<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4fc52812eab8ead930000000-620-465/entrepreneur-books.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="reading, beach, iPad, summer" width="480" /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/2ni/6113416120/">Denis De Desmaeker via Flickr </a></div></div>Headlines for online articles range from drab to vague to overly enthusiastic. 
<keyword id="1858113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gabe-Rivera">Gabe Rivera</keyword> runs a website the tech world knows well called <keyword id="968953" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Techmeme">Techmeme</keyword>. It's a bootstrapped operation that aggregates top tech stories from around the web with a small staff and directly links out to the publications. 
Since its founding in 2005, Techmeme has always used headlines written by the publications it pulls articles from. Yesterday, it decided to start writing its own headlines that will be as direct as possible.
Rivera wrote an article about his decision to start writing his own headlines, and shares some thoughts on why many headlines around the web are no good at all. 
<a href="http://news.techmeme.com/130906/headlines">From Techmeme</a>:
<ul>
<li>News organizations that cover more than just tech often favor headlines describing the story in the most general terms that the widest possible audience can appreciate at some level. So headlines will omit references to specific companies, people, and technologies unknown to most of their readers yet familiar to Techmeme readers. As our coverage increasingly relies on sources like The Guardian and Washington Post (for reports on government surveillance and other policy matters), this has become a significant issue for Techmeme. </li>
<li>In some news organizations, particularly the older ones, too often the editor tasked with writing the headline doesn't appreciate the most newsworthy part of the story, "burying the lede" with a headline oblivious to the news.</li>
<li>With few exceptions, companies announcing bad news will omit specifics at the headline level. For example, a post disclosing the theft of a million user passwords will usually carry a headline such as "Important Security Update".</li>
<li>Some publishers value clicks from Twitter or Facebook over readers' time, writing (and tweeting) headlines that deliberately omit key details, requiring readers to click to get the most basic summary.</li>
<li>Even worse, some misleadingly inflate the importance of the news in the headline, goosing clickthroughs, but setting up discerning readers for disappointment.</li>
<li>Bloggers with a devoted readership who can count on readers consuming the bulk of their output often enjoy writing more cerebral, enigmatic titles with meanings that fully reveal themselves only after reading the story.</li>
<li>Some bloggers consider composing a headline a mere chore, dashing out a few words thoughtlessly, and moving on.</li>
</ul>

Why So Many Articles Have Terrible Headlines Online

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sundar-pichai-google-alphabet-ceo-career-life">Google CEO Sundar Pichai</a> doesn't read legacy media outlets first thing in the morning. </li><li>Instead, Pichai reads a niche website called Techmeme which compiles tech news across outlets.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ceo-says-more-layoffs-to-come-2024-1">Google CEO Sundar Pichai</a> 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wired.com/story/google-prepares-for-a-future-where-search-isnt-king/">Wired</a> in a recent interview.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/techmeme-growth-2014-3">Techmeme</a> 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.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-relatable-zuck-billionaire-who-perches-his-laptop-on-books-2024-2">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, 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 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satya-nadella-life-career-microsoft-ceo-computer-science-2024-1">Satya Nadella</a>, executive chairman of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner, former PayPal exec David Marcus, and ex-Twitter CEO Dick Costolo also read the site, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/22/meet-the-man-whose-site-mark-zuckerberg-reads-every-day.html">according to CNBC</a>.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.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-daily-routine-schedule-apple-ceo">Apple CEO Tim Cook</a> says he starts his day reading hundreds of feedback emails from customers before working out and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-daily-routine-work-day-schedule-2023-11">Spotify CEO David Elk</a> 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.

