Google's CEO starts his morning reading this niche website. Zuck and Nadella like it too.
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn't read legacy media outlets first thing in the morning.
- Instead, Pichai reads a niche website called Techmeme which compiles tech news across outlets.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn't start his mornings reading the Wall Street Journal over a cup of coffee. Instead, he wakes up and reads a niche website beloved by tech executives and news junkies alike.
The website in question? Techmeme, the CEO told Wired in a recent interview.
Techmeme is a website that aggregates links to the latest tech news published by Bloomberg, CNBC, The Verge, and other media outlets that cover the tech industry.
Founded in 2005 by Gabe Rivera, the tech news aggregator aims to quickly catch readers up on the most important developments in the industry through a simple, no frills display of splashy headlines and short news summaries.
While Techmeme has been the go-to source for industry news in Silicon Valley for years, the site is much less known outside of tech. Still, Rivera says the site logs hundreds and thousands of visitors every month.
"Techmeme is the first read for execs in tech everywhere because we're dead set on providing the 'executive summary' experience they demand," Rivera told BI. "For instance, importance-ranked, highly detailed headlines, alongside a density of links providing context and a sense of reach. No trivialities or "clickbait". And of course, no popups, videos, or intrusive ads."
Pichai reads Techmeme alongside other top-level Google executives, Rivera previously told BI. But it's not just leaders of the search engine who turn to the site for news.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is a loyal reader of Techmeme, alongside Meta execs like CTO Andrew Bosworth and head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, Rivera told BI. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, executive chairman of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner, former PayPal exec David Marcus, and ex-Twitter CEO Dick Costolo also read the site, according to CNBC.
The tech news aggregator is also a popular read among investors.
"I check it multiple times a day," David Tisch, an investor at VCs BoxGroup and TechStars, previously told BI. "It is the easiest way to make sure you haven't missed anything major that has happened in the industry that day."
Other tech business leaders have their own morning reading routines.
Apple CEO Tim Cook says he starts his day reading hundreds of feedback emails from customers before working out and Spotify CEO David Elk says he reads a mix of news and selections from an "ever-rotating stack of books." Meanwhile, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel says he pours over news from the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times at 6:30 a.m.