EXTRA! Q&A: An interview with Brian Napack, president of Holtzbrinck Publishers, on publishing’s digital future.
BB—You’ve worked on start-ups for other corporations, established your own business and worked as a consultant. What’s the difference in working with a well-established company?
BN—At some level, conceptually it’s very different, but it’s really about entrepreneurship. I would not do this job if it was just about care-taking. We’re in a time of radical change in the media markets and the media at large. It’s about finding the opportunity. What is very different is that it is a very big company. It has existing ways of doing things, and I have to work within the construct of how people think, and occasionally they’re very successful with what they do. I would be much more concerted about doing something stupid. We have to be very careful to respect the well-oiled machine that they have. Holtzbrink is very nontraditional. It nurtures individuals. It’s a private company that doesn’t have to answer to Wall Street. We have air cover to do things we couldn’t do if we were Time Warner, Disney or even Comcast.
- People:
- Brian Napack
- John
- Places:
- Buena Vista