Yahoo! The Filo Way

I was covering the Yahoo! Open Hack Day here in Bangalore on Saturday but it was the presence of co-founder David Filo that interested me. I land there very early and stepped into a room full of hackers and almost immediately felt an IQ inferior complex. Got out of the room to breathe again, I noticed this frail-looking T-shirt clad guy in jeans chatting randomly to a few Yahoo folks. Guessing he was some random Yahoo organiser, my eyes scanned the area hoping to spot Filo. But no such luck came and I went ahead to meet the Yahoo communications team to check for an interview slot with Filo.

I had a larger-than life image of Filo as during the early days of the internet having a Yahoo! mail account was the second best thing to have; the first being a girlfriend. Having created a platform spawning a new generation, Filo gave the geek world a whole new world of recognition. In this online battle, Yahoo might be on the losing side but hey the consumers are not complaining as are just getting better.

So surprisingly my Filo interview request came through and I was supremely excited. I got introduced to the man himself (as you have already guessed it was the frail T-shirt clad guy). I figured he was a man of few words and emotions as I got no small talk or a broad smile when I shook his hands. Maybe journalists probably intimidate him especially us TV guys who usually stick up mikes like it was a gun and ask for bytes. But the questions were discussed in advance with his team and the interview went well. I got some politically correct soundbytes like 'Bullish on India' and 'Leverage Bangalore's talent pool' and I was happy it went well with no retakes. I was also thrilled that I had got Filo first and exclusive on our channel.


But I was expecting to see some passion and excitement from the guy and it will be fair to say that I went home disappointed and nothing to Yahoo! about. For Filo, this must have just another TV interview and really no reason to impress the audience or the reporter :(