
斯里拉姆·克里希南堅(jiān)信隆重登場(chǎng)的重要性,。
說(shuō)真的,,在他的網(wǎng)站上,,“我相信的事情”一欄就是這么寫(xiě)的,。這位在微軟公司(Microsoft)開(kāi)始職業(yè)生涯的科技高管說(shuō),他的靈感來(lái)自于職業(yè)摔跤,。眾所周知,在職業(yè)摔跤比賽中,摔跤手們要么開(kāi)著全地形車(chē)炸裂舞臺(tái),,要么在燃放的煙花和兩旁軍樂(lè)隊(duì)的表演中出場(chǎng)。在這些盛大的登場(chǎng)中,,摔跤手們往往會(huì)在觀(guān)眾的尖叫聲中毀掉很多東西——很像埃隆·馬斯克掌舵推特(Twitter)第一周的情況,。
事實(shí)證明,,克里希南是馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺氐年P(guān)鍵助手之一,,其他三位是投資者大衛(wèi)·薩克斯、杰森·卡拉坎尼斯和馬斯克的私人律師亞歷克斯·斯皮羅,。在這場(chǎng)動(dòng)蕩的政權(quán)更迭中,,由富人組成的影子委員會(huì)為馬斯克提供建議,這場(chǎng)政權(quán)更迭已經(jīng)導(dǎo)致推特的員工數(shù)量削減了一半,;引發(fā)了與社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)名人用戶(hù)的爭(zhēng)執(zhí),;讓媒體一直在做無(wú)用功(藍(lán)V認(rèn)證需要8美元還是20美元?)。這個(gè)登場(chǎng)果然夠隆重,。
與馬斯克身邊的其他一些“助手”不同,,克里希南對(duì)推特公司的內(nèi)部運(yùn)作了如指掌:他從2017年到2019年在推特公司擔(dān)任高級(jí)產(chǎn)品總監(jiān)??死锵D夏壳笆秋L(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司安德森·霍洛維茨(Andreessen Horowitz)的一名專(zhuān)注于加密貨幣的投資者,,因?yàn)樗诶蠔|家的兼職工作,所以他對(duì)這家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司的未來(lái)有著相當(dāng)大的影響力,。由于外界普遍預(yù)計(jì)馬斯克將在未來(lái)某個(gè)時(shí)候交出推特首席執(zhí)行官的頭銜,,克里希南已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好在這一最高職位的面試中接過(guò)這個(gè)頭銜。
生活中的許多事情都像職業(yè)摔跤一樣,。
如果你是一個(gè)職業(yè)摔跤迷,,你會(huì)經(jīng)常看到一個(gè)人或一件事情,,然后說(shuō):“啊,,這就像某個(gè)摔跤手做的那個(gè)動(dòng)作?!?/p>
——斯里拉姆·克里希南– sriramk.eth (@sriramk),,2022年9月17日
盡管克里希南沒(méi)有回應(yīng)《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求,但這位印度出生的技術(shù)專(zhuān)家在硅谷的知名度在過(guò)去十年里大幅提升,。包括馬克·扎克伯格,、馬克·安德森和埃隆·馬斯克在內(nèi)的科技界名人都曾經(jīng)出現(xiàn)在克里希南和他的妻子奧爾蒂·拉瑪穆?tīng)柕僦鞒值脑诰€(xiàn)脫口秀節(jié)目中。這對(duì)夫婦甚至得到了WME的代理,,WME是一家經(jīng)紀(jì)公司,,曾經(jīng)代理過(guò)克里斯蒂安·貝爾、休·杰克曼和杰西卡·阿爾芭等好萊塢明星,。
圍繞推特的陰謀和猜測(cè)不斷發(fā)酵,,以下是我們對(duì)一些觀(guān)察人士認(rèn)為可能成為下一任首席執(zhí)行官的內(nèi)部人士的了解。
身兼多職
“在今天的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和科技時(shí)代,?!笨死锵D显诮衲?0月發(fā)推特稱(chēng),“*任何人*只要有一臺(tái)筆記本電腦,,連上網(wǎng)絡(luò),,就能夠‘取得成功’?!?/p>
克里希南說(shuō)的是他和妻子作為副業(yè)制作的內(nèi)容,,但他也可能是在說(shuō)自己在一些頂尖科技公司的發(fā)展軌跡,包括Snap,、Facebook和推特公司,。
他的妻子拉瑪穆?tīng)柕僭?021年對(duì)這對(duì)夫婦的簡(jiǎn)介中告訴《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》(New York Times),,出生于印度金奈的克里希南身高6英尺6英寸(約1.98米),成長(zhǎng)環(huán)境是“典型的印度中產(chǎn)階級(jí)”成長(zhǎng)環(huán)境,。兩人在2003年相識(shí),,當(dāng)時(shí)一個(gè)共同的朋友把他們添加到雅虎(Yahoo)的聊天室,他們負(fù)責(zé)協(xié)助完成該編碼項(xiàng)目,。這成了典型的技術(shù)人員愛(ài)情故事:2007年,,兩人從大學(xué)畢業(yè),被時(shí)任微軟公司高管的索馬·索馬賽加聘用后,,一起在微軟工作,。2010年,兩人私奔到帕洛阿爾托,。

