Goodbye DBW. Hello Silicon Slopes.
Humbled and grateful, I bid both farewell and welcome in the same breath, still somewhat shocked at what has happened in six short months.
Five-and-a-half months after starting this journey known as Deseret Business Watch, an effort to identify and chronicle the top business stories within Utah, I got an unexpected text message:
“Hey! Any chance we could catch up sometime this week?”
Pretty innocuous, right?
Except for the fact that the sender was Clint Betts, Executive Director of Silicon Slopes.
Several days later I was at the Silicon Slopes offices in Lehi, Utah meeting with Clint and his top two lieutenants. And before the meeting was over, Clint made it very clear that he wanted me to join the Silicon Slopes team and take over all editorial for the nonprofit and media company.
Bottom line? On July 14, just 17 days after that initial text message, I became the Publisher and Editorial Director of Silicon Slopes.
And if think you’re shocked, trust me … so was I.
Since then it’s like I have been drinking from the proverbial firehose as I have done my best to wrap my head around everything associated with the leading nonprofit organization in the state for representing not just Utah’s booming business community, but all aspects of entrepreneurial life within the State of Deseret.
With this new position, I now ultimately oversee all editorial content for Silicon Slopes, from its main online presence (the Silicon Slopes Newsroom) to Silicon Slopes Magazine, to its newsletters, social media accounts, podcasts and everything in between.
As part of the agreement between me and the organization, I proposed it would be best if Silicon Slopes officially purchased Deseret Business Watch. Among other things, this meant that it would own the assets of DBW, including the rights to publish prior content on or within Silicon Slopes media channels.
So … we reached an agreement on a modest purchase price. And trust me: It was a VERY modest purchase price.
But with that done, I will begin transferring certain DBW assets into the Silicon Slopes media world this weekend.
Moving Forward with Silicon Slopes
If you’ve not been aware, I have been writing and publishing for Silicon Slopes for about a week now, both breaking news items and more in-depth, feature stories. The expectation is that I will also write for Silicon Slopes Magazine and become a regular guest on the Silicon Slopes Podcast.
As publisher, I will also have a direct hand in the advertising aspects of the Silicon Slopes media properties too, as well as other business-related responsibilities tied to the editorial mission of the organization.
This, however, is the last item I plan to publish via Deseret Business Watch.
If you’re interested in staying abreast of the hottest and most important doings in the business community within Utah, I invite you to Sign-Up and begin receiving updates. {Case in Point: We launched a new weekly wrap-up newsletter earlier today and you can become a subscriber here.}
And if you have story ideas, please let me know; you can ping me at david.politis@siliconslopes.com.
Thanks.
David
P.S. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the news release we dropped this week titled Silicon Slopes Acquired “Deseret Business Watch” and Hires David Politis as its Publisher and Editorial Director. Enjoy.