Google's CEO starts his morning reading this niche website. Zuck and Nadella like it too.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ce27660021b4c608b792a94-910/paul-graham-3.jpg" border="0" alt="paul graham" data-mce-source="Flickr/pragdave" data-link="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pragdave/173643703/sizes/l/in/photolist-gkYdX-iMeym-m9e7t-npqkZ-nqJ7j-nLYhj-pMryd-s7QNi-wQZ8C-wQZaJ-wQZgZ-zTYaH-EfaTj-K3z4v-29owuu-2ujUq2-2LKxpv-2LKxJc-2LKxSc-2LKCBx-2LPVJ1-3gRMh1-3txdj6-4f2YUC-4jqG1q-4UmGYh-55nayf-55XA8z-5nzLUq-5q756p-5q75nz-5q75yT-5q75Dx-5q75Jt-5q75Re-5qbomG-5qbotW-5qboFw-5qboLA-5qboXY-5qbpuf-5qbpzE-5qbpFW-5qbpMG-5Ri7MP-5Tm1Ku-61rSVr-61rTGZ-61rUBF-61F62Z-64qbTH/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pragdave/173643703/sizes/l/in/photolist-gkYdX-iMeym-m9e7t-npqkZ-nqJ7j-nLYhj-pMryd-s7QNi-wQZ8C-wQZaJ-wQZgZ-zTYaH-EfaTj-K3z4v-29owuu-2ujUq2-2LKxpv-2LKxJc-2LKxSc-2LKCBx-2LPVJ1-3gRMh1-3txdj6-4f2YUC-4jqG1q-4UmGYh-55nayf-55XA8z-5nzLUq-5q756p-5q75nz-5q75yT-5q75Dx-5q75Jt-5q75Re-5qbomG-5qbotW-5qboFw-5qboLA-5qboXY-5qbpuf-5qbpzE-5qbpFW-5qbpMG-5Ri7MP-5Tm1Ku-61rSVr-61rTGZ-61rUBF-61F62Z-64qbTH/">Flickr/pragdave</a>Paul Graham.</img></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Paul Graham, the retired cofounder of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/y-combinator?r=US&amp;IR=T">Y Combinator,</a> sparked a huge Twitter debate over the weekend after he said you don't need to be a "rich kid" to create a tech unicorn.</li><li>He used Airbnb's founders as an example of this, saying they created the company after they "literally could not pay their rent." Y Combinator was an early investor in Airbnb.</li><li>But followers - including Silicon Valley CEOs - were quick to call him out for his comments, pointing out that there is a difference between being temporarily broke and poor.</li><li>Airbnb's three founders came from relatively privileged backgrounds. Chesky and Gebbia met at Rhode Island School of Design and later lived with Blecharczyk, who studied at Harvard.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Paul Graham, the retired cofounder of famed tech incubator Y Combinator, provoked a backlash on Twitter over the weekend after he said that you don't need to be "rich kids" to launch a successful tech startup. Graham used Airbnb's once cash-strapped founders as an example of this.But his followers were quick to call him up for his comments, pointing out that there is a difference between being temporarily broke and poor.Industry CEOs also joined the debate, including Matthew Prince, the cofounder and CEO fo Cloudfare, a software company that recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cloudflare-raises-150-million-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">raised $150 million in funding and is valued at more than $3.2 billion.</a>"I would ordinarily just let your bullshit go," <a href="https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1130101037547884545" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Graham snapped back</a>. "This myth that you have to be a rich kid to start a startup is terribly dangerous, because it discourages people who aren't from trying it. Brian Chesky's parents were social workers. That is not a rich kid."But others sided with Prince in questioning Graham's argument:Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk. The idea came about after Chesky and Gebbia struggled to pay their San Francisco rent and decided to rent out airbeds in their apartment to make extra cash.Four years later, Airbnb was in 89 countries, had hit 1 million nights booked on the platform, and was valued at more than $1 billion after receiving funding from some of silicon valley's most prominent venture capital firms. The firm is currently considering an IPO and is valued at more than $30 billion.&#xa0;Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-airbnb-was-founded-a-visual-history-2016-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">How 3 guys turned renting an air mattress in their apartment into a $25 billion company</a>Graham, who cofounded Y Combinator, a tech incubator that has invested in some of the most successful tech companies such as <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/">Dropbox, Instacart, and Reddit</a>, was an early investor.The three founders came from fairly privileged backgrounds. Chesky and Gebbia met at Rhode Island School of Design, a private college with tuition fees of $51,800, and later lived with Blecharczyk, who studied at Harvard.CNN contributor Jeff Yang dug into the Airbnb cofounders' backgrounds a little more:<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">The next time someone claims that starting startups is for rich kids, remind them that Airbnb happened because its founders literally could not pay their rent.- Paul Graham (@paulg) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1129897694984646657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Oh Paul, you know better. I had to borrow money from my mom to pay my taxes when we were starting Cloudflare. But I certainly came from a relatively privileged background, and so did the AirBnB founders. It's hard to take risks if you don't have a safety net. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bereal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bereal</a>- Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1129929178382446592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Love <a href="https://twitter.com/Airbnb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Airbnb</a>, but <a href="https://twitter.com/paulg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@paulg</a> if you don't think that Brian, Joe, and Nate came from privilege then you don't understand privilege. And your position that this "narrative" prevents poor people from starting companies is unfounded and doesn't stand on any data. <a href="https://t.co/xAdSeWkvyx">https://t.co/xAdSeWkvyx</a>- Delane Parnell (@delane) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1130252045208805376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Either Paul knows he'll get this reaction, or he doesn't, and both possibilities are hilarious and what makes Twitter so fantastic:<a href="https://t.co/6DRMkByzol">https://t.co/6DRMkByzol</a>- Gabe Rivera (@gaberivera) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1130128131292057601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Next time someone gives you a data supported statement find a single anecdote from an outlier to prove them wrong so we can pretend that life is fair and worship survivorship bias. <a href="https://t.co/UUPns9BZeB">https://t.co/UUPns9BZeB</a>- Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1130143604918366215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">The founders met at RISD where Chesky was captain of the hockey team. He grew up near Schenectady, in a town with a $94K median income. Gebbia's dad is mayor of the city in which Joe grew up and owns a multimillion dollar health food distribution company. <a href="https://t.co/UhU82Ktu22">https://t.co/UhU82Ktu22</a>- Jeff Yang (@originalspin) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1130179778172948480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5g-high-speed-internet-cellular-network-issues-switch-2019-4">5G networks will be 10 times faster than 4G LTE, but we shouldn't get too excited yet</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/4qNVO3hA-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Y Combinator's cofounder got flamed for using Airbnb's founders as an example of why you don't have to be 'rich kids' to create a tech unicorn

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/533f22f369beddaa48b1f792-800-600/gabe-rivera-1.jpg" border="0" alt="gabe rivera" />Gabe RiveraTechmeme founder Gabe Rivera</div></div></div>In the past ten years, the technology industry has evolved from photo sharing websites like Flickr to photo sharing apps like Instagram.
