Peter Koechley
Born
Peter Lennon Koechley

Madison, Wisconsin
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University (BA)
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, writer, editor
Known forCo-founder of Upworthy and managing editor of The Onion

Peter Lennon Koechley[1] is an American writer and internet entrepreneur. He was the managing editor of The Onion and co-founded Upworthy.[2][3]

Biography

Koechley attended Madison West High School and graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a double major in philosophy and creative writing.[4][5] In 2005, he was profiled by Ezra Klein as the youngest staff writer for The Onion on Generation Progress.[6]

His association with The Onion began when he published his first article on the site at age 17 as a high school student in Madison, Wisconsin.[6] He also published a satirical newspaper on campus and sent articles to The Onion, eventually attracting the latter's attention.[7] Later, he began to work at the office of the publication and landed an internship during his senior year in high school as the site's first intern.[8] At Columbia, he also freelanced for the publication, publishing a total of 25 articles for which he received a payment of $20.[6][5] He was hired out of college and became manager editor of the website at age 24.[6][9] At The Onion, Koechley was responsible for creating the Onion News Network and gravitated towards tech content.[10]

Koechley joined MoveOn in 2009 to produce viral media content for the nonprofit group.[11] There he met Eli Pariser and the two began to develop a concept for a platform that generates viral content devoted to significant social issues, what they call "social media with a mission".[8] Their business plan appealed to Chris Hughes, who provided them with $500,000 in seed capital.[12] They also attracted seed capital from BuzzFeed co-founder John Seward Johnson III and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.[13]

In 2012, Koechley and Pariser launched Upworthy.[12] By the end of October 2012, it has attracted 8.7 million users, leading Business Insider to name it the fastest growing media company in the world.[13][14]

In 2015, he apologized for Upworthy's out-sized success and pledged to change the algorithm, saying:"We sort of unleashed a monster. Sorry for that. Sorry we kind of broke the internet last year. I'm excited going forward to say goodbye to clickbait."[15][16]

In 2017, Koechley announced his departure from Upworthy.[17] He has been working with Compass, Inc. founder Robert Reffkin, in writing the book No One Succeeds Alone: Learn Everything You Can from Everyone You Can, published in 2021.[18]

In 2021, Koechley joined The Our City PAC, a progressive political action committee supporting left-leaning mayoral and New York City Council candidates.[19][20]

Personal life

Koechley is born to Barbara E. Koechley and Robert H. Koechley in Madison, Wisconsin. His father is an executive with Promega Corporation and his mother is a teacher for the McFarland School District in McFarland, Wisconsin. In 2009, Koechley married Kristina Williams, also a Madison native.[1] The couple lives in Brooklyn.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Kristina Williams, Peter Koechley". The New York Times. 2009-10-10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  2. ↑ Staff, Politico Media (7 December 2015). "The 60-second interview: Peter Koechley, co-founder of Upworthy". POLITICO Media. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  3. ↑ "Upworthy". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  4. ↑ "Alumni in the News". Columbia College Today. Spring 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Times, Jessie Opoien | The Capital (6 November 2013). "Upworthy's Founder Says He's Lucky He Grew Up In Madison. He Might Be Right. (Part One)". madison.com. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Peter Koechley". Generation Progress. 2005-06-24. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  7. ↑ Staff, Gothamist (2004-10-19). "Peter Koechley, Staff Writer, The Onion". Gothamist. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  8. 1 2 Times, Jessie Opoien | The Capital (15 October 2013). "Madison native and West grad Peter Koechley profiled for Upworthy work". madison.com. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  9. 1 2 "Peter Koechley, founder of Upworthy". #Startup Columbia. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  10. ↑ "Interview: The Onion's managing editor Peter Koechley - Features". Digital Arts. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  11. ↑ "MoveOn is a Joke...Really". Washington Examiner. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  12. 1 2 Kaufman, Leslie (2013-10-14). "Viral Content With a Liberal Bent". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  13. 1 2 "Upworthy's co-founder said the most amazing thing about clickbait". the Guardian. 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  14. ↑ Shontell, Alyson. "How To Create The Fastest Growing Media Company In The World". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  15. ↑ Matias, J. Nathan; Munger, Kevin; Le Quere, Marianne Aubin; Ebersole, Charles (2021-08-02). "The Upworthy Research Archive, a time series of 32,487 experiments in U.S. media". Scientific Data. 8 (1): 195. Bibcode:2021NatSD...8..195M. doi:10.1038/s41597-021-00934-7. ISSN 2052-4463. PMC 8329003. PMID 34341340.
  16. ↑ O'Reilly, Lara. "Upworthy cofounder Peter Koechley apologizes for the clickbait 'monster' his site unleashed on the internet". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  17. ↑ Geyer, Allison (2017-05-01). "Peter Koechley announces departure from Upworthy". Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  18. ↑ Reffkin, Robert (2021). No One Succeeds Alone: Learn Everything You Can from Everyone You Can. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-358-45461-8.
  19. ↑ Cruz, David (2021-02-19). "Progressive PAC Launches To Counter "Trump-Aligned" Political Donors". Gothamist. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  20. ↑ "District 15 City Council Race: "Our City" Endorses Crespo, Plans to Spend Five-Figure Amounts in Ads". Norwood News. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
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