在微軟公司負(fù)責(zé)Visual Studio工作一段時(shí)間后,克里希南于2013年跳槽到Facebook(現(xiàn)在的Meta),,從事Audience Network工作,,該公司允許廣告商在手機(jī)游戲和應(yīng)用程序中投放廣告。2016年,,他再次跳槽去了Snap,,并在該公司上市前不久幫助建立了廣告技術(shù)平臺(tái)。
在成為風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資人之前,,就產(chǎn)品管理方面的工作而言,,他的最后一個(gè)東家是推特公司,他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的產(chǎn)品團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)督幾個(gè)核心消費(fèi)者功能,,包括時(shí)間軸、私聊信息和搜索,。據(jù)美國(guó)消費(fèi)者新聞與商業(yè)頻道(CNBC)報(bào)道,,在他任職這家社交媒體巨頭期間,該公司出現(xiàn)了有史以來(lái)最大的季度用戶(hù)增長(zhǎng),,當(dāng)時(shí)的首席財(cái)務(wù)官內(nèi)德·西格爾將此歸功于“產(chǎn)品改進(jìn)”,。克里希南將這篇文章的鏈接放在他的LinkedIn主頁(yè)上,,以證明他在任職期間給公司帶來(lái)的影響,。
2022年1月,克里希南和拉瑪穆?tīng)柕俦唤?jīng)紀(jì)公司W(wǎng)ME簽下,。據(jù)《名利場(chǎng)》(Vanity Fair)報(bào)道,,在該公司宣布合作的公告里,他們被稱(chēng)為“科技界的權(quán)勢(shì)夫妻”,,WME計(jì)劃與他們合作的“領(lǐng)域包括電影和電視開(kāi)發(fā),,以及出版和播客項(xiàng)目”。
一名火箭推銷(xiāo)員和一位風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資家走進(jìn)一家酒吧
克里希南渴望聚光燈,這使他與馬斯克在精神層面上不謀而合,,盡管后者對(duì)曝光的渴望已經(jīng)越來(lái)越多地轉(zhuǎn)向了煽動(dòng)性言論,。
和馬斯克一樣,克里希南也是一位多產(chǎn)的推特用戶(hù),,他經(jīng)常在社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)上發(fā)表從電影到創(chuàng)業(yè)的各種觀(guān)點(diǎn),。他并不回避與批評(píng)者的辯論,但他通常采取尊重和分析的口吻,,這與馬斯克攻擊別人的態(tài)度形成鮮明對(duì)比,。
關(guān)于推特藍(lán)V驗(yàn)證的爭(zhēng)論愈演愈烈,是否每個(gè)人都應(yīng)該進(jìn)行驗(yàn)證,,或者這是否會(huì)引發(fā)垃圾電子郵件攻擊,,從而造成損失,而克里希南公開(kāi)支持馬斯克,。他稱(chēng)對(duì)新產(chǎn)品的批評(píng)“邏輯上不一致”,,并認(rèn)為對(duì)所有花費(fèi)8美元的用戶(hù)進(jìn)行驗(yàn)證會(huì)回歸“設(shè)計(jì)的原創(chuàng)精神”。
他還暗示了自己對(duì)內(nèi)容審核的看法,,批評(píng)了在推特上禁止有關(guān)冠狀病毒的某些話(huà)題,,包括其起源?!拔艺J(rèn)為人們持多種科學(xué)觀(guān)點(diǎn)進(jìn)行辯論是很好的,。不能接受的是人們因?yàn)楸磉_(dá)一種理論而被平臺(tái)封禁?!笨死锵D辖衲?0月在推特上寫(xiě)道,。
在某些方面,克里希南與推特公司的前首席執(zhí)行官帕拉格·阿格拉瓦爾截然相反,。阿格拉瓦爾在馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓緯r(shí)就被解雇了,。與阿格拉瓦爾從一開(kāi)始就與馬斯克發(fā)生沖突不同,克里希南與馬斯克建立了良好的關(guān)系,,讓他順利進(jìn)入了這位億萬(wàn)富翁的核心圈子,。
在2021年通過(guò)音頻應(yīng)用程序Clubhouse對(duì)馬斯克的采訪(fǎng)中,克里希南稱(chēng)贊了這位世界首富在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的實(shí)力,。
“你可能是表情包大師,,事實(shí)上你有一句名言:‘誰(shuí)控制了表情包,誰(shuí)就控制了宇宙,?!憧梢越忉屢幌履阏f(shuō)的是什么意思嗎?”克里希南接著問(wèn)了一個(gè)問(wèn)題,?!澳闳绾巫龅饺绱松瞄L(zhǎng)使用表情包的,?”