And, we suppose, there's been a few other changes along the way.
But one thing that's remained constant is Techmeme, the must-read site for anyone that wants to know what's happening in the technology industry.
The tech industry is moving quickly. Two-year-old companies are being bought for billions - think <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-buying-whatsapp-2014-2" target="_blank">WhatsApp, </a>Oculus Rift, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-buying-nest-for-35-billion-2014-1" target="_blank">Nest</a>. Blink and you can miss the next major trend. Techmeme, which is nothing but links to other sites, similar to Drudge Report, or Google News, has made staying on top of the industry easier.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a dedicated reader, Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera tells Business Insider. Techmeme also attracts top-level Google executives and a boatload of venture capitalists. 
"I check it multiple times a day," TechStars founder David Tisch told Business Insider via email. "It is the easiest way to make sure you haven't missed anything major that has happened in the industry that day. Skimming the headlines is a great way to get a summary of the days big stories."
Founded in 2005 with out any outside investors, Techmeme has become the go-to place for anything and everything tech news. Over the years, a bunch of Techmeme "killers" and clones have popped up. But the biggest competition to Techmeme, Rivera says, are blogs and social sites like Twitter.
Business Insider recently caught up with Rivera to learn how he's attained so much success with Techmeme.
Here's a slightly edited Q&amp;A with Rivera:
Business Insider: So for starters, how did you go from the world of IT to media?
Gabe Rivera: I've been interested in news forever, and then about a decade ago became particularly fascinated by how scoops and commentary pulsed through the early blogosphere. So I saw an opening for a site that provided a Google News-style summary, but shaped by what influential commentators and reporters were discussing in certain blog domains. While Techmeme at first was fully automated, and much more a "technology" product, the product and company surrounding it needed over time acquire a lot of media competence to stay viable. So now I'd say we very much inhabit the media world, while also remaining a very tech-driven company.
BI: And how did you create the must-read site for people in the tech industry?
GR: It happened gradually. At first Techmeme was focused mostly on what early tech bloggers were concerned with. Since these bloggers skewed much more indie and much more Web 2.0-focused, Techmeme skewed that way too, making us a more complimentary read to other must-reads.
But various forms of convergence led to us to court a larger audience. First, a kind of convergence in the blogging arena: many popular indie bloggers became "pro", while most established media sites became more bloggy. This accompanied a convergence in the products we cover: as hardware success became linked with good software in the age of the iPhone, and as applications became cloud-connected, lines were too blurry for us to address an area any narrower than what we cover now: both hardware and software, both web and native applications, both enterprise and consumer, both people and products, and both commercial aspects and core technologies, in short, the broader tech industry.
Fortunately, our early readers stayed with us as we changed, and helped spread to the word to a wider audience.
BI: Over the years several Techmeme "killers" and clones have popped up. How have you ensured Techmeme remains the site-of-record for the tech industry? What is that Techmeme has that some of these other competitors don't have? Speaking of competitors, which publication are you most like? Or which publication is trying to copy you the most?
GR: We had our share of clones, especially in the early years, when Techmeme 's automation and surface simplicity seduced some developers into thinking a two-week project could reproduce what we do. And indeed, the bar was lower then, as we hadn't yet mixed in editorial input from a staff of editors. Those clones usually closed shop rather quickly. Either breaking news would take too long to appear on those sites, or they'd miss important stories.
