Virgilio Bento was in a bind.
He’d hired a PR agency before, which in retrospect “seems moronic,” he says.
But when he tried hiring someone to run comms internally, he says, “that also sucked.”
From the outset, Cheng Meservey struck Bento as radically different from other comms people.
She had a no-nonsense approach.
You are the founder own your company’s narrative.
In short,go direct.
For Bento, it was a refreshing tack, if a little beguiling.
“i super value her advice,” Altman wrote to me in a text.
“she is someone i love talking to.”
“She has gotten good at teaching founders how to fish,” Asparouhov says.
“People bring up Lulu all the time,” one communications executive who knows Cheng Meservey tells me.
“They say, ‘Do you know Lulu?
Isn’t shethe worst?'”
Another snipes: “She does not have a thriving business.
What she has is a thriving Twitter following.”
Some of the vitriol is owed to the rumor-churning nature of PR.
“They will feel uneasy about a new approach, so they’ll criticize it.”
Cheng Meservey invites the spite; it’s core to her brand.
The sparse landing page of her new firm, Rostra, declares: “TRADITIONAL PR IS DEAD.”
A recentUnited Airlinespost was “lazy and patronizing,” she declared.
It’s like Fight Club.
They do not want you to talk about comms."
(Most of the communications executives I spoke with requested anonymity.)
This is information overload," says one communications executive.
“At the very least, you’re subscribing and curating your own echo chamber.”
Its clients included the blue-chip venture firm Founders Fund and fast-growing corporations likeSpotify.
Even then, Cheng Meservey was known for bucking traditions.
To Guenther’s surprise, the client agreed.
“They were like, ‘You’re so right.
Cheng Meservey happened to be entering the arena of tech communications at a pivotal moment.
(Sandberg did not respond to a request for comment.)
So when Cheng Meservey joined Substack and began immediately playing offense, it stood out.
Cheng Meservey’s unabashed stance seemed tailor-made for one particularly embattled tech company:Activision Blizzard.
(In July 2023, a federal judge ruled against the FTC’s bid to delay the acquisition.
In December 2023, Activision paid $54 million to settle a workplace discrimination lawsuit.)
Less than a month into her tenure, she became headline news after she was accused of union busting.
Her Slack messages were leaked, and Cheng Meservey doubled down on her position on Twitter.
In response, Cheng Meservey subtweeted Gach, inferring that he was obsessed with her.
The reporter had never before been dragged on Twitter by the chief communications officer of a multibillion-dollar company.
Totilo figured he’d take Activision up on its offer to speak with Cheng Meservey.
“She facilitated more journalism being done,” Totilo says.
“I found her very charming,” Totilo says.
“Whether that makes me an astute observer or a chump, I’m not sure.
But I prefer her strategy to the traditional approach.”
At the time, Asparouhov says, he was in a state of “extreme cortisol panic.”
She broke down various tactics for approaching reporters and regulators, along with a strategic narrative for company messaging.
“I would urge them to reconsider.”
Then she shifted into strategy mode.
Had I considered pitching a profile of her to The New York Times?
“[Sam] has offered to pay me, but I haven’t taken a penny.
And OpenAI andWorldcoinare always in litigation.”
Was this gossipy transparency the new model of going direct?
But for those, you’ll have tofollow her on X.
Which may be the gist of Rostra’s modus operandi.
Therein lies one of the obvious downsides to Cheng Meservey’s strategy.
Zoe Bernardis a feature writer based in Los Angeles.
She writes about technology, crime, and culture.
Formerly, she covered technology for The Information and Business Insider.
