About

Rick Klau headshotA long-time startup entrepreneur, I moved to Google as a result of its acquisition of FeedBurner in 2007. After a year in business development at Google, I transitioned into product management, where I worked on Blogger, Google+, and YouTube. In 2011, I joined GV as a partner on the operating team, and was there for just over 9 years.

In February, 2021, I was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as California’s Chief Technology Innovation Officer, where I ran what’s now known as the Office of Digital Services at the California Department of Technology.

I co-founded Onsemble with Julia Yrani in 2023, where I serve as CEO.

This is a personal blog that started a little over 20 years ago. Originally published on Blogger (2001-2002), then moved to Radio Userland for a couple years, fell in love with Movable Type, then got eager to play with the new kid on the block, WordPress. In all likelihood, the blog would have remained on WordPress – but as mentioned above, I got an opportunity to join the Blogger product management team in 2008. Needless to say, it didn’t seem wise to maintain my own blog on a competitive platform.

I kept the blog on Blogger for the next 10+ years, though I posted less and less often. (Twitter is largely to blame, as it became my primary outlet for periodic observations.) What writing I did do tended to end up on Medium.

As 2022 began, I found myself eager to write more often. Seemed only natural to dust off my blog’s domain, get a clean export of my blog from Blogger, and see if I can get back in the groove. (I wrote more about this evolution and motivation here.)

It should go without saying, but just in case: this site remains a collection of personal writings. Nothing here should be construed as an official communication from past or present employers; this site, for better or worse, is where I write for me.