In recent years, the real competition hasn't come from direct competitors, but from social networks and news blogs, which also can offer a sort of "front page for tech news". These quasi-competitors have probably snatched some readers we could have otherwise grown into. But there are good reasons why the best and smartest readers visit Techmeme, even with those other options.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/533ef7ce6bb3f76607c01cb6-1065-799/twitter-headquarters-1-of-1-20.jpg" border="0" alt="Twitter Headquarters (1 of 1) 20" />Robert Johnson for Business Insider</div></div></div>Take Twitter for instance. If you follow the right mix of news outlets, you get very fast source of tech news that's also fairly broad. But you still face the noise problem (too many tweets), and the ranking problem (it's hard to quickly see what's the biggest story of the day). Techmeme solves both, because we highlight one link to represent a story, and because we place the biggest stories at the top of the page.
Now consider blogs. Many do a fine job providing broad tech coverage, while usually solving the noise problem I referred to above, and sometimes even partly solving the ranking problem. But Techmeme readers also appreciate the mix of sources we feature. If everyone in tech today is talking about a particular WSJ scoop, a cogent analysis piece hosted on Medium, and an announcement Mark Zuckerberg posted to his Facebook page, our readers want to see those links highlighted, and not rewrites. At the same time, people love us for the particular mix of stories we curate. It's the result of building a great editorial team for over 5 years, and great news-surfacing technology for over a decade.
BI: You've never taken any VC money, why is that? Do you think you'll ever take VC money? Have VCs ever approached you, looking to invest in Techmeme?
GR: We've never taken any VC. Before taking in ad revenues I just lived off some savings, and then once we started getting revenue from sponsors, we've been growing on it ever since.
When we first launched, we heard from a lot of VCs. I think they saw what we were doing and imagined a stable of automated news sites that scaled cheaply across scores of viable news topics. But for a number of very good reasons (technical and market-related), nobody has been able to pull that off, certainly not us, and so the inbound introductions from VCs ran their course. We nonetheless hear from a good number of VCs reaffirming interest in our company if we're ready to scale in a VC-fueled way, but my inbox is mostly full of other stuff.
Would we ever take VC? I wouldn't rule it out. While we're currently self-sufficient, in my view we're still iterating (even now!) to figure out what our core business model is. If we get to a point where we have a clear idea of what will scale nicely, and where we need to move faster than what we can finance ourselves, we'll seek VC. But that won't be happening in the near future.
BI: How profitable is Techmeme?
GR: We're profitable in the sense that we pay all our people, myself included. But the revenues are nothing to boast about. We're a fairly lean operation, in part because our only revenues are from advertising, and so far we've stubbornly stuck to decidedly classy ads that are harder to sell. Instead of interstitial and giant banners, we've only shown sponsor posts, hiring links, and event listings from advertisers who specifically want their content to reach Techmeme's readers in a respectful and elegant way.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/534073206bb3f77b1903017c-1200-858/screen shot 2014-04-05 at 5.15.32 pm.png" border="0" alt="techmeme" />ScreenshotTechmeme's homepage on April 5, 2014</div></div></div>BI: How much of Techmeme is automated and how much is curated by humans?
GR: That's hard to answer because there's such a tight feedback loop between our automation and our editors. While top-level headlines on Techmeme and Mediagazer are now always gated by editors (nothing posts that we haven't first checked), our editors are frequently sifting through posts recommended by the automation before posting. And while second-tier links (the ones after "More:") are usually automatically placed, editors can change those too.
So I usually just say "fifty-fifty" when someone really wants to hear a number for automation versus human, but it's actually difficult to quantify.
BI: I'm also curious about which of your media properties have the most traffic after Techmeme.
GR: After Techmeme is Memeorandum, which still runs without human editors, and then Mediagazer. A lot of people consume Mediagazer <a href="https://twitter.com/mediagazer" target="_blank">just through its tweets</a>, so my guess is adding in that following, Mediagazer would be #2.
BI: You mentioned that Techmeme is still iterating. Could you elaborate a bit on how?
GR: Most of our improvements are under the hood: better editorial processes and smarter algorithms that lead to better news. We also make UI improvements and other outward-facing features, but progress there is more gradual. We don't want to change things too abruptly on readers, nor do we have the resources to do that if we wanted to. One example of a small new thing we're working on: we're revamping <a href="http://techmeme.com/lb" target="_blank">our leaderboard page</a> in a way that makes it much more useful.
We've also iterated on how we can serve companies that want to promote stuff, opening some new ad revenue sources for us, which is what I was referring to in that earlier question. For instance, with more and more companies organizing events around their products and platforms, it became clear the world needed a central place to list these, which was a perfect complement for Techmeme, <a href="http://techmeme.com/events" target="_blank">so we built it</a>. We similarly offered companies <a href="http://techmeme.com/#hiring" target="_blank">a place to promote their company-wide hiring efforts</a>.
