Anil Dash

{{Short description|American technology executive and entrepreneur}}

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| name = Anil Dash

| image = 20240618T174503a-Anil Dash-NP.jpg

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| caption = Dash in 2024

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|09|05}}

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| occupation = CEO, Glitch

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| spouse = Alaina Browne{{cite web|url=http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=10184& |title=So What Do You Do, Anil Dash, Chief Evangelist, Six Apart |work=Mediabistro |date=May 16, 2008 |first=David S. |last=Hirschman |accessdate=November 12, 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602153335/http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=10184& |archivedate=June 2, 2013}}

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| website = {{URL|https://anildash.com/}}

| children = 1

}}

Anil Dash ({{IPAc-en|ɑː|ˈ|n|iː|l|_|ˈ|d|æ|ʃ}}; born September 5, 1975) is an American technology executive, entrepreneur, Prince scholar{{cite news |last1=Cramer |first1=Maria |title=Film at 11: How a Minnesota Station Found Old Footage of a Very Young Prince |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/us/prince-1970-teachers-strike-wcco.html |work=The New York Times |date=7 April 2022}} and writer.{{cite web |last = dash |first = anil |url = http://dashes.com/anil/about.html |title = Who's This Guy - Anil Dash |access-date = 2012-09-05 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327172642/http://dashes.com/anil/about.html |archive-date = 2009-03-27 |url-status = dead }}{{cite web | last=Johnson | first=Eric | title=How can we make tech more accountable? | website=Recode | date=2018-06-22 | url=https://www.recode.net/2018/6/22/17491590/anil-dash-tech-accountability-data-myanmar-rohingya-facebook-kara-swisher-embarrassed-podcast | access-date=2018-10-04}} He is the Head of Glitch and VP of Developer Experience at Fastly.

Career

In 1999, Dash launched his personal weblog, dashes.com (now anildash.com), while working as an independent technology consultant. From 2001 to 2003, he worked as a new media developer for the Village Voice before becoming the first employee of Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, TypePad, and Vox, where he served as a vice president until 2009.{{cite web | title=Interview: The Low Down On Six Apart (With Anil Dash) | website=The Blog Herald | date=2006-12-05 | url=https://blogherald.com/2006/12/05/interview-the-low-down-on-six-apart-with-anil-dash/ | access-date=2018-10-04}}{{cite web | last=Peisner | first=David | title=What Really Happened During Evan Williams's Worst SXSW Moment? | website=Fast Company | date=2014-03-05 | url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3026992/what-really-happened-during-evan-williams-worst-sxsw-moment | access-date=2018-10-04}}

From 2009 to 2012 he served as the director of Expert Labs,{{cite news|url=http://www.observer.com/2009/media/dash-dc-tech-guru-will-head-govt-incubator-digitize-democracy |title=Dash to D.C.! Tech Guru Will Head Gov't Incubator, Digitize Democracy |work=The New York Observer |first=Gillian |last=Reagan |date=November 18, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121174612/http://www.observer.com/2009/media/dash-dc-tech-guru-will-head-govt-incubator-digitize-democracy |archivedate=November 21, 2009 }} a Gov 2.0 project to facilitate political participation.{{cite web |url= http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/one-to-one-anil-dash-of-expert-labs-and-six-apart |title=One on One: Anil Dash of Expert Labs |work= bits.blogs.nytimes.com, The New York Times |date=January 13, 2010 |last=Bilton |first=Nick }} After this work, he became an advisor to the White House Office of Digital Strategy under the Obama administration.{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5576442/tech-optimists/ |title=Why TIME's 2019 Tech Optimists Are Upbeat About Silicon Valley's Future |magazine=Time |date= 7 August 2019 |last1=Austin|first=Patrick Lucas|last2=De La Garza|first2=Alejandro|last3=Fitzpatrick| first3=Alex| last4=Gregory| first4=Sean | access-date=28 November 2021}}

