After testing his ideas with the BoingBoing technology blog, Battelle founded Federated Media Publishing, which sells advertising space in a network of online properties, keeping a percentage and giving the rest to the site owners.

Battelle likened the company to a music label, "except we don't control their intellectual property and tell them what to sing".

[14] Battelle sat on the board of the International Advertising Bureau[15] and has become a spokesman for what he calls "the Independent Web": blogs and other semi-professional websites beyond Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

[17][5] Battelle maintains Searchblog, an ongoing daily site which covers the intersection of media, technology, and culture, with archives dating back to October 2003.

Battelle was named a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, and was a finalist in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

Drums, mountain biking, yoga, drinking with friends, taking pictures, cursing at closed systems".