BI: Also, how many unique monthly visitors does Techmeme have? How has your traffic changed over the years? Is it increasing, decreasing, or staying relatively stable?
GR: Monthly uniques are a particularly bad stat for aggregators like Techmeme. A site with only 10,000 recurring readers but articles shared on Twitter or Facebook with 10 million people in March can report 10 million monthly uniques. (This kind of scenario isn't too outlandish when you consider Upworthy, Viral Nova, etc.) For aggregators like Techmeme that don't host articles or comment pages, monthly uniques much more closely track the number of recurring readers, meaning the number of people who actually visit our home page again and again. That number is still under a million, but we prefer not to give it out so people don't make spurious comparisons to sites that publish article pages (which is almost every other news site).
After rapid growth in the early years, traffic growth is still increasing, but more gradually. And this matches my experience talking to people over six annual D conferences. In the early years, most attendees didn't know what Techmeme was, suggesting a lot of room for further growth into the industry. But by 2013, almost all the attendees were familiar, with a majority recurring readers, so while there's now less room to grow, we still have a lot of great readers to win over.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/527107f26bb3f7766956d90b-1200-924/mark-zuckerburg.jpg" border="0" alt="mark zuckerburg" />Reuters/Stephen LamFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg </div></div></div>BI: Who are some Silicon Valley big-wigs that read the site?
GR: From many accounts, I know Mark Zuckerberg is a dedicated reader, one sign of which <a href="http://read.bi/KNV2fm" target="_blank">you guys spotted a few years ago</a>, and he continues <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Techmeme/posts/10151785767766345" target="_blank">liking our Facebook posts</a> today. I've talked to plenty of Google execs too who are readers, in fact Sundar Pichai <a href="https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/340131594939535360" target="_blank">mentioned this onstage</a> at Google I/O last year. Various mentions on Twitter indicate a lot of Silicon Valley CEOs are readers, <a href="https://twitter.com/davidmarcus/status/451741780568858624" target="_blank">including this complimentary one</a> just today from PayPal's CEO. I'll happily take criticism too, <a href="https://twitter.com/davidmarcus/status/451741780568858624" target="_blank">like this one from LinkedIn's CEO</a>. And then <a href="https://twitter.com/dickc/status/1451700260" target="_blank">here's an oldie from Twitter's CEO</a>. And <a href="http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/01/feature-friday-techmeme.html" target="_blank">I could go on</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/kevinrose/status/421379600489279490" target="_blank">and on</a> about the VCs as well, but let's stop here.
BI: How long do you want to do Techmeme for? Do you ever get bored?
GR: I think a lot of fun, interesting, and hard problems related to what and whom we should pay attention to are linked to the kind of work we're doing at Techmeme. So looking years ahead, I'd expect that expanding the scope of our product could be an endlessly captivating job. As a result, I'd like to be involved with Techmeme as long as possible, and I doubt I'll ever experience a day of boredom, which hasn't happened yet.
BI: Have you ever thought about becoming a VC? Would you ever want to be a VC?
GR: When you see plane crash footage, you can't help but think about dying in a plane crash. And when you have friends who are VCs, you can't help but think about how you'd do as a VC. But I think I'm happier doing what I do now.
BI: Also, you seem to be pretty sarcastic on Twitter. Have you ever gotten in trouble for tweets?
GR: Yeah, I love sarcasm, which is perhaps Twitter's most perfect, natural, and basic form of dissent. Sarcasm has always fit my personality, but working in media, it's a muscle that must be exercised vigorously just to maintain one's claim to integrity. Take the messages companies and governments broadcast, overlay the distortions of an increasingly polarized and bellicose press, then mix in the social media emissions of public figures, laden with obsequiousness and sanctimony and deceit, and we're swimming in a sea of radioactive horse crap. A little sarcasm makes it all go down easier.
I've received perhaps a few whiny DMs from folks, but have gotten into no major trouble, at least that I'm aware of.

How Techmeme Grew To Become The Must-Read News Site For Everyone In The Multi-Billion-Dollar Tech Industry 

<div class="image-container" style="width:590px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5127802ceab8eabb5b000031-695-460/michael%20arrington-1.jpg?maxX=590" border="0" alt="michael arrington" width="590" /></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdlasica/3921910849/">jdlasica</a></div>
Yesterday, TechCrunch founder <keyword id="475179" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Michael-Arrington">Michael Arrington</keyword> sued his ex-girlfriend, Jenn Allen, for defamation and publication in a false light. He's seeking "general" and "special damages" according to "proof." He also wants the cost of the lawsuit covered and "any other relief the court deems just and proper."
This afternoon, Gawker obtained a <a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/michael-arrington-sues-jenn-allen-over-rape-claims-496629871">copy of the 43-page lawsuit</a>.