這次交流似乎很好地說(shuō)明了馬斯克在尋找首席執(zhí)行官時(shí)要求對(duì)方具備的特質(zhì):好奇心強(qiáng)、經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富,、能夠理解馬斯克的表情包的笑點(diǎn),。這位推特公司的新東家還公開(kāi)表示,希望有一位工程師來(lái)負(fù)責(zé)表情包服務(wù),,克里希南最近的一些推文也表達(dá)了這種想法,。
“我們?cè)谶@個(gè)行業(yè)的核心工作是策劃和編寫(xiě)代碼。其他一切都是建立在這上面的,?!笨死锵D媳驹略缧r(shí)候在推特上寫(xiě)道。11月9日,,有消息稱(chēng),,推特已經(jīng)向美國(guó)財(cái)政部(U.S. Treasury Department)提交文件,申請(qǐng)?jiān)试S該公司處理付款,,而克里希南在加密貨幣方面的經(jīng)驗(yàn)也更可以派上用場(chǎng),。
早在今年4月,當(dāng)馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓镜挠?jì)劃仍然處于早期階段時(shí),,路透社(Reuters)就報(bào)道稱(chēng),,他已經(jīng)為該公司選定了一位新的首席執(zhí)行官。但那已經(jīng)是好幾個(gè)月前的事情了,,而且情節(jié)曲折,。在10月完成這樁440億美元的交易之前,馬斯克曾經(jīng)試圖退出這一匪夷所思的收購(gòu)案,。
當(dāng)克里希南承認(rèn)他為馬斯克在推特公司的過(guò)渡期出謀劃策時(shí),,他將其描述為一種臨時(shí)安排,并補(bǔ)充說(shuō)他仍然在安德森·霍洛維茨公司“從事日常工作”,。這家通常被稱(chēng)為a16z的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司為馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓就顿Y了4億美元,。
克里希南在推特上寫(xiě)道:“我(和a16z)相信,推特公司是一家極為重要的公司,,可以對(duì)世界產(chǎn)生巨大影響,而埃隆是實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的人選,?!?/p>
不過(guò),馬斯克任命誰(shuí)擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官來(lái)完成這一偉大使命,,目前還有待觀(guān)察,。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
斯里拉姆·克里希南堅(jiān)信隆重登場(chǎng)的重要性。
說(shuō)真的,,在他的網(wǎng)站上,,“我相信的事情”一欄就是這么寫(xiě)的,。這位在微軟公司(Microsoft)開(kāi)始職業(yè)生涯的科技高管說(shuō),他的靈感來(lái)自于職業(yè)摔跤,。眾所周知,,在職業(yè)摔跤比賽中,摔跤手們要么開(kāi)著全地形車(chē)炸裂舞臺(tái),,要么在燃放的煙花和兩旁軍樂(lè)隊(duì)的表演中出場(chǎng),。在這些盛大的登場(chǎng)中,摔跤手們往往會(huì)在觀(guān)眾的尖叫聲中毀掉很多東西——很像埃隆·馬斯克掌舵推特(Twitter)第一周的情況,。
事實(shí)證明,,克里希南是馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺氐年P(guān)鍵助手之一,其他三位是投資者大衛(wèi)·薩克斯,、杰森·卡拉坎尼斯和馬斯克的私人律師亞歷克斯·斯皮羅,。在這場(chǎng)動(dòng)蕩的政權(quán)更迭中,由富人組成的影子委員會(huì)為馬斯克提供建議,,這場(chǎng)政權(quán)更迭已經(jīng)導(dǎo)致推特的員工數(shù)量削減了一半,;引發(fā)了與社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)名人用戶(hù)的爭(zhēng)執(zhí);讓媒體一直在做無(wú)用功(藍(lán)V認(rèn)證需要8美元還是20美元,?),。這個(gè)登場(chǎng)果然夠隆重。
