Daylife is brought to you by a dedicated group of self-professed media junkies (and top-shelf geeks) who set out to transform cloud publishing.
OUR EXECUTIVE TEAM
Upendra Shardanand
Co-founder, CEO, and Chairman
Upendra Shardanand co-founded his first venture, Firefly Network, as a spin-off of his work at the MIT Media Lab. Firefly was acquired by Microsoft in 1998. At Microsoft, Upendra launched Microsoft Passport (now Windows Live ID) and represented Microsoft on industry bodies to further the cause of online privacy. Following Microsoft, Upendra was a founding partner of The Accelerator Group, a venture firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. He went on to serve as the Director of Technology of Advanced Services at AOL, and then as the Director of Technology at Time Warner (TWX).
Upendra received a Masters of Engineering from MIT in 1994, and has guest-lectured at New York University and the City University of New York. He serves on the board of advisors for BrandKarma and Help Remedies. Previously, he served on the board of advisors for Treehugger (acquired by Discovery), the Better Business Bureau Online, PeoplePC (acquired by EarthLink), MediaCode (acquired by Yahoo), RealNames, and InsightFirst (acquired by 24/7 RealMedia).
Find Upendra on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | His Blog
Chris Neimeth
Chief Commercial Officer
Chris Neimeth was previously CEO of Salon Media Group, where he managed development of OpenSalon, the company’s social blogging platform featuring the Internet’s first fee-free, peer-to-peer content payment solution. Prior to Salon, he was President of InterActive Corp Partner Marketing. Additionally, Chris was CEO of Real Media. He joined Real Media after serving as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning at The New York Times Digital. Chris cut his teeth at Grey Advertising, where he managed media planning for most of the agency’s Procter & Gamble business and then co-founded Grey Interactive in 1994. Chris graduated from Hamilton College with a BA in Anthropology and Economics, has been invited twice to the Aspen Institute’s forum on communication and society, and has twice served as an elected member of the IAB Board of Directors.
Find Chris on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Tom Tercek
Co-founder and Vice President of Business Development
Prior to Daylife, Tom Tercek helped launch Publicis Groupe‘s emerging media division, Denuo as SVP / Ventures. He held a similar role at Starcom Mediavest Group from 2001-05. Tom is a former television producer and programmer with over 20 years experience, including 9 years with MTV Networks. He later co-founded Global Media Holdings, where he created and launched two cable networks in Japan (science fiction channel SF and SheTV, the first channel created for women in Japan). In 2000, Tom also oversaw network development, programming, and marketing of AtomTelevision, a cable television channel devoted exclusively to the emerging world of short films, available on domestic cable systems throughout the US.
Find Tom on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Matt Kangas
Director of Engineering
Matt is a tech entrepreneur who’s worked with startups for more than 10 years, two of his own making, always providing technical guidance in software and systems. Before joining Daylife in 2008, Matt worked on the YouTube competitor Flix55.com, and was the co-founder and CTO at events search engine Busytonight.com. Prior to that, he worked in engineering roles at Yahoo! Hotjobs, MCY.com, and Cybergrrl.com. Matt graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Theatre Arts.
Find Matt on Twitter | LinkedIn
John Donovan
Co-founder and Vice President of Client Services
Most recently, John Donovan was a founder and principal of The Spoken Hub, LLC, where he developed technology that enabled the coordination, motivation, and mobilization of massive but loosely affiliated groups. Previously, John was VP of Interactive Development at Global Media Holdings. John spent eight years in advertising. At Wunderman Cato Johnson, John participated in the development of one of the first Interactive Advertising units at a traditional agency. Independently, John has consulted for such companies as Peppers & Rodgers Group, Firefly Network (now Microsoft), Barnes & Noble.com, Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Lucent Technologies, Johnson & Johnson, and PeoplePC. John received his BA from Dartmouth College, and has been an adjunct faculty member at New York University, where he taught a masters level course on Publishing and the Internet.
Find John on LinkedIn | Facebook
Scott Briggs
Director of Operations
Prior to Daylife, Scott spent several years helping young companies succeed in the startup world. His background includes gigs as the operations manager at Wesabe and as the systems administrator at a British firm called Brightbox. Before that he worked as a systems administrator and senior tech at a host of smaller firms. Previously, Scott lived in Paris where he earned his BA in computer science and business administration, after which time he co-founded a small internet venture.
Jeff Jarvis
Partner
Jeff, author of What Would Google Do? and Public Parts, blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine.com. He is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is consulting editor and a partner at Daylife, a news startup. He writes a new media column for The Guardian and is host of its Media Talk USA podcast. Additionally, he consults for media companies. Until 2005, he was president and creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications. Prior to that, Jeff was creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner; assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune; and a reporter for Chicago Today.
Find Jeff all over the internet, but particularly on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook His Blog
OUR INVESTORS
Getty Images
Getty Images is a leading creator and distributor of still imagery, footage and multimedia products, as well as a recognized provider of other forms of premium digital content, including music. Getty Images serves business customers in more than 100 countries and is the first place creative and media professionals turn to discover, purchase and manage images and other digital content. Its award-winning photographers and imagery help customers produce inspiring work, which appears every day in the world’s most influential newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programs, books and Web sites.
Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is one of Europe’s largest venture capital firms, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. Based in London, it manages approximately USD 1.5 billion in committed venture capital. Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 70 companies across a wide variety of technology sectors and geographies, including the UK, US, China, Russia, and Scandinavia.
Arts Alliance
Arts Alliance is a venture capital organization that supports high growth companies in Europe with a particular focus on technology-enabled services. Arts Alliance has invested in over 40 companies since 1996. Key areas of interest include media & entertainment, mobile services, retail & logistics, marketing services, outsourcing, and energy.
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company, a leading media company with 2010 revenues of $2.4 billion, includes The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting, and distributing high-quality news, information, and entertainment.
Angel Investors
Shaun Abrahamson, Carter Adamson, Michael Arrington, Azeem Azhar, Salek Brodsky, John Borthwick, Doug Chertok, Ron Conway, Nick Grouf, Scott Heiferman, Matt Hogan, Andrew Janfaza, Robin Klein, Saul Klein, Rich LeFurgy, Ken Lerer, Salman Malik, Brendan McGovern, Kieran McKiernan, Matt Meeker, Alexandra and Max Metral, Robin and Shimmin Neustein, Craig Newmark, Sam Perry, Eric Poh, Sridhar Rao, Andrew Rasiej, Jon Rubin, Andy Sack, Mika Salmi, Tony Schmitz, Justin Smith, Keith Teare, Dave Winer, Rex Wong, Mike Yavonditte.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Roberto Bonanzinga, Balderton Capital
Doug Chertok, Vast Ventures
Thomas Hoegh, Arts Alliance
Jonathan Klein, CEO, Getty Images
Craig Peters, SVP of Business Development, Getty Images
Upendra Shardanand, Co-founder, CEO and Chairman, Daylife
Denise Warren, The New York Times Co. (observer)
ADVISORS
Marc Hedlund
Bill Lohse
Rishad Tobaccowalla, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Vivaki
Daniel Tunklelang, Principal Data Scientist, LinkedIn