Dale Dougherty – Maker Media Inc.

Dale Dougherty

Founder, President and CEO of Maker Media, Inc.

Maker Media, Inc.

Maker Media, Inc. , located in Sebastopol, CA, is a global platform to connect makers (DIY creators) with each other and with resources and supplies. The venture has spawned the worldwide “Maker Movement” that has resulted in Maker Spaces popping up in major cities around the world.

“With the launch of MAKE Magazine in 2005, Dougherty and his team provided the catalyst for a tech-influenced DIY community that has come to be identified as the Maker Movement.”

The movement, inspired by the products of Maker Media, Inc., such as MAKE Magazine (beginning in 2005), Maker Faire (first produced by Maker Media Inc. in 2006) and the Maker Shed (an online store for Maker products and beginner kits), brings together those who take a DIY approach to technology. “The Maker Movement is exerting a profound influence in our American culture. This influence will grow over the next decade, impacting how we look at creativity and innovation, manufacturing and industry…indeed how we look at ourselves and our place within the dynamics of our culture,” says Paul Vinson, Executive Director at Sci-Tech Discovery Center.

Maker Media Founder, President and CEO, Dale Dougherty, says: “Inspiring people young and old to see themselves as makers has been the goal of Make Magazine and Maker Faire. Seeing ourselves as producers, not just consumers, opens us to a more purposeful life. While we start making for highly personal reasons, makers soon discover that these capabilities have social and economic impact in their own community. The growth of the Maker movement is one of the most positive and important developments of our time, where a community comes together to celebrate a culture of creativity and ingenuity.”

Dale Dougherty

Born and raised in Louisville, KY, Dale Dougherty has been involved in media and technology innovation for many years. As a co-founder of O’Reilly Media, Dougherty was the first editor of their computing trade books. Dougherty is a master of branding and applying comfortable ideas to a technology context with a powerful label. In 1993, Dougherty developed GNN, the first commercial website bringing the familiar shopping concept to an online platform. In 2003, Dougherty coined the term Web 2.0. Dougherty began MAKE at O’Reilly Media and brought it out as its own company in January 2013. While not a novel concept (tinkering or DIY has been around for as long as there have been humans) Dougherty has managed to brand the concept and associate it with exciting events and innovations that breeds enthusiasm. Dougherty is able to bring together events, concepts and branding to create ventures that inspire. As a speaker, Dougherty is passionate and engaging while seeming very relatable and comfortable. He inspires a sense of curiosity and fun. Watching Dougherty speak, I am struck by the accessibility and universality of what he’s talking about. Dougherty is able to make technology not only accessible to his audience, but an innate part of not only our individual personalities but our collective identity and human experience. Dougherty is able to tap into these shared experiences and motivations, to brand them and to inspire.

Daugherty has surrounded himself with a strong team of marketers and sales professionals with experience in companies such as MediaLive International, Key3Media, Ziff-Davis, IDG, CMP Media, and Mac Publishing Group.

Reflections

I am reminded that sometimes the credibility of the idea presenter (entrepreneur) and the marketing of the idea are just as important, if not more important, than the idea itself. The ability to seem simultaneously attainable and inspirational is a dynamic blend. Dougherty projects a kind of simple humility that has the ability to connect people. Dougherty possesses a great ability to rally people around an idea, to engage support and to monetize and name basic social functions in novel ways.

Resources

http://makerfaire.com/maker-movement/