what was it like though because your Wall Street Journal Pro that’s the pay wall side of things right you’re not getting as much mass audience numbers
08:12
but you’re getting the really highly focused audience that really cares about that particular story and they’re willing to spend a lot of money for it how did that change your perspective because my my guess was that was the first time that you worked for something
08:26
for an outlet that had such a you know real pay wall behind it how did that change the way you approach those stories yeah it it is very specialized in some ways so you have um uh a focus on that particular area so in our case it was the venture capital industry so
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we were very focused on um how things affect that industry so we would cover a lot of different companies um startups in various sectors consumer um Enterprise Healthcare what have you but it would always be with with a focus on the invest the VC
09:02
investors in those companies um who are the investors how are they doing what are their strategies um and what’s happening in the industry that particular industry so whereas perhaps other parts of the journal they may cover the same companies or the same issues but it
09:20
would be from a little bit broader perspective in terms of how that would affect the economy or um business more generally ours was more it’s really targeted at the VC industry so that that kind of changes how you think about stories and how you write them and how
09:38
you frame them um so I think that’s the biggest issue is just how you kind of frame those stories specifically for that industry but a lot of the topics were would cut across you know things that anyone else would cover so it’s yeah it’s just that framing how are you using those skills
10:00
now what’s what is the the goal of the job here at Bospar you’re working for the content team and usually that’s a lot of writing right you’re ghost writing on behalf of the CEO you’re you’re working on white papers you’re working on um you know articles op-eds that they may want
10:16
to put out like you’re the voice of companies now right for for better worse I know a lot of people listening don’t realize that right a lot of these companies they’re not writing what what comes out on their behalf they they are hiring uh hired guns like yourself to
10:30
make them sound and look as smart as possible right so tell me how you’re taking that approach hey former developer former high-tech reporter now writing on behalf of high-tech companies what’s that what’s the process going to be like yeah it’s really trying to um
10:49
first identify what is the message um that the Company’s trying to put out and really making sure that’s clear and uh well thought thought through um sometimes it’s already there sometimes we’ll work on it um and then figuring out what’s the best way to get that out
11:09
there and um in my approach you know I try to make it as journalistic as possible so really you know factual and um readable and and uh approachable so it’s easy to understand for people and um um really get at the important issues that people need to know um in as clear
11:36
a way as possible so yeah I think it’s kind of um that’s kind of how I think about it um and other people may do it differently but yeah it’s really just trying to um think about what are those um main issues and try to articulate them as clearly as possible so that Their
11:58
audience can understand it whether that’s consumers partners the media what has been a challenge for you in terms of connecting the two languages because I I’ve been like you I was a developer then I was a journalist and now I’m on the side of it and it feels
12:16
like there are two different ecosystems talking two different languages right the developers the in company people are thinking about the world in in one way and the reporters are developing stories and narratives but they’re not thinking about the world in the way that
12:31
the companies are you’ve been on both sides of it and now you’re here trying to connect those dots and advise where do you find that there’s a lost in translation type of situation where you’re trying to say Hey you know party A this is what B wants party B this is
12:44
what A wants let’s trying to meet in the middle somewhere yeah I mean I like the way you frame that because it really is a translation issue a lot of times um and trying to figure out that that’s why I said that first is trying to figure out the message and the messaging
13:05
because um a lot of times a company will have a really great product and it sells really well and it’s you know amazing technology but um trying to figure out how to explain that in the best way uh is a challenge sometimes so it’s really about trying to develop that message
13:28
that resonates outside of the company and that may be not how they think about it internally when they’re building it or selling it but that’s okay so it’s really about you know does this make sense in a broader context outside of the company um and and I think that’s
13:48
and that’s even another even another level is for media because the media may think about it even even in a more different way so sometimes I’ll work on some writing for um some clients and that will be one one um one pillar but um they want to also talk to media
14:10
reporters and things like that and that may be also we may need to boil it down and make it um a different message you know framed a different way for for media so that’s kind of the the challenge is figuring out okay what are what are certain audiences interested in
14:32
