Brent Leary

We spoke to a number of industry experts to get their take on community building and what it means for SaaS companies as they look for growth opportunities in a…

As digital tracking wanes, companies turn to online communities for direct access to customers

What if history gone a bit differently and Salesforce had bought Twitter in 2016? We spoke to some analysts who cover the CRM industry to get their thoughts.

Salesforce and Twitter are both lucky their purported $20B deal failed in 2016

Featured Article

Why so many SaaS companies are launching their own media operations

Around 2003, as blogs began to take hold, it became clear that these writing tools could be more than an outlet for an individual’s ruminations — they also had potential for business and marketing.

Why so many SaaS companies are launching their own media operations

Gillmor Gang: Culture Clubs

I’ve spent the last few weeks diving into the world of crypto, and lo and behold, there might be something to it. Part of the problem is I rarely sense…

Gillmor Gang: Culture Clubs

Gillmor Gang: Director’s Cut

Politics and tech are certainly strange bedfellows. The Gang loves to talk about filibusters and the fall of democracy, but forget it when I try to bring up my fascination…

Gillmor Gang: Director’s Cut

Gillmor Gang: State Your Name

Here we go with the last show of 2021, recorded in mid-December. It was Frank Radice’s last show from New York before he returned to London. It was nice to…

Gillmor Gang: State Your Name

Gillmor Gang: Rage On

This argument over Web3 is really exciting. How does one call out either of the two main protagonists? Jack Dorsey has an unlimited hall pass now that he’s free of…

Gillmor Gang: Rage On

Gillmor Gang: Beatlesverse

Well, it turns out the Beatles didn’t get broken up by Yoko after all. But Peter Jackson may have gotten closer. His Get Back movie seemed to be so far…

Gillmor Gang: Beatlesverse

Gillmor Gang: Get Better Back

In a discussion about culture versus history on this edition of the Gang, Denis Pombriant invokes the Beatles as examples of agents of change that used rock and roll to…

Gillmor Gang: Get Better Back

Gillmor Gang: Film @ 11

Nowhere is the mess we’re in more volatile than the media war on its rationale for economic survival. As broadcast television gives way to cable and now subscription television, the…

Gillmor Gang: Film @ 11

Gillmor Gang: Old Brown Shoe

My favorite show right now is Succession, the fictionalization of the Murdoch family and its media empire. It’s relentlessly funny, as the patriarch and children vie for being the most…

Gillmor Gang: Old Brown Shoe

Gillmor Gang: Trick or Treat

On the last Gang recording session in early October before the birth of our first grandchild, I tried to stir the pot by attacking Democratic Progressives for capsizing the second…

Gillmor Gang: Trick or Treat

Gillmor Gang: All Things Must Pass

It’s been several weeks now, and Clubhouse still hasn’t enabled record/replay. Neither has Twitter Spaces. Facebook just announced a live audio entry too, but no record. With all the drama…

Gillmor Gang: All Things Must Pass

Gillmor Gang: Wooo Wooo

No matter how much I rationalize the new iPhone, I always feel like I’m not fooling anyone. Do I need it? No. Do I want it? Probably. Do I have…

Gillmor Gang: Wooo Wooo

Gillmor Gang: Work In Progress

Mostly friends and sometimes family have encouraged me to tell stories about my days in the comedy, music, and tech businesses. And for all of this time I’ve been reluctant.…

Gillmor Gang: Work In Progress

Gillmor Gang: Off the Wall

Most of us count the golden age of Michael Jackson’s career with the Quincy Jones produced global smashes of Thriller and Bad. Fueled by the stream of videos and multi-single…

Gillmor Gang: Off the Wall

Gillmor Gang: Life Goes On

When we imagine what it will be like when we exit the pandemic, what we’re really wondering is what we want from the digital transformation we’ve seen overturn our understanding…

Gillmor Gang: Life Goes On

Gillmor Gang: Half a Loaf

When Salesforce announced its streaming platform Salesforce+, the CRM Playaz’ Paul Greenberg and Brent Leary interviewed Colin Fleming, SVP of Global Brand Experiences at the CRM company (disclosure: I work…

Gillmor Gang: Half a Loaf

Gillmor Gang: Cryptonomics

Twitter seems on an aggressive path to putting pedal to the metal. From its earliest days as a failwhale generator and a ransacker of third party successes, the company under…

Gillmor Gang: Cryptonomics

Gillmor Gang: Who’s on first

On this edition of the Gillmor Gang, Brent Leary shows off his new wireless adaptor for his livestreaming studio. The result is a captivating view of his console as he…

Gillmor Gang: Who’s on first

Gillmor Gang: Time Delay

Writing our way out of the place we’re in is tricky. The words come easily enough, each measured for its emotional weight in the stream of issues we face. It’s…

Gillmor Gang: Time Delay

Gillmor Gang: Social climbing

Fear is back with the deadly combination of pandemic politics and a vicious variant. The good news is that if enough people took the shots we could cut the damage…

Gillmor Gang: Social climbing

Gillmor Gang: Catching Up

As the pandemic dwindled enough to get in our car with dogs, SiriusXM, and our children in the rear view mirror, we drove to South Carolina. Tina had endured the…

Gillmor Gang: Catching Up

Gillmor Gang: TV Clubhouse

The Gang spends a lot of time these days on the streaming wars, so it seems appropriate that Congress wants to get into it. With Netflix’s success at overturning the…

Gillmor Gang: TV Clubhouse

Gillmor Gang: Who Knew

The Gillmor Gang recording session is nestled on Friday midday on the East Coast and midmorning out West. Streamed live on Twitter, Facebook Live, and Youtube embed, the show is…

Gillmor Gang: Who Knew

Gillmor Gang: Déjà Vu

The Gang, or a subset, did a Clubhouse, longer than a regular show by a good third. The audio-only structure lacked the visual cues that distinguish between irony and bad…

Gillmor Gang: Déjà Vu

Gillmor Gang: Fractured fairy tales

1971 is the name of the year and an Apple TV+ documentary series billed as The Year That Music Changed Everything. It’s also the number of hours the former president…

Gillmor Gang: Fractured fairy tales

Gillmor Gang: Play It Again

For the past several months or so, I’ve been writing an accompanying post to editions of the Gillmor Gang. Due to production issues, I’m usually at least a week behind…

Gillmor Gang: Play It Again

Gillmor Gang: Nothing was delivered

Somehow it’s Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday this week. Some of you may not think that’s a big deal, but I do. The fact of his talent pretty much drowns out…

Gillmor Gang: Nothing was delivered

Gillmor Gang: Party Line

  In the early days of social media, all things seemed possible. Twitter was this weird reboot of blogs, with a social layer atop an RSS feed that gave authority…

Gillmor Gang: Party Line