This past Friday, German paper Der Spiegel ran the first-ever in-depth profile of Andrey Ternovskiy, the creator of Chatroulette. It’s a fascinating read — and all of today’s Chatroulette trend piece writers should make a note of Ternovskiy’s stated long-term goal of “keeping the ‘freaks and f***ers,’ as he calls them, off the site.”
The piece focuses on the battle between Russia and the U.S.A. over smart, talented tech entrepreneurs, and makes the point that if Russia loses the Ternovskiys of the world (and, by extension, the Chatroulettes of the world), it’s already lost the next round of the tech war.
All of which is well, good, and abstract, but the writer saves his biggest bombshell for the end of the narrative profile: Andrey Ternovskiy is applying for a visa to come the U.S.A.
From the Spiegel profile: (read it already, ye clod)
Ternovskiy gets into a taxi. He has an appointment elsewhere. But he seems nervous as he types into his smartphone. He plans to take a trip in the coming weeks — alone. Without Felix. The taxi stops in front of a large embassy building. Ternovskiy is here to apply for a visa — for the United States.
Does Fred Wilson have anything to do with this?
(image via Der Spiegel. Speigel via RWW)