與馬斯克身邊的其他一些“助手”不同,,克里希南對(duì)推特公司的內(nèi)部運(yùn)作了如指掌:他從2017年到2019年在推特公司擔(dān)任高級(jí)產(chǎn)品總監(jiān),。克里希南目前是風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司安德森·霍洛維茨(Andreessen Horowitz)的一名專(zhuān)注于加密貨幣的投資者,,因?yàn)樗诶蠔|家的兼職工作,,所以他對(duì)這家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司的未來(lái)有著相當(dāng)大的影響力。由于外界普遍預(yù)計(jì)馬斯克將在未來(lái)某個(gè)時(shí)候交出推特首席執(zhí)行官的頭銜,,克里希南已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好在這一最高職位的面試中接過(guò)這個(gè)頭銜,。
生活中的許多事情都像職業(yè)摔跤一樣。
如果你是一個(gè)職業(yè)摔跤迷,,你會(huì)經(jīng)??吹揭粋€(gè)人或一件事情,然后說(shuō):“啊,,這就像某個(gè)摔跤手做的那個(gè)動(dòng)作,。”
——斯里拉姆·克里希南– sriramk.eth (@sriramk),,2022年9月17日
盡管克里希南沒(méi)有回應(yīng)《財(cái)富》雜志的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求,,但這位印度出生的技術(shù)專(zhuān)家在硅谷的知名度在過(guò)去十年里大幅提升。包括馬克·扎克伯格,、馬克·安德森和埃隆·馬斯克在內(nèi)的科技界名人都曾經(jīng)出現(xiàn)在克里希南和他的妻子奧爾蒂·拉瑪穆?tīng)柕僦鞒值脑诰€(xiàn)脫口秀節(jié)目中,。這對(duì)夫婦甚至得到了WME的代理,,WME是一家經(jīng)紀(jì)公司,曾經(jīng)代理過(guò)克里斯蒂安·貝爾,、休·杰克曼和杰西卡·阿爾芭等好萊塢明星,。
圍繞推特的陰謀和猜測(cè)不斷發(fā)酵,以下是我們對(duì)一些觀(guān)察人士認(rèn)為可能成為下一任首席執(zhí)行官的內(nèi)部人士的了解,。
身兼多職
“在今天的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和科技時(shí)代,。”克里希南在今年10月發(fā)推特稱(chēng),,“*任何人*只要有一臺(tái)筆記本電腦,,連上網(wǎng)絡(luò),就能夠‘取得成功’,?!?/p>
克里希南說(shuō)的是他和妻子作為副業(yè)制作的內(nèi)容,但他也可能是在說(shuō)自己在一些頂尖科技公司的發(fā)展軌跡,,包括Snap,、Facebook和推特公司。
他的妻子拉瑪穆?tīng)柕僭?021年對(duì)這對(duì)夫婦的簡(jiǎn)介中告訴《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》(New York Times),,出生于印度金奈的克里希南身高6英尺6英寸(約1.98米),,成長(zhǎng)環(huán)境是“典型的印度中產(chǎn)階級(jí)”成長(zhǎng)環(huán)境。兩人在2003年相識(shí),,當(dāng)時(shí)一個(gè)共同的朋友把他們添加到雅虎(Yahoo)的聊天室,,他們負(fù)責(zé)協(xié)助完成該編碼項(xiàng)目。這成了典型的技術(shù)人員愛(ài)情故事:2007年,,兩人從大學(xué)畢業(yè),,被時(shí)任微軟公司高管的索馬·索馬賽加聘用后,一起在微軟工作,。2010年,,兩人私奔到帕洛阿爾托。
在微軟公司負(fù)責(zé)Visual Studio工作一段時(shí)間后,,克里希南于2013年跳槽到Facebook(現(xiàn)在的Meta),,從事Audience Network工作,該公司允許廣告商在手機(jī)游戲和應(yīng)用程序中投放廣告,。2016年,,他再次跳槽去了Snap,并在該公司上市前不久幫助建立了廣告技術(shù)平臺(tái),。
