User talk:Carl Thoren
Ian Charles Stewart[edit]
Can you post the text of that linkedin endorsement? It's only available to people that are linked to Rossetto. Plus, it seems like there are still reliable source problems. The statement "cofounded" is easily abusable since many, many people contributed to its founding, down to and including the pizza guy. - Richfife (talk) 15:12, 2 September 2013 (UTC)
Hi, I understand the problem. It appears that he was a behind-the-scenes business guy, not an in-the-media publisher or editor. Also, all this went on before everything was being published on the internet. So the best reliable sources, if available, are probably in print archives. Below is the Rossetto quote, which is available on Stewart's LinkedIn profile. I found some writings on the web that portray Stewart as actively engaged with running Wired, but none of them were the kind of credible primary sources that are ideal.
"Ian Charles Stewart Co-Founder Without Ian, there very likely wouldn't have been a Wired. Ian was literally the first person who saw the nascent business plan and recognized its potential, giving Jane Metcalfe and me the crucial first validation we needed to pursue our dream.
I was a journalist living in Amsterdam, and he was an investment banker with Lazard Brothers in London focusing on new media, and we had met via via. Ian helped shaped the B-plan, and his wise counsel helped us to navigate the hard times from big idea to concrete reality.
Ian negotiated our first investment from Condé Nast (at a valuation three times what we had hoped), and helped establish Wired's UK edition. We thought so highly of Ian that we tried to hire him to be CEO. I still wonder how the Wired story might have turned out if Ian hadn't decided instead to pursue his own singular vision, which ultimately brought him to embark on his adventure in Beijing.
Ian is equally adept at operating at the highest strategic levels, as well as being supremely tactical. And he understands people — what makes them tick, how to get the best out of them, how to get them to do what you want. He's whip smart, his insights are acute, his counsel utterly reliable, his instincts unerringly right. If I could design the perfect CEO, someone with deep b-school knowledge, broad real world experience, street smarts, big vision, and big heart – that would be Ian.
Twenty five years after our first meeting over the Wired b-plan, even as our lives have taken us in different career directions and we're separated by a dozen time zones, Ian remains a friend, and a trusted advisor, now to our New American Chocolate company TCHO. I could not recommend anyone I have ever worked with more highly than Ian.less September 27, 2010, Louis worked directly with Ian Charles at Wired Magazine"
Carl Thoren (talk) 03:24, 3 September 2013 (UTC)