We've read all of it and the evidence against Allen is hard to argue. There are messages that show her instigating both playful and highly emotional messages to Arrington after March 2012, the month Allen said the alleged rape took place. Allen has yet to publicly respond to Arrington's suit.
Here are the highlights of the filing.
On March 29, 2013, Jenn Allen posted a statement on Facebook that accused Arrington of physical and emotional abuse. Allen alleged that Arrington "threatened to murder her if she told anyone" about the way he treated her.
News of Allen's post quickly spread to media outlets, most notably Gawker, which addressed Allen's post and did some further research into the allegations. Allen responded multiple times on the Gawker articles with messages that further blemished Arrington's reputation.
<div class="image-container float_left" style="width:300px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/518ad29469bedd9b1000000a-494-500/c620c5af1897596ff69086ce27a93b9b.jpeg" border="0" alt="Jenn Allen" width="300" /></div><a href="https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/3584989673/c620c5af1897596ff69086ce27a93b9b.jpeg">Twitter</a>Jenn Allen, the defendant.</div>Arrington's lawyer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arrington-response-to-rape-claim-2013-4">asked Allen to write a public retraction of her "defamatory" statements</a> by close of business on April 15 2013. Allen didn't. Arrington's lawyer obtained a message Allen sent to someone named "Chris" commenting on the alleged rape on May 3 2013. 
In the message to Chris, Allen mentions some sort of PowerPoint presentation Arrington made that may address the allegations against him. (If you know about it or have a copy, please <a href="mailto:ashontell@businessinsider.com">let us know here</a>.)
Allen also sent out the following messages on Twitter on April 11, the day Arrington's lawyer notified her of the potential lawsuit. They imply that Arrington impregnated her at least once, with one other false alarm:
"Rape the first Friday of March 2012 in the early morning…in SF at the Airport hotel," and "If you were raped twice in the 8 yrs by Mike, in result pregnant twice by rape, one false pos preg, never a lie, pls have empathy."
One day later, Allen changed the rape date in another Twitter message: 
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:350px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/518ad10d69bedd640d000003-644-387/screen%20shot%202013-05-08%20at%206.14.28%20pm.png" border="0" alt="jenn allen tweet arrington lawsuit" width="350" /></div><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/140241091/Arrington">Scribd</a>A message Allen sent on Twitter about Arrington, included in the lawsuit</div>"This is hard to look back on. Michael Arrington raped me Friday March 30, 2012 @ 1:30 am near SFO; was there to talk about past."
There are a pile of "exhibits" and attachments that further suggest Arrington's innocence, or at least show Allen is extremely emotional. Some are written by friends of Arrington's defending him, like Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera and former <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-techcrunch-ceo-heather-harde-i-dont-believe-the-allegations-of-abuse-against-arrington-2013-4">TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde.</a>
Others are damning messages Allen sent to Arrington via email, Twitter and text message over the past year. One from July 2012 shows Allen emotional over a new relationship Arrington entered:
"You, Mike, seem happy with the most boring arrogant fake personalities person on the planet, who you treat the way I should have been treated," Allen wrote.
Five months ago, in October 2012, Allen sent Arrington a message asking how he was doing. Arrington did not appear to respond.
Below is the full lawsuit.
<p style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/140241091" title="View Arrington on Scribd">Arrington</a>
<iframe width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/140241091/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="undefined"></iframe>

Michael Arrington Files Lawsuit Against The Woman Who Accused Him Of Rape

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4ca228c37f8b9a2605520100-400-300/mike-arrington.jpg" border="0" alt="Mike Arrington" /></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/3237678899/">Robert Scoble via Flickr</a></td></tr></table>The prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist <keyword id="475179" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Michael-Arrington">Michael Arrington</keyword> was accused of "physical abuse" and "rape" by a former girlfriend last week.
The former girlfriend made the accusations in a late-night Facebook post and a few blog comments on the media site Gawker.
Earlier this week, Arrington <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-arrington-responds-all-of-the-allegations-are-completely-untrue-2013-4">categorically denied the claims</a>, saying that they were completely untrue.
He also promised to publish a more detailed response.
And <a href="http://uncrunched.com/">now he has</a>.
The full response paints the accuser, an entrepreneur named Jennifer Allen, as someone who wanted to continue her relationship with Arrington and was bitterly disappointed that he did not want to.
The response, which takes the form of a letter from Arrington's attorneys to Ms. Allen, also says that some of Allen's claims are "factually impossible." In one case, for example, the letter says that Allen claimed to have been "raped" on a day in which Arrington was in Washington and Allen was in California. The response includes intimate photos of Allen that Allen sent Arrington the day after the alleged rape that suggest she was feeling quite warmly towards him. The response also suggests that Allen has recently tried to remove evidence that she was in California at the time of this alleged rape by removing a picture from Facebook that showed her in a San Francisco bar.
