The first
editions.
From the launch of The Atlantic Wire to AOL News, The Daily, and Talking Points Memo: reporting and editing as news found new digital forms.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, VENTUREBEAT
Carl
Franzen
Content leader.
Narrative innovator.
Award-winning journalism, tech communications and content leadership
Building publications.
Growing audiences.
Carl Franzen leads VentureBeat as Executive Editor. His career brings together newsroom leadership, research storytelling, and experiments in how people create and experience stories.
From the blogging and digital-media era to social publishing, mobile news, and the tablet’s touch interface, he has worked where new technology changes the way stories reach people. Across The Atlantic, News Corp., Talking Points Memo, Popular Science, The Verge, Vice Media and more, he has carried that curiosity into editorial leadership: developing new formats, building teams, and helping established brands find new audiences.
Today, his work at VentureBeat and independent AI projects extend that same approach into another transformation. The through line is a willingness to explore emerging tools early—and turn their possibilities into useful, engaging stories.
01 / THE THROUGH LINEOne career.
One career.
Many innovative publications.
The first
Culture meets
technology.
News Editor at The Verge. Digital Director at Popular Science. Managing Editor at Motherboard/VICE. Different publications, connected by curiosity about what comes next.
A newsroom,
in motion.
As Editor in Chief of Inman, Franzen ran the newsroom, overseeing coverage, publishing schedules, and standards across reporting, video, and social media.
Inside the
research.
At Xerox and Argo AI, he worked with scientists and engineers to bring research out of the lab and into stories for public and business audiences.
A publication
from the start.
As a founding editor of Lyft Rev, he helped create and launch the publication, shaping its voice, stories, standards, and publishing process.
The next
chapter.
At VentureBeat, first as Head of News and now Executive Editor, he leads coverage of AI and enterprise technology—and the people changing both.
02 / SELECTED WORKAt the edge
At the edge
of the possible.
01 / AI VIDEOAlternate Worlds.
AI video experiments.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ↗
02 / CONVERSATIONSThe people behind
the pictures.
PROMPT SCENE ↗
03 / EXPERIMENTSA new way to
tell the news.
ONE BIG STORY ↗03 / FICTIONOther lives.
Other lives.
Possible worlds.
The Perfect Porn ↗
Science fiction published by VICE.
Brain Freeze ↗
Read the story on Carl’s writing archive.
Off-Duty
A science fiction novel exploring AI, work, and consciousness. Represented by Fleabane Literary.
Follow the project ↗04 / GALLERYAI for
AI for
creativity.
Golden Age Sci-Fi · 1 / 36
Stories that
leave a mark.
10×201520162017
NAREE Awards
National Association of Real Estate Editors
2018–2019
Best Screenplay
Long Island International Film Expo
“Off-Duty”
DeBakey Award
Excellence in Medical Science Reporting
“Monkeys Drive Wheelchairs Using Thought Alone”
As editor · Popular Science
Webby Award
Motherboard / VICE
“Connected”
As managing editor