Om Malik carries with him the quiet gravity of someone who has seen the world change and helped shape its direction. He is one of my oldest friends, someone I’ve known for more than twenty years. We have stood together on icy runways in Svalbard and watched the blue light stretch endlessly across Greenland. In those places, conversation slows and the essential rises to the surface. With Om, the essential is never far away.
He grew up in India, in a world rich with contrast and complexity. The streets were full of movement, full of the textures and sounds that would later find their way into his voice as a writer. He arrived in the United States with curiosity and drive, and he never stopped paying attention. That gift for attention became his craft.
Om became one of the most influential technology journalists of our time. He worked with major publications, wrote with clarity and insight, and often knew where the story was going before it arrived. He did not chase trends. He understood patterns. When he founded GigaOm, he built a platform that reflected his belief in deep, thoughtful reporting. It was never about clicks. It was about signal over noise.
Later, as a partner at True Ventures, he turned that same discernment toward people. Founders sought him out not only for his experience but for his honesty. He listened more than he spoke. When he gave advice, it came from a place of hard-won wisdom.
There is a softness in Om’s eyes, and also something unyielding. He is kind, but not naïve. He dresses like he writes…elegantly, precisely, with deep attention to detail. His handmade shoes, the rich navy tones of his jackets and shirts, the sharp frames of his glasses. None of it is loud, but all of it speaks. There is joy in his choices. He understands that what we surround ourselves with can be an extension of how we move through the world.
He is also a photographer of rare subtlety. His images often feature landscapes pared down to their bones. A single horizon. A lone figure. A curve of light across snow. You feel the stillness in them, the invitation to breathe. His work reflects his own sensibility – quiet, thoughtful, poetic. There is always more going on than you first see.
In person, Om brings that same energy. He is deeply present. You feel seen when you are with him. You feel the care in his questions. And you notice his half-smile, that look of amused recognition, as though he is reading both the moment and the unwritten caption beneath it.
What makes Om remarkable is not just his resume, though that alone would be enough. It is the way he has chosen to be in the world. He holds space for others. He mentors, advises, encourages. He is still shaping the future, not from the front page, but from the quieter rooms where real conversations happen.
This portrait of Om was taken in a moment of stillness. He stood in soft light, one hand raised to his face, the other crossed over his chest. The frame is black and white, but his presence comes through in full color. Thoughtful, grounded, unmistakably himself.
To me, he is more than a friend. He is a guide. A mirror. A constant. One of the rare people whose way of being makes everyone around him want to be better.
