Pete Cashmore has a fire burning in his belly for social media and blogging the news. Literally.
At the age of 13 Cashmore developed appendicitis and had an appendectomy, that left him sick and unable to attend school. Because of his absence from school, and disconnectedness from his education and friends, he began pouring himself into computers and blogs. He completely invested himself in computers during his time at home and began to subscribe to every blog he could find. So, in a very short while he learned an extensive amount about the blogging industry. A fire for dispersing information and blogging began to burn in Pete’s stomach, which led him at the age of 19 to create “Mashable.”
Created in 2005, Mashable, is an inclusive entertainment and news blog, which is now considered the leading source of information for the “connected generation.” Time magazine has noted it as one of the top 25 best blogs in 2005, and has listed Cashmore as one of its top 100 most influential people in 2012. Mashable has come to be known as the, ” ‘one stop shop,’ for social media,” and to this day reaches over 24,000,000 people per a month.
What inspires me the most about Pete Cashmore is his passion and his zealous personality. He had a fire in his belly. He saw a need for innovation in a market that was saturated, (literally the media/ news market) and developed something that people liked and wanted. Mashable has synthesized the entertainment industry with news media, into a one stop shop for our generation. Now, because Cashmore was passionate and innovative, he has begun to change the way we communicate and gather information.
http://www.inc.com/chris-beier-and-daniel-wolfman/how-pete-cashmore-founded-mashable.html
I follow Mashable on Facebook and had no idea of Cashmore’s story. Cashmore did have passion for his idea and the blogging industry which is a key characteristic of every successful entrepreneur. Thanks for sharing his story.
I think that this is a great example of taking a bad situation; using it to your advantage, and making the best of it. I think that maybe his isolation created his desperate desire to succeed and find a purpose in his life. This also may have been his desire to connect with people. He didn’t have the normal physical means to do so he created a non-physical interaction portal. The atmosphere he was forced to be secluded into may be artificial though thus creating a pain that he wanted to alleviate, also one can’t ignore luck was involved.
It’s amazing how such a young kid can turn a life that nobody would want to be caught in into a life that most people would envy. This kid should be an inspiration for everybody.
It is amazing to see how passions and ideas can come out of situations in which most people would only think negatively. I find it amazing that Cashmore found his calling through having appendicitis. He is truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing this!