Pressing Matters

Chris Preimesberger, Reporter/Editor at Large

Chris Preimesberger is one of the deans of tech journalism, known especially for his 15-year run at E-Week, including nearly 10 as the magazine's editor-in-chief. But tech reporting is, in many ways, the second half of his career. He started in the 70s as a sports writer for the LA Daily News, where he covered a guy named John Elway as a high school baseball player, and later USC, UCLA, and the pre-Showtime Lakers. He did a stint as a sports information director at Stanford, he spent 10 years at the old Peninsula Times Tribune in Palo Alto covering everything, it seems, but tech. And he even ran a desktop publishing business, which indirectly led him to starting his tech journalism career in 1999, since he genuinely understood software development. Now a freelancer for several titles, Chris joined us to share tales about Cary Grant and Milton Berle, his father's connection to Marilyn Monroe, and what he considers the three watershed moments in technology for this episode of Pressing Matters from Big Valley Marketing, the podcast that brings you conversations with the top media and influencers in B2B tech. I'm Dave Reddy, Head of Big Valley Marketing's Media & Influencers practice, and I'm your host. Through research and good old-fashioned relationship building, we've identified B2B tech's top 200 media and influencers, including Chris. Here's our chat. Enjoy.

Gene Marks, President, The Marks Group

Gene Marks didn't set out to be an influencer. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a CPA. And he has been for more than 30 years, first at KPMG and now as President of his own business, The Marks Group.  But some years ago, he offered to write a regular business column for The Philadelphia Inquirer and thus began a whole new aspect of Gene's career. Now, in addition to the Inquirer, Gene writes for Forbes, Inc. and Entrepreneur, to name a few, appears regularly on TV, speaks upwards of 60 times a year, and boasts more than 130,000 online followers as one of the top B2B tech influencers in America. And yes, he's still a practicing CPA. Gene joined us to discuss his evolution as an influencer, what he tells his clients about AI replacing workers, or not, as it were, and his days writing for the school paper at the oldest public high school in America, for this episode of Pressing Matters from Big Valley Marketing, the podcast that brings you conversations with top media and influencers in B2B tech. I'm Dave Reddy, head of Big Valley Marketing's Media & Influencers practice, and I'm your host. Through research and good old-fashioned relationship building, we've identified B2B tech's top 200 media and influencers, including Gene. Here's our chat. Enjoy.

Jeff Burt, Freelance Tech Journalist

Jeff Burt spent his childhood wandering the world with his Army dad and digging deep into fantasy and horror stories with his mom. They even wrote a few superhero stories together just for fun. So by the time he enrolled at Keene State in New Hampshire, Jeff was dedicated to storytelling. He split his time writing for the school newspaper, where he rose to executive editor his senior year, and DJing at the school radio station. In the end, he chose writing, and after cutting his teeth at local papers in New England, Jeff joined the staff of eWeek in 2000. Despite admitting he barely knew much about tech, Jeff not only got the job, he kept it for 16 years and became one of the top tech reporters in the industry. Now a freelancer for several titles, Jeff joined us to preview the RSA Conference in San Francisco later this month, and he gave me a chance to reminisce about my upbringing on Cape Cod, where he lives, for this episode of Pressing Matters from Big Valley Marketing, the podcast that brings you conversations with the top media and influencers in B2B tech. I'm Dave Reddy, head of Big Valley Marketing's Media & Influencers practice, and I'm your host. Through research and good old-fashioned relationship building, we've identified B2B tech's top 200 media and influencers, including Jeff. Here's our chat with him. Enjoy.

Sean Kinney, Editor In Chief/Principal Analyst, RCR Wireless News

Sean Kinney is yet another one of our guests who had at least one parent, his mother in this case, who was a school teacher. That's clearly a theme for journalists. What's a bit new this time around is that his mom later went into the insurance world, along with his dad, asking the tough questions to get to the truth of the matter, just like a reporter does. Sean does the same, just as an analyst and as a journalist. And with Mobile World Congress in Barcelona just weeks away, we talked to Sean, the editor in chief at RCR Wireless News/principal analyst at RCRTech, about what we should expect the truth to be at this year's show, 6G, Wi -Fi 8, AI and more AI. In addition to previewing Mobile World Congress, Sean joined us to discuss his early days as a reporter in, of all places, Key West, his shift from the Keys into telco wireless, and his love of Ole Miss football. Pressing Matters from Big Valley Marketing is the podcast that brings you conversations with the top media and influencers in B2B tech, hosted by Dave Reddy, Head of Big Valley's Media & Influencers Practice. Here's our chat with Sean. Enjoy.

Jon Reed, Co-founder, diginomica

Jon may not be a philosopher, but as a writer, analyst, and podcaster, he certainly has the trust of the B2B community. Jon joins Pressing Matters to tell us about his mission to disrupt B2B tech media and analysis, his thoughts on the high percentage of AI hype versus reality, and how he's managed to live in Massachusetts for more than 30 years without picking up an accent. Welcome to Pressing Matters from Big Valley Marketing, the podcast that brings you conversations with the top media and influencers in B2B tech. I'm Dave Reddy, Head of Big Valley Marketing's Media & Influencers practice, and I'm your host. Through research and good old-fashioned relationship building, we've identified B2B tech's top 200 media and influencers, including Jon Reed. Here's our chat with Jon. Enjoy.