Damningly, the letter suggests that Ms. Allen once faked a pregnancy in order to try to get Arrington's attention. The story about the fake pregnancy, the letter says, came in the following email from Allen to Arrington, which was sent on May 18, 2011:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="Uncrunched" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51675d9f6bb3f77435000003-960/screen%20shot%202013-04-11%20at%209.03.18%20pm.png"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51675d9f6bb3f77435000003-879-218/screen%20shot%202013-04-11%20at%209.03.18%20pm.png" border="0" alt="Jenn Allen email" width="620" /></a></div><a href="http://uncrunched.com/">Uncrunched</a></div>
The letter says that Allen "subsequently told Michael that [she] feigned the pregnancy and abortion in order to get him to communicate with [her]." The letter does not offer proof that the pregnancy was faked, but if this case proceeds to litigation, that will presumably be relatively easy to ascertain.
In short, the letter paints a picture of Allen as "a person who is distraught at a break-up, and angered that her ex-boyfriend entered into a new relationship." And it includes many texts and emails that support this picture and suggest that other assertions in Allen's public postings are false.
The letter demands that Ms. Allen retract her "false and defamatory statements." It also references many attachments, including the email above, which are also posted on Arrington's blog, <a href="http://uncrunched.com/">Uncrunched</a>.
Here is the letter:
<h2 class="entry-title" style="padding-left: 30px;"><a href="http://uncrunched.com/2013/04/11/jennifer-allen-false-defamatory/" title="Permalink to Letter To Jennifer Allen Regarding False And Defamatory Statements">LETTER TO JENNIFER ALLEN REGARDING FALSE AND DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS</a></h2>
<div class="entry-content" style="padding-left: 30px;">
The following letter from my attorneys was delivered to Jennifer Allen this afternoon, in response to her <a href="http://uncrunched.com/2013/04/07/response/">previous claims</a>. I believe the letter speaks for itself.
Eric M. George Browne George Ross
Via E-Mail and U.S. Mail
Jennifer Allen [Address Removed] [Email Removed]
Re: Michael Arrington
Dear Ms. Allen :
I am counsel for Michael Arrington, and write you now on his behalf.
You have posted statements about Michael that are false and defamatory, and that have caused significant harm to his good name. It is my hope that you immediately will take corrective action, by retracting those statements.
I have examined your posted statements, and compared them with provable facts. This comparison shows without any doubt whatsoever that, among others, the following of your statements about Michael are false:
(1) You stated that “he was physically abusive [on] March 5th [of] last year” (April 1, 2013, 2d posting, Gawker.) “[H]e did rape me, on March 5 last year, when he invited me over to make amends from a major catastrophe a couple months prior.” (April 1, 2013, 3d posting, Gawker.)
Your twice-repeated allegation of rape/physical abuse by Michael is not only false, but factually impossible. On March 5, 2012, Michael was in Washington and you were in California. Michael’s whereabouts are confirmed by travel records and credit card statements in my possession, and your whereabouts are proven by a photo of you at a San Francisco party at 1:05 a.m. on March 6, 2012. This photo was posted online but has been removed in the past several days. (The photo, together with screenshots of your Facebook page in March 2012 before and after it was deleted, are appended hereto as Attachment A.)
(2) You stated that “March 5 last year . . . that was the last time I saw him. I reached out once to him in the past year to get my paintings back . . .” (April 1, 2013, 3d posting, Gawker.)
In fact, you attempted repeatedly to communicate with Michael – by telephone, text message and tweets comprising some 292 lines worth of data – after March 5, 2012, the date on which you have accused him of rape. (Notably, some of these items have been deleted. Given the strict privacy controls governing access to data on social networks, our access to Facebook data was consequently limited; we are confident that a complete forensic audit of your social network accounts, and those of relevant third parties, will yield further information that corroborates our timeline of events.) Just a few such communications are as follows:
• On March 6, 2012, the day following the alleged rape, you sent Michael three photographs of yourself, one with the subject line “For only you.” (See Attachment B.)
• On March 7, 2012, two days following the alleged rape, you emailed Michael proffering extensive advice about how he ought to landscape his property. (See Attachment C.)
• On March 22, 2012, seventeen days after the alleged rape, you asked Michael to invest in your start-up: “SO MUCH to do on this freaking site and app. I need to raise 3-5 Million to get this done right. Mother Fucker. You should invest, because I figured out I do have a strong business model but need the correct amount to advertise, PR, build, and make it work. Don’t even think about investing in another art startup without talking to me. I already did this better on my own than some 10 Princeton VC backed graduates . . . imagine what I could do investing the money the right way.”(See Attachment D.)