He was also previously a partner with Michael J. Wolf in Activate Consulting, a media and technology management consulting firm,{{cite news |url= http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-wolf-and-anil-dash-brace-media-for-the-new-world-2010-2 |title=Michael Wolf and Anil Dash Brace Media for the New World |publisher=Business Insider |date= 25 February 2010 |last=Hatch |first=Lauren }}{{cite web | title=Company overview of Activate Inc. | website=Bloomberg | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=10839628&privcapId=263560042 | access-date=2018-10-04}} and a co-founder (with Gina Trapani) and CEO of ThinkUp, a social media aggregation and analysis tool.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/26/thinkup-app-company-gina-trapani-anil-dash/|title=ThinkUp App Goes For-Profit in Bid To Decentralize The Social Web|last=Taylor|first=Colleen|date=26 March 2012|website=TechCrunch|access-date=2021-10-31}} The company was shuttered in June 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@anildash/the-end-of-thinkup-e600bc46cc56|title=The end of ThinkUp|last=Dash|first=Anil|date=2016-06-13|website=Anil Dash|access-date=2021-10-31}} Dash was appointed CEO of Fog Creek Software in December 2016.{{cite web|title=A New Product Name, and a New CEO|url=https://blog.fogcreek.com/a-new-product-name-and-a-new-ceo/|website=Fog Creek Software Company Blog|access-date=2021-10-31|df=mdy-all|archive-date=2016-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220091852/https://blog.fogcreek.com/a-new-product-name-and-a-new-ceo/|url-status=dead}} On September 25, 2018, the company was renamed Glitch after its flagship product.{{cite web|last=Dash|first=Anil|title=Fog Creek is now Glitch!|website=Medium|date=2018-09-25|url=https://medium.com/make-better-software/fog-creek-is-now-glitch-8d0308aaf69e|access-date=2021-10-31|df=mdy-all}} In March 2020, Glitch and its union signed a collective bargaining agreement, the first in the tech industry.{{Cite web |last=Schiffer |first=Zoe |date=2 March 2021 |title=Glitch workers sign tech's first collective bargaining agreement |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/2/22307671/glitch-workers-sign-historic-collective-bargaining-agreement-cwa |access-date=2021-11-01 |website=The Verge}}

Dash was host of Function with Anil Dash, a podcast about technology's effects on culture, co-produced by Glitch and Vox Media{{cite podcast |host=Anil Dash|title=Introducing Function with Anil Dash |website=Function with Anil Dash |publisher=Vox Media Podcast Network |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-function-with-anil-dash/id1439658455?i=1000422209590 |date=19 October 2018 |access-date=7 March 2022}} The podcast ran for two seasons from 2018 to 2020.

Dash is also a scholar of the musician Prince.

NFTs

In 2014, as part of a collaboration with Kevin McCoy, Dash co-created Monegraph, a blockchain-based system for verifying original digital artworks initially called monetized graphics, which has since been called the first implementation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).{{cite web |last1=Constine |first1=Josh |title=Monegraph Uses Bitcoin Tech So Internet Artists Can Establish "Original" Copies Of Their Work |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/monegraph/ |website=TechCrunch| date=9 May 2014 |accessdate=31 October 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Dash |first1=Anil |title=NFTs Weren't Supposed to End Like This |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/ |publisher=The Atlantic| date=2 April 2021 |accessdate=31 October 2021}}{{Cite episode |title=Cha-ching! |url= https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/cha-ching-on-the-media|access-date= |series=On the Media |first=Brooke|last=Gladstone|station=WNYC |date=12 November 2021 |language=English}}

Dash has been critical of present day usage of the NFT concept, stating "The only thing we’d wanted to do was ensure that artists could make some money and have control over their work," and that co-creator "McCoy still believes that blockchain technologies can help artists sustain their work."

Recognition

In 2004, he won an SEO contest which required contestants to get the top Google ranking for the made-up phrase "nigritude ultramarine".{{cite web |last=Terdiman |first=Daniel |date=July 8, 2004 |title=Single Post Wins Google Contest |url=https://www.wired.com/2004/07/single-post-wins-google-contest/ |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101014163933/http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2004/07/64130 |archivedate=14 October 2010 |accessdate=2010-10-06 |publisher=Wired News}}

In 2010, Dash's weblog was an honoree in the Personal Blog/Website category of the 2010 Webby Awards.{{cite web|title=Honoree: Anil Dash: Dashes.com|url=https://winners.webbyawards.com/2010/websites-and-mobile-sites/general-websites-and-mobile-sites/personal-blogwebsite/141019/anil-dash-dashescom |accessdate=12 November 2021|publisher=The Webby Awards}} In 2022 Dash and McCoy won the Webby lifetime achievement award for the development of NFTs.{{cite web |url=https://winners.webbyawards.com/2022/specialachievement/301/anil-dash--kevin-mccoy |title=Webby Lifetime Achievement: Anil Dash & Kevin McCoy |author= |date=16 May 2022 |website=The Webby Awards |access-date=17 May 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Mattei |first=Shanti Escalante-De |date=2022-04-27 |title=Takashi Murakami, NFT Creators Win Big at Webby Awards |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/nfts-webby-awards-takashi-murakami-kevin-mccoy-anil-dash-1234626773/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}

Personal life

Dash was born to Odia parents{{cite web|last1=Kondabolu|first1=Ashok|title=Ashok and Anil Go to the Cafe|url=http://aaww.org/ashok-and-anil-go-to-the-cafe/|website=Aaww.org|date=11 September 2012 |publisher=Asian American Writers' Workshop|accessdate=6 September 2015}} from India and grew up near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He lives in New York City with his wife Alaina Browne and one child.{{cite web | last=Dash | first=Anil | title=Anil Dash on about.me | website=about.me | url=https://about.me/anildash | access-date=2018-10-03}}