About Carl Franzen
Carl Franzen leads VentureBeat as Executive Editor. He directs the publication’s editorial priorities and standards while reporting on AI, research and technologies changing how businesses operate. His responsibilities include hiring and managing editorial staff and guiding stories from initial assessment through publication.
His career connects newsroom management with the development of editorial products. Over more than 16 years, he has worked in digital news, overseen multiplatform journalism and brought reporting techniques into technology companies. The consistent focus is on making complicated subjects intelligible, giving publications a clear voice and helping teams deliver work that serves their readers.
Newsroom leadership
Franzen joined VentureBeat in 2023 as Head of News and subsequently became Executive Editor. His reporting covers AI models, tools for developers and the systems businesses use to put AI into practice. The role combines direct engagement with research and product developments with decisions about which stories the newsroom pursues and how it explains them.
Before his work in corporate editorial, he led Inman as Editor in Chief from 2017 to 2019. He managed its newsroom across reporting, editing, video and social media, with responsibility for publishing schedules, coverage priorities and standards. The position brought technology reporting into a business publication focused on real estate and the people working in that industry.
At Motherboard, VICE’s technology publication, he served as Managing Editor from 2016 to 2017. He also created the multimedia franchise Humans of the Year. His introduction to the series documents its focus on people working in science and technology.
As Popular Science’s Digital Director from 2015 to 2016, Franzen oversaw journalism distributed through the website, social media, podcasts and video. He led a team producing news, features and explanatory reporting, bringing a long-established science publication’s work to readers and viewers across digital platforms.
Earlier, he was News Editor at The Verge from 2013 to 2014, directing daily technology, science and culture coverage. He also reported and conducted interviews. His preceding roles included Tech Editor at Talking Points Memo, Overnight News Editor at The Daily and Breaking News Editor at AOL News. He began at The Atlantic Wire as a launch intern in 2009.
Editorial work inside technology companies
Franzen’s corporate roles extend that editorial experience into research and engineering organizations. At Xerox, where he was Storyteller-in-Residence from 2019 to 2021, he worked with scientists and technical leaders on digital stories explaining research and its practical applications to business and public audiences.
From 2021 to 2022, he worked at Argo AI as Senior Digital Media Specialist. He collaborated with researchers, engineers and safety specialists on autonomous-driving coverage for Ground Truth and wrote the monthly newsletter. That work included explanations of research presented at CVPR and reporting on the technical questions involved in developing autonomous vehicles.
As Lyft Rev’s founding editor from 2022 to 2023, he co-created and launched the publication. His work covered its editorial voice, selection of stories, standards and publishing process. The role joined publication development with reporting that made transportation research approachable to general readers.
AI, fiction and independent publishing
Alongside his VentureBeat work, Franzen develops independent projects that explore how technology changes storytelling. One Big Story is an AI-powered news publication he built. Prompt Scene examines AI imagery through conversations with artists and attention to their creative practices.
His creative work also includes short fiction and experiments with AI-generated images and video. These projects sit alongside his reporting, giving him practical experience with some of the tools and creative questions he covers. His portfolio brings together journalism, fiction and visual work while his professional focus remains editorial leadership.
Education and background
Franzen is based in Brooklyn, New York. He studied Magazine Journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia from 2005 to 2009. His studies also included Religious Studies, and he graduated summa cum laude.
Carl Franzen bio
Short bio
Carl Franzen leads VentureBeat as Executive Editor. His journalism and media career spans more than 16 years, including newsroom leadership at Inman, Motherboard/VICE, Popular Science and The Verge. He co-created Lyft Rev, worked on research storytelling at Xerox and Argo AI, and develops independent projects exploring AI and creative publishing.
Extended bio
Carl Franzen is VentureBeat’s Executive Editor, responsible for editorial direction, newsroom standards and coverage of AI and enterprise technology. His career spans more than 16 years at the intersection of journalism, publishing and technological change. He has managed newsrooms, developed editorial products and worked with scientists and engineers to explain their research to wider audiences.
His previous positions include Editor in Chief at Inman, Managing Editor at Motherboard/VICE, Digital Director at Popular Science and News Editor at The Verge. He also worked at Talking Points Memo, The Daily, AOL News and The Atlantic Wire. In technology companies, he developed research stories at Xerox and Argo AI and co-created Lyft Rev as founding editor.
Franzen’s independent work includes One Big Story, Prompt Scene, short fiction and experiments with AI imagery and video. Based in Brooklyn, he studied Magazine Journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism from 2005 to 2009. His work combines editorial leadership with an ongoing interest in how new tools change the creation and distribution of stories.