Rex Sorgatz

Have we met? Probably!

I have been an Alaskan fish butcher, a proto-blogger, an avid party thrower, a voice AI startup co-founder, a paranormal magazine editor, a music critic, a fast-food innovator, an early social video startup creator, a social media butterfly, a Flash developer, a digital product consultant to many media companies, a frequent public bet-maker, a contributing editor at Wired, a Techstars mentor, a dungeon master, a North Dakotan, a New Yorker, a failed pre-med student, a director of the Olympics website, the co-creator of the second-ever flash mob, an encyclopedian, the creator of the first romance news website, a Microsoftie, an alt-weekly editor, a public radio tech commentator, a code monkey, a script kiddie, a year-end list aggregator, the editor of a print magazine about the internet, a first amendment defendant against a popular satirist, a sarcastic tweeter, a microfame faux-expert, an early webshow producer, a kinda shitty guitarist, a slightly better poker player, a key art superfan, an Alex Trebek superfan, an aspiring podcaster, an aspiring substacker, an audio app co-founder, an executive producer at msnbc.com, a frequent podcast guest, a frequent conference speaker, an early hyperlocal news entrepreneur, an old-skool newspaper webmaster, and part of a team awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

I am an inveterate generalist who liked college profoundly too much. I have three Bachelor’s Degrees (Philosophy, Literature, Psychology), two Minors (Art History and Intellectual History), and an unfinished Masters (Digital Media). I have taught classes in programming, design, and science fiction.

Passion Projects

A Small Collection of Ventures & Inventions

AndThen is a platform where anyone can create bespoke interactive audio experiences. Backed by A16Z Speedrun, we are a voice-first AI-powered entertainment company.

My consulting agency, Kinda Sorta Media, has worked with countless startups and media companies to invent and build new products, oftentimes co-investing in new initiatives. Past clients include SNL, IFC, MLS, Interview, Buzzfeed, Mediaite, The Week, WeWork, TV Insider, and many more.

VYou was a conversational video platform used by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Courtney Love, Moby, and many others. Launched before its time, VYou was sold to the social video platform Vine prior to acquisition by Twitter.

I wrote a book! It's a curious little collection of tales and tactics of deception, mischief, and subterfuge. It ricochets through reality television, alternate histories, cognitive psychology, reenactments, evolutionary mimicry, artificial intelligence, linguistic trickery, professional wrestling, sex bots, art forgery, and every topic where things are not what they appear.

Fimoculous is regarded as one of the earliest blogs, but for me it was my first real online community, where I met the most interesting internet people of the era. Launched before "blog" was even a word, it initiated my interest in programming, because there was no self-publishing software yet, so I had to write my own.

Every few years, I seem to move back and forth between entrepreneurial projects and traditional media roles. NBC is often homebase, where I've worked at MSNBC, NBC Olympics, SNL, and the O&Os.

Agogo was an uber-audio app — all of your music, podcasts, audiobooks, internet radio, and anything involving sound in one single place.

For my first job out of college, I was the webmaster of a daily newspaper website owned by Knight-Ridder. The story has been told in multiple books, yet my apartment burned down in the midst of a flood and fire — but we won a Pulitzer!

Select Writing

I occasionally write about the intersection of tech and culture. My agent is Rachel Vogel, but don't blame her for these.

Hi,
I’m Rex.

I’m a creative technologist, product designer, writer, entrepreneur, and media exec based in New York City where this photo was not taken.

Passion Projects

A Small Collection of Ventures & Inventions

Select Writing