Ian Bell (born October 12, 1976) is co-founder of technology news and reviews site

Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...

and men’s lifestyle site The Manual, both owned by the privately held

Designtechnica Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...

, where he serves as CEO. In 2017 he was named a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. Prior to founding Digital Trends, Bell held positions at

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

, and The Ostler Group, a strategic marketing firm.

Career

Digital Trends

Bell co-founded Digital Trends in 2006 with Dan Gaul, who is CTO. The pair started the site above a small furniture store in

Lake Oswego, Oregon Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was ...

. Their goal was “to share with the world their love for home theater, cars, and all things tech -- but from their unique viewpoint that technology should be fun, easy to use, and designed well.” In May 2009, Digital Trends moved its headquarters from Lake Oswego into the

US Bancorp Tower The U.S. Bancorp Tower (also known as the Big Pink) is a 42-story, skyscraper in Portland, Oregon. It is the second tallest building in the city after Wells Fargo Center, and with its nearly office space, it is the largest in Oregon in terms o ...

Downtown Portland, Oregon Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's skyscraper, high ...

. The company opened a second office in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2012, and in 2014 Bell launched Digital Trends en Español, a Spanish-language version of the technology site led by Editor-in-Chief Juan Garcia. Bell has remained focused on maintaining a profitable business, even as the sites he co-founded have grown. “Being profitable has always been at the forefront of what we want to do,” he told media and marketing news site Digiday in 2016. “You have to be a little more strategic, and if you fail, you fail a lot quicker.” In late summer of that year, Re/Code reported on a deal with

Conde Nast Conde may refer to: Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune Linguistic ''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Count ...

to acquire Digital Trends for $120 million, noting that the site was expected to generate $30 million in revenue for the year and around $6 million in profit. Bell denied that his company was in talks, but acknowledged that he "is periodically approached by would-be buyers." Digiday wrote about the deal as well, comparing the site's traffic to "such properties as the Purch network,

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

and

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

, and ahead of

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

Tech, Yahoo Tech, and Business Insider’s Tech Insider."

The Manual

Bell and Gaul co-founded men's lifestyle site The Manual in 2012. According to the site, "The Manual is simple — we show men how to live a life that is more engaged. Whether it be fashion, food, drink, travel, grooming, or culture, we’re here to provide insight into it all." The Manual is run by Editor in Chief Cator Sparks.

Awards

*2017 - Bell was named a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. 2016 winners include J.W. Bill Marriott,

Ben Chestnut Ben Chestnut (born 1973/1974) is an American billionaire Internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder (with Dan Kurzius) and former CEO of Mailchimp, an email marketing company. As of November 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion. ...

, founder of

MailChimp Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform and email marketing service. "Mailchimp" is the trade name of its operator, Rocket Science Group, an American company founded in 2001 by Ben Chestnut and Mark Armstrong, with Dan Kurzius joining at a l ...

, and

Fitbit Fitbit (stylized as fitbit) is an American consumer electronics and fitness company. It produces wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate ...

founder James Park. *2015 - Bell was named to the Portland Business Journal’s 40 under 40. *2004–2011 – Bell was the recipient of Microsoft MVP award for Digital Media.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Ian Living people American media executives 1976 births University of Oregon alumni