um media versus Partners versus um client uh customers and trying to figure out what are they interested in and how can we provide the information that they that they want in the best way for them so that’s it’s kind of thinking along different different levels for different
14:52
audiences right right it really is like so many conversations I’ve had with people and say hey that’s a great talking point for your your investors or that’s a great talking point for your employees or that’s great for your customers right they’re all very
15:06
different things that you say and then the media you need to say something else right the media person is often the least technically Savvy they’re often the least financially um concerned right it’s not their money they’re not investing in you and they don’t have a P&L they’re not
15:23
going to buy it right so like they don’t care about that because you can’t lose them money so so you got to tell them something different what were you gonna say yeah I was just going to say you made me realize that there’s also if you’re talking about the media specifically
15:36
there’s different levels there’s um trade publications who really care about you know the speed and the performance of a certain product and the nitty-gritty of certain numbers whereas some of the other more mainstream or bigger publications they don’t they never even
15:56
heard of those numbers that doesn’t matter to them it’s they’re more concerned with for example how does this company relate to the broader AI issues or the broader policy issues that that that are happening in the country or happening on their beat so there’s there’s also like very
16:13
specific things that that certain media are interested in and that can really vary across different Outlets tell me about most recently you were at protocol fintech C crypto and you started there December 20 which is right I remember when like the first time Bitcoin was getting up to no
16:38
maybe that was 17 I don’t know I’m losing track of the years but this is like the COVID yeah the COVID crypto blowup where it was was like out of control everyone was at home day trading buying meme stocks and crazy stuff so you were in there in a really volatile
16:51
time what was that like right you’re you’re in a in a newsroom but covering maybe one of the craziest things going on in the world at the time yeah it was a it was a pretty wild time it was during COVID um and a lot of uh so there was a huge you may
17:11
remember there was a huge spike in not only crypto but stocks meme stocks at that time uh because everyone was at home day trading guys like Dave Portnoy you know and then Ryan Cohen and GameStop and it was just it was crazy it was crazy yeah yeah so there was a crazy
17:28
time um and a lot was happening and uh the SCC was trying to go after Robin Hood and some of the other uh fintech and crypto companies um even before uh some of the blowups so there was a lot happening and we we covered a lot of the policy issues which was interesting too
17:48
um but yeah there was a just a huge it was kind of a really strange time so there was so much happening with um those companies and stocks and policy and then things quickly uh melted down also so especially on the crypto side so there was a lot of uh kind of trying to just understand
18:11
okay what is really actually happening with these with these um protocols and tokens and what’s behind them um how do they work do they actually work uh where what are people talking about so much you but when you say do they actually work I remember a lot of
18:31
stuff just didn’t actually work because because we had I remember we had some Bospar clients at the time and some of it you just wonder like is this real and a lot of them just came and went like there it’s interesting to watch the startup Community they just show up oh
18:45
well crypto now I’m doing a crypto startup and some of the stuff doesn’t work and then they disappear like they just they they disappear as fast as they came and then it’s oh boom I’m doing an AI startup now like here I am it’s like weren’t you the crypto guy last year so
18:57
but go what I cut you off I’m sorry yeah no no it was a really strange time it’s it’s like because at that time it was one of those you know how there’s certain periods where um you know people say well it’s different this time you know kind of like during the .com era or
19:15
during the mobile never different era or it’s never different right or during Facebook the Facebook run up so things are like people like oh it’s different this time because crypto is going to take over and you know um this this token is never going to go down you know
19:32
it’s like going to keep Rising 100% every month so it was just yeah it was one of those things where okay you know this is crazy but because things keep happening we’re keep we’re keeping on covering it and then like just on a dime things started to turn I don’t know if
19:49
you remember that that um period but things like each when things turned it was like each day a new thing happened and a new company started to blow up and that was FTX and that that whole period so that was just a really uh really it had that kind of um 2008 feel to it
20:08
where like oh for today it’s Leman Brothers the next day it’s this firm the next day it’s this firm and like you know each day some huge thing would happen I remember all of that I’m I’m thinking about all of that when when it all happened though was part of you like
20:26
oh I knew this was a scam I knew this was a fraud or were you also so surprised from the outside um I definitely felt that it was a lot of it was not sustainable but the thing is you don’t really know what’s what’s real and what’s not because that’s the thing FTX
20:47
