David Goldberg -- Shocking, Sad (& Reminder to Us All ...)

I, like you, was shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of serial digital media entrepreneur David Goldberg this past weekend.  I certainly didn't know David well -- but I interacted with him "back in the day" during my time at online music pioneer Musicmatch and his time as head of digital music at Yahoo!  Those were heady, thrilling, "wild west" digital music/media times.  There were few precedents back then -- we made them up.  We created streaming deals where none existed.  David was a key media/tech innovator who made it happen and led the way.  And, among other things, he was a key driver of Yahoo!'s acquisition of Musicmatch after his own digital music company Launch had been acquired by the purple "Y."  I respected David -- and, like you, have admired his continuous string of entrepreneurial successes.

David's "gone-way-too-soon" loss is poignant in so many ways.  His family -- his wife, his kids.  Tragic.  His friends.  Colleagues.  Can't define it.  Won't even try.  But, for some reason, I had to write about it -- at least briefly.

At these tragic times, it is important to stop.  To reflect.  To prioritize.  And, to stick with those priorities.

Those of you who are reading this likely are, like me, driven, passionate, and intense.  We have so many things to do.  So many things we want to accomplish.  And, not enough hours to accomplish them.

But, here's the thing.  Yes, we do (I am saying this to myself right now, by the way).  And, yes, we can -- and must -- turn "it" off some times.  What really matters?  What's it all about?  What's lasting?  Certainly not new questions -- am breaking no new ground here.  But, these questions are timeless.  We, on the other hand, are not.  David's tragic death reminds us of that with a blunt senseless hammer.

None of us, of course, know what the future will bring.  That's precisely why sucking the marrow out of life we must.

So, take the time to create and immerse yourself in real-world, non-virtual experiences.  Share them with those closest to you.  Music festivals have become "that thing" -- that obsession -- for me.  And, my family joins me now in that obsession.  Now it has become "our thing."

These are lasting when much of the other "stuff" is not.

The digital media/tech world has absolutely lost a true leader and innovator in David.  But, more importantly -- far more importantly (by an order of magnitude) -- his family has lost a husband, a father.

But, they will never lose those experiences they shared together ....