在成為風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資人之前,就產(chǎn)品管理方面的工作而言,,他的最后一個(gè)東家是推特公司,,他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的產(chǎn)品團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)督幾個(gè)核心消費(fèi)者功能,,包括時(shí)間軸、私聊信息和搜索,。據(jù)美國(guó)消費(fèi)者新聞與商業(yè)頻道(CNBC)報(bào)道,,在他任職這家社交媒體巨頭期間,該公司出現(xiàn)了有史以來(lái)最大的季度用戶(hù)增長(zhǎng),,當(dāng)時(shí)的首席財(cái)務(wù)官內(nèi)德·西格爾將此歸功于“產(chǎn)品改進(jìn)”,。克里希南將這篇文章的鏈接放在他的LinkedIn主頁(yè)上,,以證明他在任職期間給公司帶來(lái)的影響,。
2022年1月,克里希南和拉瑪穆?tīng)柕俦唤?jīng)紀(jì)公司W(wǎng)ME簽下,。據(jù)《名利場(chǎng)》(Vanity Fair)報(bào)道,,在該公司宣布合作的公告里,他們被稱(chēng)為“科技界的權(quán)勢(shì)夫妻”,,WME計(jì)劃與他們合作的“領(lǐng)域包括電影和電視開(kāi)發(fā),,以及出版和播客項(xiàng)目”。
一名火箭推銷(xiāo)員和一位風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資家走進(jìn)一家酒吧
克里希南渴望聚光燈,,這使他與馬斯克在精神層面上不謀而合,,盡管后者對(duì)曝光的渴望已經(jīng)越來(lái)越多地轉(zhuǎn)向了煽動(dòng)性言論。
和馬斯克一樣,,克里希南也是一位多產(chǎn)的推特用戶(hù),,他經(jīng)常在社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)上發(fā)表從電影到創(chuàng)業(yè)的各種觀(guān)點(diǎn)。他并不回避與批評(píng)者的辯論,,但他通常采取尊重和分析的口吻,,這與馬斯克攻擊別人的態(tài)度形成鮮明對(duì)比。
關(guān)于推特藍(lán)V驗(yàn)證的爭(zhēng)論愈演愈烈,,是否每個(gè)人都應(yīng)該進(jìn)行驗(yàn)證,,或者這是否會(huì)引發(fā)垃圾電子郵件攻擊,從而造成損失,,而克里希南公開(kāi)支持馬斯克,。他稱(chēng)對(duì)新產(chǎn)品的批評(píng)“邏輯上不一致”,并認(rèn)為對(duì)所有花費(fèi)8美元的用戶(hù)進(jìn)行驗(yàn)證會(huì)回歸“設(shè)計(jì)的原創(chuàng)精神”,。
他還暗示了自己對(duì)內(nèi)容審核的看法,,批評(píng)了在推特上禁止有關(guān)冠狀病毒的某些話(huà)題,包括其起源,?!拔艺J(rèn)為人們持多種科學(xué)觀(guān)點(diǎn)進(jìn)行辯論是很好的。不能接受的是人們因?yàn)楸磉_(dá)一種理論而被平臺(tái)封禁,?!笨死锵D辖衲?0月在推特上寫(xiě)道,。
在某些方面,克里希南與推特公司的前首席執(zhí)行官帕拉格·阿格拉瓦爾截然相反,。阿格拉瓦爾在馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓緯r(shí)就被解雇了,。與阿格拉瓦爾從一開(kāi)始就與馬斯克發(fā)生沖突不同,克里希南與馬斯克建立了良好的關(guān)系,,讓他順利進(jìn)入了這位億萬(wàn)富翁的核心圈子,。
在2021年通過(guò)音頻應(yīng)用程序Clubhouse對(duì)馬斯克的采訪(fǎng)中,克里希南稱(chēng)贊了這位世界首富在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的實(shí)力,。
“你可能是表情包大師,,事實(shí)上你有一句名言:‘誰(shuí)控制了表情包,誰(shuí)就控制了宇宙,?!憧梢越忉屢幌履阏f(shuō)的是什么意思嗎?”克里希南接著問(wèn)了一個(gè)問(wèn)題,?!澳闳绾巫龅饺绱松瞄L(zhǎng)使用表情包的?”