was the biggest exchange at the time and they were considered like maybe not the gold standard but you know one of the top companies and they had all that advertising the umpires they the FTX Arena they the Super Bowl they got Tom Brady I mean looked like he’s hanging
21:05
out with Bill Clinton I mean it look like okay well you hope it’s not a scam but maybe in hindsight it’s like well why why do they have all that money why why do they have that much money to burn I remember my friend at Coinbase at the time he was so mad at Coinbase because
21:19
he said oh we’re not marketing enough look at FTX they’re blowing us out of the water they’re they’re spending on all this stuff and then it’s like okay well aren’t you glad you’re working at Coinbase and not FTX when you fast forward a couple years later yeah yeah
21:32
definitely yeah I know I know some folks there and they yeah they uh they they they survived you know so um it was yeah a pretty crazy time so what what are you most looking forward to in your role now what are you excited about is there a particular kind of
21:50
sector is there is there a type of company that you’re excited about what are you really uh passionate about right now um yeah I mean I really I do still like fintech a lot I think there’s a lot happening um and a lot of changes um uh so I I’m I still really like
22:09
fintech as a sector and um I’m interested in some of the new areas um well not I guess AI is not new but there’s still a lot happening there that’s really transforming pretty much every other sector so that’s that’s a really big one that I’m really following a lot and then
22:30
climate is also really huge now obviously and also kind of cuts across a lot of different sector climate cross cuts across AI and data also things like that so um that climate area I think is going to be you know one of the biggest areas in tech if it’s not um already
22:52
pretty soon so yeah that’s and then you know just um uh yeah I I mean I still really like startups I just think there’s I like learning new things and kind of learning about new companies and new technologies so um yeah I’m just excited about kind of that process and that’s you know why
23:13
I like covering Tech in general what’s your advice for companies that might be listening to this that you might be working with going forward here what’s your advice to them about hey if you want to get good coverage about your company do X what’s that one thing they need to do uh
23:29
have a good product or technology like you can’t but that’s hard oh good product and technologies hard what what are some shortcuts I can do if not if I don’t have a good product or technology yeah I mean you can fake it till you make it but you know
23:46
um uh you know you have to have you have some good foundation there but we do we see a lot of companies they have good products and Technology but they can’t get the coverage right they’re just hey I don’t understand why people do don’t understand why people don’t understand
24:00
why my product isn’t amazing because I know it’s amazing we we get that a lot yeah yeah for sure I guess I from the journalist side you know we like we like transparency and access so you know tell me something new that I don’t know about your company or your sector and let me
24:23
talk to the CEO or the CTO or the people who really matter and um try to give us something that um you know we’re not getting elsewhere and I know a lot of companies are wary of talking to the media which I understand but my you know my perspective is hey if you’re not
24:46
out there talking to people you know no one’s going to cover it you know so that’s my that’s my general advice is like hey you know like it’s better to be more open than not open because if you’re worried about someone stealing your idea or things like that there’s
25:03
there’s someone already doing what you’re doing so there’s no point in trying to you know hide it and I think the FTX you’re so right by the way everything you say because we have companies they come to us they say okay I want all this coverage okay they want
25:14
to talk to the CEO no he’s not available it’s like well then they’re just gonna talk to some other company CEO but I with FTX as an example they had so much relationships with the media that even when all the trials were happening he was still getting positive coverage
25:30
right the Michael Lewis hey he was just trying to save the world hey he was doing uh what effective altruism or whatever it was like it was crazy right but because he was working the media he got those benefits right so if it could work for a bad guy and a bad company
25:47
imagine what it can do for a good person and a good company who’s not actually committing any crimes yeah there is that kind of cult of personality and I and I’ve talked to CEOs of of some of those companies um that that went down and they’re really they’re really good
26:03
talkers they really know how to work the media they really know how to talk their talk their game so that’s that will get you you know a long way it’s not not to say you have to be amazing but just even just getting out there that is is a great start right right no I I totally
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agree you go to at least participate and and you have to have access be transparent let them talk to your decision makers that’s so key tell really excited to have you on board really appreciate you making time today I know you’re jamming I I know I know
26:35
you came a couple minutes late cuz you’re super busy everyone’s got you they they got you buried already so thank you for taking time out of the day and and uh look forward to working with you more yeah thanks a lot great great to do this I appreciate it you got
26:51
it thank you to my guest and thanks for listening subscribe to get the latest episodes each week and we’ll see you next time.