Pitch deck details Column, a paid social network centered on tech/business notables, with Aron Ping D'Souza as CEO; investor Sarah Cone later said she was CEO
unsolicited and without any indication that it was confidential or embargoed—two weeks ago in an attempt to have this publication as a prospective partner.” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... @techreview : The man who helped kill Gawker is behind a new social network helmed by the rich. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Tamara Kneese / @tamigraph : Column, a social network for the rich and powerful, is headed by the dude who helped Peter Thiel kill Gawker and hopes to attract users like Ann fucking Coulter https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Sarah Cone / @impcapital : Fixing the broken information incentives online matters even more today, and it's going to take a push from the people that still care. Sign up here if you want to be a part of it: https://columnhq.com/ Hamza Shaban / @hshaban : It's jarring to see what kinds of new media projects attract the attention of investors and tech “luminaries” and the near constant layoffs of working journalists at local, regional and national outlets. https://twitter.com/... John Cook / @johnjcook : an enduring obsession of peter thiel and his minions has been the creation of public spaces where wealthy and powerful people can enjoy the benefits of notoriety while limiting the ability of their critics to be heard https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Angela Chen / @chengela : Aron D'Souza came up with the legal strategy to kill Gawker (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...). Now that experience is a selling point for his involvement in a new social network helmed by the rich: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
MIT Technology ReviewAngela Chen
Context & Ripple Effects
Column lands mid-arc in Silicon Valley's break with the press: months after the Slate Star Codex dispute with the New York Times crystallized prominent figures' distrust of mainstream coverage, this pitch proposes a paid network where tech and business notables own their audience outright. The deck names Aron Ping D'Souza — who helped Peter Thiel destroy Gawker — as CEO, though investor Sarah Cone later claimed the role herself, an early sign of confusion at the top.
The through-line runs forward as well as back: a year later, Andreessen Horowitz launched its own in-house opinion section for outside contributors, part of the same turn by powerful tech actors toward media they control.
First-order effects
The governance conflict — D'Souza listed as CEO in the deck while Sarah Cone later claimed the title — hands prospective investors and partners a credibility question before the product even launches.
MIT Technology Review publishing the unsolicited deck converts what was pitched as a prospective partnership into public scrutiny of a network whose core appeal is insulation from exactly this kind of coverage.
Second-order effects
Owned-channel plays begin competing for the same pool of notable voices: Andreessen Horowitz's opinion section and Column are both bidding for tech and business figures who want distribution without editorial gatekeepers.
Legacy outlets lose leverage over high-profile subjects who can paywall their own distribution, hardening the adversarial dynamic documented in the Slate Star Codex case.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, the media market splits structurally into two tiers — figures wealthy or connected enough to buy their own channels, and everyone else still dependent on independent press — with Gawker's fate as the cautionary precedent for what happens to outlets without such backing.
The trend: Powerful tech figures are building paid, owned distribution channels — from Column to Andreessen Horowitz's opinion section — as alternatives to press coverage they regard as hostile.
The most amazing thing in @chengela's story about this proposed elite social network is its business model. To anyone who works in media, the idea that someone could raise $2 billion+ in subscriptions via an email recruitment campaign is just bonkers. https://www.technologyreview…
“Instead of ‘likes,’ as on Facebook, there would be a ‘truth’ button, which would let users rate a statement as true or false, and an internal ‘points economy.’” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@pkedrosky
Paul Kedrosky on x
Okay, I'll admit straight up that I thought this COLUMN social network deck was a put-on. Apparently not. https://s3.amazonaws.com/... (Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...) https://twitter.com/...
@nxthompson
Nicholas Thompson on x
This new social network, costing $100K, and targeting 49 men and 6 women as initial members, sounds awesome. tx @matt_levine https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@jason
@jason on x
This is the stupidest evolution of the LIKE/HEART/DIGG button I've ever heard of... can you imagine a bunch of alt right and hysterical left people pressing TRUTH!!! Over and over again.... of wait 🤦♀️ https://twitter.com/...
@brooklynmarie
Brooke Binkowski on x
Christ, not this again https://twitter.com/...
@espiers
Elizabeth Spiers on x
This has a bit of a Fyre Festival smell to it. Which is fine because I have no objection to opportunists separating Ann Coulter and Peter Thiel from their money. https://twitter.com/...
@jason
@jason on x
The idea for Column is GREAT: cut influencers into a facebook competitor's upside by having them as investors & users. Would work for a YouTube competior as well. Could be easily done for $10k investment per influencer, getting 250 of them in a syndicate. https://twitter.com/...
@cfarivar
Cyrus Farivar on x
“The deck was sent to MIT Technology Review—unsolicited and without any indication that it was confidential or embargoed—two weeks ago in an attempt to have this publication as a prospective partner.” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@techreview
@techreview on x
The man who helped kill Gawker is behind a new social network helmed by the rich. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@tamigraph
Tamara Kneese on x
Column, a social network for the rich and powerful, is headed by the dude who helped Peter Thiel kill Gawker and hopes to attract users like Ann fucking Coulter https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@impcapital
Sarah Cone on x
Fixing the broken information incentives online matters even more today, and it's going to take a push from the people that still care. Sign up here if you want to be a part of it: https://columnhq.com/
@hshaban
Hamza Shaban on x
It's jarring to see what kinds of new media projects attract the attention of investors and tech “luminaries” and the near constant layoffs of working journalists at local, regional and national outlets. https://twitter.com/...
@johnjcook
John Cook on x
an enduring obsession of peter thiel and his minions has been the creation of public spaces where wealthy and powerful people can enjoy the benefits of notoriety while limiting the ability of their critics to be heard https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@chengela
Angela Chen on x
Aron D'Souza came up with the legal strategy to kill Gawker (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...). Now that experience is a selling point for his involvement in a new social network helmed by the rich: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...