This week’s New York is a roundup of “brands” that have boomed since the 2008 crash, which can also be read as a bleak treatise on our dystopian age. (Imagine a world where the best economic prospect for a single mom working at Red Lobster is a deformed cat… who becomes a star!) Among the honorees: Tumblr, of course.
The mag sat down with the site’s freshly flush young founder and discovered that he is not shy about letting you see that he is so, so bored right now:
His eyes go unreactive, and there’s a nearly audible shutdown noise as he disengages. Among the topics that bore him are cars (“I don’t like cars anymore”); Internet comments (“Gross”); his company’s colossally expensive infrastructure (“I have a very rudimentary understanding of how Tumblr actually works these days”); and management (“I’m not super-passionate about how we run the company”).
Nor is he particularly interested in the question of profits, apparently: “My philosophy toward that has always been, like, the guy on the corner selling fruit is running a profitable business. There are many profitable businesses out there. There are only so many very large networks,” he told New York. At least that guy on the corner selling fruit understands the point of running a business.
But perhaps that attitude explains all the turnover? After all, who wants to sit down with a boss to talk management strategy and revenue projections, only to be greeted with this:
No, what Mr. Karp was really keen to discuss was a subject near and dear to Matt Drudge’s heart: Drones. Have you heard about drones? David really wants to tell you about drones:
“I’m obsessed with drones right now. I fly my drones all over Brooklyn. These things are amazing. These things are not regulated. I keep destroying them. I’ve had five of them.” He spoke rapidly as he ate, bouncing both feet and palpating a knee. “You get them from China, so they all come HK Post, which means that you have to wait for them for, like—you’re lucky if they come within two months. So I usually have a few on order at any given time. “
Has David Karp recently crashed a drone onto your roof/yard/face? If so, we want to hear about it: tips@betabeat.com.
