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We prepared to launch Re/code a year ago today, holed up all day in a large hotel suite in San Francisco with a staff that had been the backbone of our previous site All Things Digital for a decade.
Because of our commitment to land ATD on a high note and also start off our new one strongly, we worked all day on New Year’s to do so, as well as through the holidays the week before.
So we thought that this year, we’d give our stellar team the day off to enjoy their accomplishments and recover from the hangover that is sometimes a startup. In other words, both heady fun and ceaseless exhaustion, all the time and all at once.
To the staff, many kudos. And to our loyal and growing base of readers, thanks so much for sticking with us and being part of what we think has become a nice little website covering tech.
This has been a big year for tech from Edward Snowden to Uber to issues of diversity in the sector to, of course, the Sony hack.
But for today, we pause and reflect. And sleep.
And here’s to an even better 2015.
If you really feel like reading, though, here is our very first post on Re/code from January 1, 2014:
We are thrilled to announce that we are forming our own new and independent media company, Revere Digital, with a pair of respected investors and partners — the NBCUniversal News Group and Terry Semel’s Windsor Media. Revere will be operating news sites and apps, as well as a series of conferences.
First up is Re/code, a new tech and media news, reviews and analysis site launching today, with the same talented team we’ve worked with for many years at the former All Things Digital site we ran for Dow Jones & Co beginning in 2007.
We are also immediately opening registration for our new premier executive tech conference, the Code Conference, to be held May 27 to 29, near Los Angeles. Like the site, the conference will be run by the same team that produced our former conferences under the D banner since 2003. We plan to offer other events with our primary event media partner, CNBC, throughout the year, with more details to come.
Why have we chosen Re/code as the name for our new creation? Simply put: Because everything in tech and media is constantly being refreshed, renewed and reimagined. And this is the reinvention of ourselves.
While we are presenting an improved new face, we promise that, if you liked what we were doing at All Things Digital and the D conferences, you will love what we are now planning for Re/code. We pledge to bring the same energy and standards to our news, reviews and events, with the plus of adding in even more talented staff and resources to the mix.
We hold the controlling interest in Revere. But we are tremendously proud and excited to have the help of the NBCUniversal News Group and Windsor as investors in our endeavor. In addition to funding our new venture, they will be strategic partners in the true sense of the word.
Revere and the News Group will be each others’ close media partners, for example, featuring our top-notch journalism on each of our platforms, including websites and TV networks such as NBC, CNBC and MSNBC.
Terry Semel, through his investment and advisory company, Windsor Media, will provide wisdom and guidance every step of the way, garnered from his many decades in the media business.
“Kara and Walt are arguably two of the most knowledgeable, well-connected and respected technology journalists working today. They built an incredible brand and business with All Things Digital and we are very excited about partnering with them in this new venture and deepening our engagement in this rapidly changing technology market,” said Patricia Fili-Krushel, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, who will join Revere’s board.
“I am very excited to be working on this incredible new venture with Kara and Walt. They are dear friends and also two of the best informed and most respected people in tech,” said Semel, who will also serve as a Revere director, along with the two of us.
Over many months and in too many meetings, Code Advisors advised us in this transaction. The team — including Quincy Smith, David Countryman and Naytri Shroff — did so with loads of energy, a strict adherence to ethics and, mostly, a big dollop of humor sorely needed when dealing with two cranky media types.
Most of all, we are deeply grateful that we will continue to be able to present the brilliant news coverage and product reviews of our team who worked with us at All Things Digital for many years: John Paczkowski, Peter Kafka, Ina Fried, Katherine Boehret, Liz Gannes, Lauren Goode, Arik Hesseldahl, Mike Isaac, Bonnie Cha, Jason Del Rey and Eric Johnson. And, backing them up will be our same awesome conference production team and business team, editors and developers. That includes longtime All Things Digital operating exec and new Revere COO Lia Lorenzano-Kennett and tech leader Adam Tow.
We are tremendously excited to be able to build on our 11 years of conference and website experience through this vibrant new venture, and we invite you along for the ride. If you want to come, please sign up to create a profile here to get things like our newsletter and more.
And now it begins … again.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