這次交流似乎很好地說(shuō)明了馬斯克在尋找首席執(zhí)行官時(shí)要求對(duì)方具備的特質(zhì):好奇心強(qiáng),、經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富,、能夠理解馬斯克的表情包的笑點(diǎn)。這位推特公司的新東家還公開(kāi)表示,,希望有一位工程師來(lái)負(fù)責(zé)表情包服務(wù),,克里希南最近的一些推文也表達(dá)了這種想法。
“我們?cè)谶@個(gè)行業(yè)的核心工作是策劃和編寫(xiě)代碼,。其他一切都是建立在這上面的,。”克里希南本月早些時(shí)候在推特上寫(xiě)道,。11月9日,,有消息稱(chēng),推特已經(jīng)向美國(guó)財(cái)政部(U.S. Treasury Department)提交文件,,申請(qǐng)?jiān)试S該公司處理付款,,而克里希南在加密貨幣方面的經(jīng)驗(yàn)也更可以派上用場(chǎng)。
早在今年4月,,當(dāng)馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓镜挠?jì)劃仍然處于早期階段時(shí),,路透社(Reuters)就報(bào)道稱(chēng),他已經(jīng)為該公司選定了一位新的首席執(zhí)行官,。但那已經(jīng)是好幾個(gè)月前的事情了,,而且情節(jié)曲折。在10月完成這樁440億美元的交易之前,馬斯克曾經(jīng)試圖退出這一匪夷所思的收購(gòu)案,。
當(dāng)克里希南承認(rèn)他為馬斯克在推特公司的過(guò)渡期出謀劃策時(shí),,他將其描述為一種臨時(shí)安排,并補(bǔ)充說(shuō)他仍然在安德森·霍洛維茨公司“從事日常工作”,。這家通常被稱(chēng)為a16z的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司為馬斯克收購(gòu)?fù)铺毓就顿Y了4億美元。
克里希南在推特上寫(xiě)道:“我(和a16z)相信,,推特公司是一家極為重要的公司,,可以對(duì)世界產(chǎn)生巨大影響,而埃隆是實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的人選,?!?/p>
不過(guò),馬斯克任命誰(shuí)擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官來(lái)完成這一偉大使命,,目前還有待觀(guān)察,。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
One thing Sriram Krishnan believes in is the importance of making a big entrance.
Seriously, it’s on his website under “things I believe in.” The tech exec, who began his career at Microsoft, says he was inspired by professional wrestling, where participants are known to crash the stage in all-terrain vehicles or flanked by marching bands blasting fireworks. In these grand entrances, the wrestlers tend to destroy a lot of things while the audience screams—much like Elon Musk’s first week at Twitter.
Krishnan, as it turns out, is one of Musk’s key lieutenants in the Twitter takeover, alongside investors David Sacks and Jason Calacanis and Musk’s personal lawyer, Alex Spiro. The shadow council of wealthy men has advised Musk during a tumultuous regime change that has already cut Twitter’s workforce in half; sparked feuds with the social network’s celebrity users; and run the media in circles (is Twitter Blue $8 or $20?). Quite the entrance, indeed.
Unlike some of the other “helpers” at Musk’s side, Krishnan knows the inner workings of Twitter firsthand: He worked there as a senior product director from 2017 to 2019. Now a crypto-focused investor at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Krishnan wields considerable influence over the social network’s future thanks to his moonlighting gig at his old haunt. And with Musk widely expected to hand over the Twitter CEO title at some point, Krishnan is well positioned to walk away with the prize in what may be an audition for the top job.
So much of life is just pro wrestling.
If you're a pro wrestling fan, you can often look at a person or incident and go “Ah, that's just like when X did Y”.
— Sriram Krishnan – sriramk.eth (@sriramk) September 17, 2022
While Krishnan didn’t respond to Fortune’s request for comment for this story, the Indian-born techie’s profile in Silicon Valley has grown considerably over the past decade. Tech luminaries including Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk have all appeared on the online talk show that Krishnan and his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy, host. The couple are even represented by WME, the talent agency that represents Hollywood stars like Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and Jessica Alba.
As intrigue and speculation continue to swirl around the goings-on at Twitter, here’s what we know about one of the insiders that some observers believe could become the next CEO.
A man of many hats
“With the internet and tech today,” Krishnan tweeted in October, “*anyone* with a laptop and an internet connection can ‘make it.’”
Krishnan was talking about the content he produces as a side hustle with his wife, but he may as well have been talking about his own trajectory through some of the tech industry’s top firms, including Snap, Facebook, and Twitter.
