Technology PR veteran Scott Friedman has launched a new shop, The Lede Agency.

The Lede Agency offers branding, corporate communications, content, media relations and social media services for tech clients, with a specialized focus on disruptive innovation, the process by which companies offer a new technology, product or service, thereby establishing new value. Uber and AirBnB are recent examples of this disruption at work in today's marketplace.

Scott FriedmanScott Friedman

“True disruptive innovation will create a new market or realign existing value chains, through disintermediation, for example,” Friedman told O’Dwyer’s. “The key from a communications perspective is recognizing when an innovation is truly disruptive and then conveying its potential impact in a meaningful way."

Friedman, who also serves as Lede principal, was previously global technology practice chair at APCO Worldwide, which he joned in 2013. Prior to APCO, Friedman was North American regional director at Text100, where he served for nearly a decade, and was also a VP and technology practice leader at MSLGroup, which he joined in 1995. Friedman's former clients include IBM, Computer Task Group, eBay, Hitachi, PerkinElmer, BlackBerry, Raytheon and Staples. Friedman was a technology journalist prior to entering the PR field.

The Lede Agency has already signed on several clients, according to Friedman, including an e-learning company for healthcare providers and an IT services firm.

The agency is based in New York.