(This introduction was given by Graeme Thickins prior to Rich Karlgaard’s keynote at the NetSuds.com “eDay” Entrepreneurs Breakfast, November 28, 2000, in downtown Minneapolis.)
It is my great pleasure today to introduce a HERO — not just to me, but to a great many people who’ve been part of the technology industry long enough to follow his remarkable career. This is a man who’s epitomized excellence in technology journalism for more than a decade, and who stands as one of the most eloquent voices in the world today for capitalism and free markets.
I remember LUNGING to join the Churchill Club he cofounded in the ’80s in the Silicon Valley — though I wasn’t even located there — just to get the mailings! … I remember holding my first issue of Upside Magazine in my hands, and beaming from ear to ear. Wow, finally, someone who’ll chronicle this spirit of entrepreneurship that’s embodied in Silicon Valley, and do it with *WIT and STYLE*! A leader who’ll capture this energy and passion–for the world! …
I remember visiting Upside’s offices in 1991, to pitch–what else?–a Minnesota high-tech section to one of their execs, and leaving a card on our speaker’s desk when I learned he wasn’t in. Was I impressed when I got a nice letter from him a few days later, in which he proudly spoke of his ties to the Upper Midwest! I still have that letter today in my office–and no way I am selling it on eBay!!
The story of how our speaker came to cofound Upside with Tony Perkins is an instructive one. He and Tony were in a limo, having just picked up at the airport their latest Churchill Club speaker — and one of their heroes — William F. Buckley. Telling them he was so impressed with the Silicon Valley phenomenon, Buckley asked, “Is there a magazine I can read to learn more about it?” “Well, no, sir,” they said. To which Buckley retorted, “Then why don’t you start one?
Well, start one they did, with huge critical success — Upside. And that was just the beginning of our speaker’s entrepreneurial endeavors. He went on to become founding editor of Forbes ASAP in 1992, and cofounded Garage.com in 1997. Now, as publisher of Forbes, he’s building on that publication’s long and proud tradition as a leading voice for business in the global economy. He’s an embodiment of American ingenuity and the Silicon Valley spirit — a spirit that, WHEREVER IT LIVES, continues to drive the largest increases in productivity and wealth the world has ever seen.
It’s fitting that a recent passion of our speaker is FLYING… because he’s here today in what some call “FLYOVER LAND.” But– you know what?–he’s about to personally get a taste of an exciting *NEW* era in Minnesota’s technology industry…because, by golly, you’re gonna show him how WE’RE TAKING OFF AGAIN!
Please join me now in giving a VERY WARM Minnesota welcome to a returning hero to our great Upper Midwest — Rich Karlgaard!
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