Carl Franzen

Executive Editor · AI Strategist · Storyteller

VentureBeat · Brooklyn, New York

Award-winning editorial leader with 16+ years crafting narratives, launching innovative publications, and bridging the gap between general audiences and technical practitioners. Driving AI coverage and AI transformation at VentureBeat. Sci-tech storyteller across fact and fiction.

Work History

Apr 2024
Present

VentureBeat

Executive Editor

Leads editorial strategy for the leading B2B enterprise AI publication. Promoted from Head of News in under one year. Covers AI model launches, developer tools, infrastructure, and enterprise technology. Drove record traffic including a single article exceeding 1M unique views. Championed newsroom adoption of Midjourney and generative AI art tools — 99%+ of story art now AI-generated.

Current

May 2023
May 2024

VentureBeat

Head of News

Built coverage strategy around fast-moving generative AI and enterprise technology shifts. Hired and directed editorial staff.

Sep 2022
May 2023

Lyft Rev

Founding Editor

Co-created and launched Lyft’s first editorial platform from scratch. 30,000 organic newsletter subscribers in the first month.

Mar 2021
Jul 2022

Argo AI

Senior Digital Media Specialist

1M+ organic views and 3.5× engagement increase. Worked closely with researchers and engineering teams.

Sep 2019
Mar 2021

Xerox

Storyteller-in-Residence

Led digital storytelling projects around enterprise technology. Grew audience 1M+ users.

Sep 2017
Jul 2019

Inman News

Editor in Chief

Led full newsroom operations. Record monthly traffic. 10 NAREE Award winner.

Sep 2016
Sep 2017

Motherboard / VICE Media

Managing Editor

Launched Humans of the Year multimedia series. 2017 Webby Award.

May 2015
Sep 2016

Popular Science

Digital Director

Oversaw digital editorial across site, social, podcasts, video. 2016 DeBakey Award.

Feb 2013
Nov 2014

The Verge

News Editor

Directed daily news coverage across technology, science, and culture.

Aug 2011
Feb 2013

Talking Points Memo

Tech Editor

Nov 2010
Aug 2011

The Daily

Overnight News Editor

Jan 2010
Nov 2010

AOL News

Breaking News Editor

2009

The Atlantic Wire

Launch Intern

B.A. Magazine Journalism & Religious Studies — University of Missouri, Columbia. Summa Cum Laude.

Projects

AI Media · Daily Publishing

One Big Story

A daily AI news publication delivering the signal through the noise. Four editorial formats: The Brief, The Deep Dive, The Roundup, and The Take. Built end-to-end with Claude Code, combining automated pipelines with editorial curation.

Claude · Next.js · Supabase · Mailchimp · Vercel

Visit Site

Editorial · AI Art Culture

Prompt Scene

A Substack publication covering the aesthetics, craft, and culture of AI-generated imagery. Interviews with creators, technique breakdowns, and critical takes on where AI art is going.

Read on Substack

AI Video · Original Filmmaking

AI Shorts

Original short films and visual experiments made with generative AI video tools. Exploring narrative, atmosphere, and cinematic language in the emerging medium of AI filmmaking.

YouTube TikTok

Fiction · Science Fiction

Off-Duty

A science fiction novel. Under representation by Fleabane Literary. Exploring consciousness, labor, and what it means to be human in a world reshaped by artificial intelligence.

TikTok Updates

Gallery

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