Michael Tchong | |
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Born | Michael Henricus Tchong Oranjestad, Aruba |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Analyst & Public Speaker Founder of Social Revolution |
Known for | Founder of MacWEEK, ICONOCAST and Ubercool. |
Michael Tchong is an American entrepreneur and writer, best known for his startups MacWEEK, Atelier Systems, CyberAtlas and ICONOCAST.
As a columnist for ReadWrite, Tchong has contributed "Why Aren't There More/Better Software Design Tools?",[1] “World War III Is Already Here – And We’re Losing”[2] and "Innovating The Email Inbox - Without Deleting All."[3]
In 1992, Tchong founded Atelier Systems, which developed a new concept in contact management, called Hello.[4][5] In 1987, he founded MacWEEK, which was later acquired by Ziff-Davis.[6] In May 1996 he joined I/PRO (Internet Profiles Corp.), a startup focused on the nascent industry of website traffic auditing, after the company acquired his CyberAtlas website.[7] I/PRO subsequently sold CyberAtlas to Mecklermedia in August 1998.[8]
Tchong founded the Internet marketing company ICONOCAST in 1997. In January 1998 it was acquired by Imagine Media, whose CEO was Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), the founder of TED Talks.[9] In January 1999, Imagine Media spun off Tchong's Internet marketing newsletter as ICONOCAST Inc., while retaining a minority interest.[10]
On April 3, 2001, Tchong launched "Back the Net", a campaign to "save the Internet".[11]
Since 2003 he has focused on trend-watching and public speaking. In November 2003, the UK's Telegraph proclaimed him "the most influential trend-spotter in America."[12] His first book, Trendscape, was published in 2004.[13]
Tchong has been quoted in publications including Adweek,[14] Business Week,[15] The New York Times,[16] San Jose Mercury News,[17] Tampa Bay Times,[18] and USA Today,[19] and has been featured on BBC News.[20]
In 2019, he published his third book, “Ubertrends — How Trends And Innovation Are Transforming Our Future”.[21]
In 2022, he launched Toolhacker LLC, an innovation lab.[22]