17 Months of Stories from Xconomy San Francisco

The first anniversary of Xconomy San Francisco, back in June, flew by so fast we didn’t have time to commemorate it. But today, November 14, it’s been 17 months to the day since we turned on San Francisco—the fifth city in our network of six hyperlocal sites. I thought I’d take the occasion to look back at the companies and technologies we’ve covered, and give you a bit of a preview of coming attractions.

First, the preview. If you’ve ever invited me to your office or worked with me on a story, you’ve probably heard me say “Thanks for the interview. I’m not actually sure when I’ll publish this story; I have a bit of a backlog of other articles to finish first.”

Well, the photo in the above right corner shows that backlog in graphic form. It’s my Post-It wall, showing all the local companies awaiting coverage in Xconomy. (Click on the image to see a larger version.) These are all companies where I’ve done the CEO interviews and finished the research, but haven’t had time to write the story. I created the Post-It wall about a month ago, in an effort to take to heart this lesson from David Allen, the productivity guru:

You can only do one thing at a time, so at any point in time there is going to be a huge backlog of “work.” Much of what we must do, to gain comfort and control in our knowledge-worker worlds these days, is clarifying what all that work is, objectively, in a format that provides an easy overview. We must continually renegotiate those commitments with ourselves and with others; and that’s impossible to do, unless they’re captured, clarified, and organized in some systematic way outside our psyche.

The wall is my external psyche. The blank spaces represent stories I’ve finished since I made the Post-Its. The rest are still waiting. I figure I can get through most of them by January or February, and after that I should be in a better position to say yes to new story leads. (Meanwhile, though, please don’t be offended if I have to say no to your pitch.)

Now for the look back at what my colleagues and I have accomplished in the last 17 months. What follows is a list of the companies and organizations we’ve covered in the San Francisco Bay Area since June 2010. These aren’t piddly little four-paragraph stories, mind you—for the most part, these are major, magazine-length profile of the sort Xconomy is famous for. We’ve covered many of these companies more than once, of course, but the links generally lead to the biggest story on each company.

If you glance through this list, it’ll remind you what a broad swath of stories we cover—from infotech to the life sciences to energy; from giant companies (Google, Apple, GM, Merck) to tiny ones (Convore, OhLife); from venture firms (Emergence Capital, Scale Venture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, True Ventures) to dynamic individual entrepreneurs (Tony Coles of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Eric Ries of “lean startup” fame). Quite a few of the companies on this list have been snapped up by other companies since our stories appeared—confirming, I think, that we were right to feature them. (Salesforce acquired Assistly, TripAdvisor acquired EveryTrail, and Dupont acquired Innovalight, just to name a few examples.) Happy browsing.

Anthera Pharmaceuticals

Arch Venture Partners

Climate Corporation (formerly Weatherbill)

Cyterix Pharmaceuticals

Five Prime Therapeutics

Hyperion Therapeutics

Intarcia Therapeutics

Mohr Davidow Ventures

Morgenthaler Ventures

Optivia Biotechnology

Portola Pharmaceuticals

Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Scale Venture Partners

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/ View all posts by Wade Roush