• On May 2, 2012, you asked Michael “do you want to go to a wedding with me on May 19 in Chicago? It’s also my birthday May 19.” (See Attachment E.)
• On October 3, 2012, you sent three successive SMS messages to Michael: (i) “How are you”; (ii) “o_O” (iii) “Hi”. (See Attachment F.)
(3) You stated that he engaged in “physical abuse” and “emotional abuse” of you, and “threaten[ed] to murder you if you told anyone about the physical abuse.” (May 29, 2013 posting, Facebook.)
The foregoing statements of yours, as well as those set forth below, paint a starkly different picture; they do not portray you as a victim of abuse or murder threats, but rather as a person who is distraught at a break-up, and angered that her ex-boyfriend entered into a new relationship:
• On April 21, 2012, you wrote to Michael that you “feel betrayed and slighted by you, and wish I wasn’t alone since you decided to be with someone else so quickly. Not sure how I’m going to teach myself how to love and trust again.” (See Attachment G.)
• On July 21, 2012, you wrote: “Thanks for the nebulous msg. I’ll be the change I want to see in those communications skills. You, Mike seem happy with the most boring arrogant fake personalitied person on the planet, who you treat the way I should have been treated. If you can’t treat me with respect publicly, still, then you fall into the selfish whorish male prostitute category that will always hurt me during and in the end. Hope you’re enjoying the weather.” (See Attachment H.)
• In August 2012, you tweeted: “Mike @arrington last chance to reconcile. I[sic] you’re not feeling what I’m feeling, with the same heart, than [sic] fuck you.” (See Attachment I.)
(4) You stated that “[h]e raped . . . a friend of mine 5 months ago” (April 1, 2013, 2d posting, Gawker.) “The other rape victim . . . came to me, and Mike knows exactly who she is because he called her a month after a New York conference last year conference [sic] to proudly confirm he did it.” (April 1, 2013, 3d posting, Gawker.)
Your allegation that Michael raped another woman is also false. In addition to categorically denying that Michael has ever been physically abusive (let alone that he committed a rape), there is no such rape victim. Indeed, we cannot even hazard a guess as to the supposed rape victim who you twice reference, but whom you do not identify.
(5) You stated that “he already went to court for sexual harassment and/or rape while at his first law firm. . . . Mike told me stories in person about how he had a Stanford connection with the judge in his rape trial . . . .and he said he [sic] ‘I got out of my reputation being ruined thanks to a Stanford connection with the judge.’” (April 6, 2013, 4th posting, Gawker.)
Your allegation that Michael raped yet a third woman is also false. Again, and in addition to categorically denying that Michael has ever been physically abusive, there is no such rape victim. Nor is there any truth whatsoever to any element of this fantastical story involving a rape, a trial, connections with a judge, or anything else you have suggested in your posting.
The falsity of the foregoing (among many other statements) is confirmed by four people who lived or worked at Michael’s house during the time period that you and he were dating. Heather Harde has publicly stated: “I would have detected patterns of abusive physical behavior if they had been present. . . . I simply do not believe any of the allegations to be true. . . . It’s important we set the record straight.” Nik Cubrilovic has publicly stated: “I lived in the same house as Arrington for the entire time he dated Jenn. I never once saw even a hint of physical abuse.” Gabe Rivera has publicly stated that he had “[n]ever seen physical threats or harm.” Nick Gonzalez has publicly stated: “Mike was never physically abusive to anyone.” (See Attachment J.)
Nor can there be any question as to your foregoing statements’ defamatory nature. Each such statement purports to describe facts that, if accepted by a reader as true, injure Michael’s reputation so “as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.” Right-Price Recreation, LLC v. Connells Prairie Community Council, 146 Wash. 2d 370, 382 (2002).
Very regrettably, your actions here appear all too similar to your actions on May 18, 2011, when you emailed Michael that you were pregnant and were planning on having an abortion the following day (which was your birthday). You subsequently told Michael that you feigned the pregnancy and abortion in order to get him to communicate with you. (See Attachment K.)
Sadly, while making false allegations of rape, your response to statements made by disinterested third parties in Michael’s defense include an irrational attack on an actual rape victim who you accuse of “hurt[ing] women and victims of violence.” (See Attachment L.)
Please consider this letter to constitute a demand for an immediate retraction by you of each of the previous statements. I would appreciate the courtesy of your written response to this demand no later than close of business Monday, April 15, 2013. Indeed, failing a response by you that unconditionally retracts your false and defamatory statements, you will have left us with no choice but to proceed with legal action against you. Litigation is an absolute last resort for Michael, but we will pursue all options to undo the reputational injury caused by your misconduct. As that is our sole objective, to the extent any legal proceedings become necessary, Michael has pledged to donate to charity all amounts recovered.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Eric M. George
</div>

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