David Bohnett's guest appearances

David Bohnett

Internet History Podcast

Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast

Web Masters

Jonathan Abrams

Joshua Schachter

Raj Kapoor

Gregg Spiridellis

Jason Calacanis

John Battelle

Craig Kanarick

Joey Anuff

Steve Kirsch

Justin Hall

John Danner

Kevin O'Connor

Stefanie Syman

Gary Kremen

Rob Malda

OwlTail

David Bohnett founded GeoCities in the 1990s, well before the internet attained its current ubiquity.  GeoCities became publicly traded on NASDAQ and was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. in 1999. In a 2007 article, the Wall Street Journal described it as a Facebook prototype and noted, “Back then, entries were known as home pages, not profiles. But the basic, expressive elements of today’s Facebook and competitor MySpace … were all right there.” David found himself wealthy with the ability to do whatever he wanted for the rest of his life. He became a philanthropist and social activist. In addition to serving as Chair of the David Bohnett Foundation, he is the Chairman of the Executive Committee on the Board of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Trustee of the Brookings Institution, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the University of Southern California (USC). Since 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation has focused on several funding areas: The Fund for Los Angeles, supporting a broad spectrum of arts, educational and civic programs including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LACMA and CicLAvia; LGBTQ-related causes; graduate school leadership programs at the University of Michigan, UCLA, NYU and Harvard; voting rights and registration initiatives; supporting research and public policies to reduce the toll of firearm violence; and animal research and rights. Grants totaling over $115 million to date have supported the work of a wide range of organizations including the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, The Wildlife Alliance, the ACLU Foundation, Equality California, and the David Bohnett Gay &amp; Lesbian Leadership Fellows program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The David Bohnett CyberCenters are another major undertaking — currently at over 60 LGBTQ centers nationwide, they offer business, educational, research, and recreational opportunities to the local gay and lesbian community via access to the Internet.   David Bohnett Foundation.  http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/   Something Ventured  https://somethingventured.us/ 

David Bohnett founded GeoCities in the 1990s, well before the internet attained its current ubiquity.  GeoCities became publicly traded on NASDAQ and was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. in 1999. In a 2007 article, the Wall Street Journal described it as a Facebook prototype and noted, “Back then, entries were known as home pages, not profiles. But the basic, expressive elements of today’s Facebook and competitor MySpace … were all right there.” David found himself wealthy with the ability to do whatever he wanted for the rest of his life. He became a philanthropist and social activist. In addition to serving as Chair of the David Bohnett Foundation, he is the Chairman of the Executive Committee on the Board of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Trustee of the Brookings Institution, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the University of Southern California (USC). Since 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation has focused on several funding areas: The Fund for Los Angeles, supporting a broad spectrum of arts, educational and civic programs including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LACMA and CicLAvia; LGBTQ-related causes; graduate school leadership programs at the University of Michigan, UCLA, NYU and Harvard; voting rights and registration initiatives; supporting research and public policies to reduce the toll of firearm violence; and animal research and rights. Grants totaling over $115 million to date have supported the work of a wide range of organizations including the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, The Wildlife Alliance, the ACLU Foundation, Equality California, and the David Bohnett Gay &amp; Lesbian Leadership Fellows program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The David Bohnett CyberCenters are another major undertaking — currently at over 60 LGBTQ centers nationwide, they offer business, educational, research, and recreational opportunities to the local gay and lesbian community via access to the Internet. David Bohnett Foundation.  <a href="http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/</a> Something Ventured  <a href="https://somethingventured.us/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://somethingventured.us/</a>

158 David Bohnett -- GeoCities Founder Turned Philanthropist and Social Activist

In 1994, David Bohnett setup a live webcam pointed out of an office window at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. That ability to engage in a community on the other side of the world got so popular so quickly that it inspired David to create a system for everyone to create, join, and participate in online communities. He called those communities "GeoCities."Within five years, GeoCities grew from a simple online website builder into one of the world's most popular social networks (before that was even a thing!), with millions of users and a multi-billion-dollar acquisition from Yahoo!On this episode of Web Masters, you'll learn how GeoCities got started, how David grew it, and, ultimately, how David sold it in order to continue pursuing his original vision of helping everyone participate on the Internet.For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.

In 1994, David Bohnett setup a live webcam pointed out of an office window at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. That ability to engage in a community on the other side of the world got so popular so quickly that it inspired David to create a system for everyone to create, join, and participate in online communities. He called those communities "GeoCities."Within five years, GeoCities grew from a simple online website builder into one of the world's most popular social networks (before that was even a thing!), with millions of users and a multi-billion-dollar acquisition from Yahoo!On this episode of Web Masters, you'll learn how GeoCities got started, how David grew it, and, ultimately, how David sold it in order to continue pursuing his original vision of helping everyone participate on the Internet.For a complete transcript of the episode, <a href="https://latonas.com/blog/web-masters-episode-7-david-bohnett/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">click here</a>.

David Bohnett @ GeoCities: The Developer Who Built Online Cities

Summary:We continue our survey of the pioneering social/community sites by sitting down with David Bohnett, who, along with John Rezner, founded Geocities. David recounts how a lifelong passion for communications tech inspired the idea of Geocities, how and why the site grew to become one of the 5 most popular web destinations in the world by the late 90s, as well as the company's blockbuster sale to Yahoo. We also marvel at how Geocities lives on, thanks to the passion and affection of the Geocities community.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Summary:We continue our survey of the pioneering social/community sites by sitting down with David Bohnett, who, along with John Rezner, founded Geocities. David recounts how a lifelong passion for communications tech inspired the idea of Geocities, how and why the site grew to become one of the 5 most popular web destinations in the world by the late 90s, as well as the company's blockbuster sale to Yahoo. We also marvel at how Geocities lives on, thanks to the passion and affection of the Geocities community.See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

64. Geocities Founder David Bohnett