Red Herring was originally launched in May 1993 by Anthony B. Perkins, Christopher J. Alden, and Zachary A. Herlick out of the home of Mr. Alden's parents in Woodside, CA. The first product of Flipside Communications Inc. (which was eventually renamed Red Herring Communications), the magazine was quickly popular with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and the Valley community of lawyers, accountants, bankers and the like who were part of the technology entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Although not launched as an Internet publication (the commercialization of the Internet was in its infancy in 1993), as one of the leading publications covering high-tech entrepreneurialism in Silicon Valley and beyond, it became a journal of record for the dot com boom.
Corporate History
Ron Conway, of Angel Investors, was an early advisor and board member.
Red Herring launched an event and an Internet division on the same day in May 1995 when Venture Market West premiered in Monterey California, accompanied by the company's first web site. The Venture Market series (including West, East, South, and Europe) ran successfully until 2001 and were accompanied by other events, such as NDA, Venture, and Herring on Hollywood.
The Internet operation grew steadily and peaked in 2000 when it acquired Stockmaster.com.
Ziff Davis invested $2 million in Red Herring in 1997 for approximately 10% of the company, with Eric Hippeau, then CEO of ZD, joining the Red Herring board. Scott Briggs, a former president of Ziff Davis, joined the board in 1997 as well. Broadview Capital Partners invested $25 million into Red Herring in 2000, with Steven Brooks and Stephen Bachman joining the board.
Red Herring was joined in the late 1990s by competitors such as IDG's The Industry Standard, Imagine Media's Business 2.0, and Time Warner's eCompany Now. It was also compared to Wired magazine and Fast Company.
Hilary Schneider was hired by the founders as CEO in late 2000 and succeeded Mr. Alden (who succeeded Mr. Perkins as CEO).
Red Herring's revenues peaked in 2000, nearing $100 million with a staff around 350, but contracted significantly in 2001 and 2002. BCP invested in several additional rounds to help stabilize the organization, which went through several rounds of layoffs. Through these financings BCP obtained control of Red Herring and in 2002 put the company through an assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC), which is a California state process similar to a federal bankruptcy. RHC Media, owned by BCP, bought the Red Herring assets out of ABC and kept the business operating.
After trying unsuccessfully to sell the company, RHC Media decided in early 2003 to cease operations and sell the company's assets. The subscription obligation was sold to Time Inc. and the Red Herring brand, URL, and IP (such as back issues on online content) were sold to Alex Vieux of Dasar.History
Mr. Perkins had previously founded Upside Magazine with Rich Kalgaard (who later became publisher of Forbes.) Mr. Alden and Mr. Herlick, friends since junior high-school, had started a computer consulting company and taught computer science prior to partnering with Mr. Perkins.