Born in Chennai, India, Krishnan stands at a whopping 6-foot-6 and had a “typical middle-class Indian” upbringing, his wife, Ramamurthy, told the New York Times in a 2021 profile of the couple. The pair met in 2003 when a mutual friend added them to a Yahoo chat room to help with a coding project. It became a typical technologists’ love story: The pair graduated from college and landed jobs together at Microsoft in 2007 after being recruited by then–Microsoft executive S. Somasegar. The pair ran off to Palo Alto to elope in 2010.
After his stint at Microsoft running Visual Studio, Krishnan moved to Facebook (now Meta) in 2013 to work on Audience Network, which allows advertisers to sell their ads in mobile games and apps. Then he jumped ship again to head to Snap in 2016 and helped build the company’s ad tech platform shortly before its IPO.
His last product management gig before becoming a VC was at Twitter, where he led product teams overseeing several core consumer features, including timeline, direct messaging, and search. During his term at the social media giant, the company showed its biggest quarterly user growth ever, which the CFO at the time, Ned Segal, attributed to “product improvements,” according to CNBC. Krishnan links to this article on his LinkedIn page, as evidence of his impact on the company during his time there.
In January 2022, Krishnan and Ramamurthy were signed by talent agency WME. In the agency’s announcement of the partnership, they were dubbed a “tech power couple” whom WME planned to work with “in areas including film and television development, as well as publishing and podcasting projects,” according to Vanity Fair.
A rocket salesman and a venture capitalist walk into a bar
Krishnan’s penchant for the spotlight makes him spiritually aligned with Musk, even if the latter’s urge for publicity has veered increasingly into trolling territory.
A prolific tweeter, just like Musk, Krishnan regularly opines about everything from movies to entrepreneurship on the social network. He doesn’t shy away from debates with critics, though he generally takes a respectful, analytical tone that’s a sharp contrast to Musk’s bomb throwing.
In the ever-growing debate on Twitter verification, and whether everyone should be verified or if that would prompt a harmful onslaught of spam, Krishnan publicly backs Musk. He called critiques of the new product “l(fā)ogically inconsistent” and believes verifying all users who cough up eight bucks brings back the “original spirit of the design.”
He has also hinted at his views on content moderation, criticizing how certain topics around the coronavirus, including its origin, were forbidden on Twitter. “I think having multiple scientific viewpoints debated is great. What wasn’t okay was people being removed from platforms for expressing a theory,” Krishnan tweeted in October.
In some ways, Krishnan is the opposite of Parag Agrawal, the ex–Twitter CEO whom Musk fired the moment he acquired Twitter. Unlike Agrawal, who appeared to butt heads with Musk from the get-go, Krishnan has cultivated a relationship with Musk that eased him into the billionaire’s inner circle.
In a 2021 interview with Musk on the audio app Clubhouse, Krishnan praised the world’s richest man for his online prowess.
“You might be the master of the memes, and in fact you had a quote, ‘Who controls the memes controls the universe.’ Could you just explain what you meant by that,” Krishnan said, adding a follow-up question. “How did you get so good at them?”
The exchange seems fairly indicative of the characteristics Musk is looking for in a chief executive: inquisitive, experienced, and someone who laughs at his memes. The new Twitter owner has also been vocal about wanting an engineer in charge of the service, a sentiment echoed in some of Krishnan’s recent tweets.
“At the heart of what we do in this industry is engineering and people writing code. Everything else gets built on top,” Krishnan tweeted earlier this month. And with November 9’s news that Twitter has filed paperwork with the U.S. Treasury Department that could allow the company to process payments, Krishnan’s crypto experience looks all the more relevant.
Back in April, when Musk’s plan to acquire Twitter was still in its early stages, Reuters reported that he had already lined up a new chief executive for the company. But that was many months and plot twists ago, in a bizarre acquisition that Musk attempted to back out of, before closing the $44 billion deal in October.
When Krishnan acknowledged his role advising Musk on the Twitter transition, he described it as a temporary arrangement, adding that he was still “very much in my day job” at Andreessen Horowitz. The VC firm, often referred to as a16z, has invested $400 million in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
“I (and a16z) believe this is a hugely important company and can have great impact on the world, and Elon is the person to make it happen,” Krishnan tweeted.
The person that Musk puts in the CEO seat to accomplish this grand mission remains to be seen.