Farewell Circa
(click here to skip to the list of Circa employees looking for new opportunities)
Here’s the short Circa version: We tried to do something very different, we took huge risks, we built a product that spawned a whole new category, and we enjoyed every moment of it, at least until the money ran out and that sucked.
Care to know more? By all means, read on:
We got some stuff wrong, but there’s a hell of a lot we got right. There will be a time and place for me to expand on that, today is not that day. I’m delighted to see we’ve inspired many other apps to do part of what we did or attempted to do. It’s great that we’ll see various elements of Circa live on through them.
I want to thank this team:
Arsenio, I am so lucky to have worked with you and have someone so willing to work hand and glove with editorial. That’s a rare thing in our business. You’re a rockstar, I hope we cross paths again. I also loved the chance to work with your amazing team: Tim, Travis, Chris, Michelle, Ashley, AJ, Brian, Darren, Adam, and Frank.
John Maloney, you know how much you did for this team. You are selfless. Without question, you have been a rock and fought the good fight to try to get us over the finish line. I’ll never forget that. I am your brother for life.
Matt, you gave me an amazing opportunity and you’re an incredible product designer. The industry is still trying to catch up with you. I know you’ll continue to do amazing things.
David, our founding editor, who mentored me and taught me the very unique way we do things here at Circa. Without you, I would be nothing. You’re killing it at Al-Jazeera. I am indebted to you for teaching me and giving me the skills to have continued what you created here.
Adrian, Daniel, Greg, Evan, Andrew, Ted, Chad, Lenika, Nicholas, Peter, Abraham, Amelie, Alli, Nallur, Kevin, and Lisa. Who fought their asses off and have unique skills that few others in our industry can boast of. They’re now free to take those skills out to the world and give your newsroom superpowers. Startups are hard, they’re not the safe passage for anyone. News is tough enough to then have the unpredictability of startup life tossed in for good measure. I respect and admire these folks for putting their heart and soul into this.
Christine, our incredible designer. Your work speaks for itself. Someone will be very lucky to have you bringing your magic to them soon.
Jessie, our operations rock. Without you, the ship doesn’t sail. Thanks for keeping us on track and making sure the trains run on time.
Finally, I want to thank the majority of our investors, who believed in us enough to write a check. There are some investors making it difficult to get our team paid for services rendered. Be assured I won’t stand by idle if they’re not made whole.
I can vouch for all the people above, but I worked as Editor In Chief and can uniquely speak for the skills of the team I led below. I’m providing short bios but can get into more detail about what I think their strongest skills are. Please do get in touch soon if you want them, there’s actually a lot of demand and I’m happy to see that. I also linked their emails to their names here if you want to reach them directly.
HIRED! Daniel Bentley – Senior editor at Circa (Hired by Fortune)
HIRED! Adrian Arizmendi – Tends to focus on political matters. Has a great grasp on policy and the intricacies of legislature. Would be a great fit on a team covering congress and/or the 2016 race. Based in San Francisco. (Hired by Al-Jazeera)
HIRED! Evan Buxbaum – Deputy editor, helped lead our team during PT hours and also ran weekends. Good manager, can lead a team of multiple people and has an excellent eye for detail. Tireless. Based in Seattle. (Hired by New York Post)
Andrew Bossone – Led our Middle East coverage and helped manage our team during the overnight hours. Excellent grasp of foreign policy, especially in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Based in Jordan. (Doing contract work but available for a full-time gig)
HIRED! Ted Trautman – Primary copy editor. Great eye for detail. Jack of all trades when it comes to subject matters. Great disposition, easy to work with. Based in San Francisco (Currently working on a book!)
HIRED! Chad Catacchio – Led our Asia coverage, especially Japan. Especially strong when it comes to science and sports. Based in Beijing now but soon returning to Massachusetts. (Hired by Enervee)
HIRED! Nicholas Deleon – Lead Tech Editor. Wide grasp of all matters related to technology, both on the business and product side. He managed to cover nearly all the important stories for us in this space by himself. Great disposition, very easy to work with. Based in New York. (Hired by VICE Motherboard)
Peter Wade – Jack of all trades subject matter wise. Helped relaunch our Tumblr and grew our audience there significantly in a short period of time. Staff writer, pitched in as the defacto Social Media Editor for Circa. Comfortable covering a variety of topics. He has written for and managed social media at numerous digital news publications including Fast Company, SportsNet New York and The Daily. He also maintains his own news, media and pop culture Tumblr at BrooklynMutt.com. Based in Washington D.C.
Abraham Hyatt – Has a great grasp on criminal justice matters. Also has a background covering tech and business. Based in San Francisco.
HIRED! Amelie Meyer- Robinson – Foreign policy focus, good grasp on Europe in particular. Based in San Francisco. (Hired by Twitter)
HIRED! Alli Maloney – Covers a wide variety of topics, high output, performs well under pressure. Well versed in women’s issues. Based in Ohio. (Hired by New York Times, Women in the World)
Kevin Ponniah and Lisa Yallamas – Based in London and Australia respectively. Staff writers, good grasp on Asia + Southeast Asia matters.