High Gear Media

High Gear Media is a vertical publishing company publishing more premium automotive content than anyone in the world through websites targeting key buyer and vehicle segments.

High Gear Media’s owned and operated network of automotive destinations reaches well over 2 million visitors monthly and include its anchor site, TheCarConnection.com, its luxury site, MotorAuthority.com, green and electric car sites, GreenCarReports.com and AllCarsElectric.com, and its family-focused sites including FamilyCarGuide.com.

High Gear Media’s editorial staff and over 200 contributors have written at publications like Car and Driver, AOL Autos, Autoweek, Automobile Magazine, and Wired. The company’s content is syndicated to partners including Yahoo! Autos, Huffington Post, NASCAR.com and The San Francisco Chronicle. Independent automotive writers and people who are passionate about cars can contribute content by visiting HighGearMedia.com.

High Gear Media is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and received its funding from Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and DAG Ventures.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Hesky Kutscher, Founder and Chairman


Hesky Kutscher is a serial entrepreneur who has always been interested in giving consumers a better way to research before they shop. His last company, DailyShopper.com, became ShopLocal after a merger and then sold to a consortium that included Tribune and Gannett in 2004. Hesky founded High Gear Media in 2007.

Matthew Heist, CEO

Matthew Heist is responsible for day-to-day operations as well as general corporate strategy. Prior to joining High Gear Media, Heist was senior vice president and general manager of Sidestep.com, where he was responsible for the company’s core vertical search product. Sidestep was acquired by Kayak in December 2007. Prior to Sidestep, Heist was vice president of business operations at Yahoo!, responsible for driving strategy and operations for Yahoo’s vertical search and commerce listings properties, including Yahoo Autos, Shopping, Travel, Real Estate and Local.

Ido Green, CTO and Founder


Ido Green has been working in technology since 1994, most recently as a senior developer at Yahoo. Previously, he served as general manager of Yahoo FareChase Israeli office, leading the international development teams responsible for Yahoo FareChase. Before FareChase, Green was the co-founder of a vertical search engine for classifieds.

Jeff Birkeland, VP of Product

Jeff Birkeland leads product development at High Gear Media. Previously, Jeff was senior director of product in Yahoo!’s Media Group, leading product teams building such properties as Health, Tech, Food and Yahoo! Shine. Prior to that he spent four years leading product management for Yahoo! News, the world’s largest news site.

High Gear Media is the Web’s automotive authority.

We bring together a powerful technology platform, deep editorial expertise, and a unique model of publishing multiple automotive media sites to address every interest and lifestyle.

Our executives have a track record building web experiences at companies like Shoplocal, Yahoo!, Sidestep, and Farechase.

High Gear Media is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and received its funding from Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and DAG Ventures.

Example sites are destinations like :

TheCarConnection.com

MotorAuthority.com

GreenCarReports.com

AllCarsElectric.com 

FamilyCarGuide.com

plus many more